The Past and Present Collide at the Three Star

If Three Star Liquors at 164 E. 22nd St. in Chicago Heights were in Boston, it might be called Cheers. In here, everybody really does know your name. 

While some people romanticize the running of a bar, the daily grind is a lot less glamorous than what you see in a sitcom, says former owner Jasen Zubrisk.

"It's a whole lot of hours," he explains. "You're married to the business."

Three Star, around for almost a century, has come to symbolize the Hungry Hills neighborhood of Chicago Heights. Here, you can order any one of a number of Italian dishes: Italian sausage, Italian beef and an assortment of pastas. It's not fancy, but it's certainly filling.

Three Star has also come to be known for the bocce ball court in the back. Bocce, a sport first played by the Romans and popularized in Italy, serves as a  symbol of the heritage of this bar. It is a game that combines elements of bowling, curling and golf.

"Accuracy is the most important skill," says current owner John Izzo. "It takes a day or so to learn it."

"The thing about Bocce is every one can play," Zubrisk adds.

A photo of 29 dashing young men, most in their 20s, taken in front of the bocce ball court in the early 1950s, hangs prominently inside the Three Star. Many of the folks in the photo have since passed away, but of those still alive, it's very possible you'll see them in Three Star.

Julio Perozzi for one, still stops by the Three Star on occasion. A lifelong resident, he tells stories about caddying for a foursome that included future Las Vegas pioneers Sid Saltz and Irv Rosenthal at Idlewood Country Club, then an exclusive all-Jewish club.

Many patrons of Three Star are first-generation Italian-Americans who put down roots in Chicago Heights.  They're lifelong friends whose kids are also lifelong friends. Much has changed in Chicago Heights in the time those dashing men in 20s agend into grizzled veterans in their 80s. Many of the factories that once placed Chicago Heights into the Guinness Book of World Records are now gone. Hungry Hills has slowly progressed from a largely Italian-American neighborhood to a largely Hispanic neighborhood. The one constant remains the Three Star.

Julio's son Dean, a lifelong resident of Chicago Heights who once was a driver in harness horse racing at Balmoral Park in Crete until a frightening injury ended his career, also frequents the Three Star.

Frank Narcisi is no longer alive but his brother Giulio Narcisi was one of four people who, in 1968, started Small Fry Basketball in Chicago Heights. That tournament, for pre-teens shorter than 5-foot-2, is now an international sensation and was recently featured in an issue of ESPN Magazine about Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose.

Narcisi started Small Fry with three other guys, Robert Leuder, John Cifelli and former mayor Charles Panici. John Cifelli is still a lawyer in the Heights who shows up to Three Star on occasion. The former mayor’s family owned the Three Star for more than 50 years. In 1985, Jim Thompson chose the Three Star as one of seven spots on a statewide tour to announce his re-election bid for governor.

Back then, Panici was a get-out-the-vote force. His ability to whip up 30,000 voters in Bloom Township would eventually earn him praise as "the most powerful Republican in Southern Cook County.”

The bar continues to play a role in the local political process today. Three Star hosted a forum of about 50 members of the newly formed Sons of Chicago Heights, a group of young men born and raised in Chicago Heights, and then mayoral candidate David Gonzalez this past January.

Panici is also likely to appear these days at the Three Star. The Three Star hosts Panici and his friends on Wednesdays, a group which includes 92-year-old Amedio Macetti, otherwise known as Rackets to his friends. He's a lifelong Chicago Heights resident whose most endearing quality is his ability to tell great jokes.

Here's his best:

A man dies and goes to heaven. He walks up to a big house and St. Peter answers. The man tells St. Peter that he'd like to go to heaven. St. Peter responds, 'Sure but you have to spell a word first: Love.' The man gets excited. 'L-O-V-E.'

He's let in and about a month later St. Peter approaches him and tells him, 'I need to go away, please listen for the doorbell and if anyone wants to come in just make sure they spell that word.'

About a month later, the doorbell rings and his wife is at the door. 'Honey, I've died and I'm ready to join you in heaven.'

The man says, 'No problem, just spell one word: Czechoslovakia.'

Small Fry Basketball isn't the only mark Chicago Heights has left on basketball. There was a kid named Jerry Colangelo, who lived only three doors down from the Three Star. Colangelo now owns the Phoenix Suns and a force behind U.S. Olympic basketball. Back in the 1950s, he was one of the local kids growing up in Hungry Hills. These days, 22nd Street is also called Jerry Colangelo Way. His boyhood home was dedicated on July 3rd, 1998, by then-Mayor Angelo Ciambrone.

While Colangelo now lives more than a 1,000 miles from Chicago Heights, he maintains strong ties to his birth home. That includes lifelong friendships with many in the photo. In his office, Dean Perozzi proudly displays a signed photo of the entire men's 2008 USA basketball team, a gift from Colangelo. Perozzi joked, "When he gave it to me, Jerry said 'I better not see that on eBay.'"

The Three Star has been affected by the Heights's own changing history. Back in the '60s and '70s, you were lucky to get a table for lunch at Three Star.

"All the factory workers used to eat lunch here," recalls Tom King, a lifelong resident and frequent visitor.

Nowadays most lunch crowds are more subdued.

But looking around, there's a certain comfort in the nostalgia of the Three Star. It’s the circle of life wrapped up in a bar.

Editor's Note: This article originally referred to Julio Perozzi's son, Dean, as a jockey, when he was actually a driver. It also said "now-defunct Balmoral Park in Maywood," when it should have said "Balmoral Park in Crete." These errors have been corrected.