Sally's Stage

Sally's Original Bar-B-Q eventually closed. Joe Bortz purchased the building and reopened under the name "Sallys Stage" where the waitresses sang and were on roller skates. "Food played second banana at vaudeville-style eatery". The opening date was cited by the Chicago Tribune as being in 1977. The Bortz Brothers ran the restaurant until 1983, when they sold it to Bob Proskin.

The large neon sign (a West Ridge icon for 35 years) was kept, when it became Sally's Stage which offered bad food, roller skating waitresses, and a large pipe organ. They went out about 5 years later when folks got tired of the schtick and bad food.

Sally's Stage, according to a Chicago Tribune article dated April 26, 1985, was still going strong, with the waitresses on skates etc. It closed by the time of a Tribune article in 1993 about Western Avenue.

A second location of Sally's Stage opened in Lombard in 1979. The Lombard location became Blue Suede Shoes in 1983 and was sold in 1986. It is now the home of Whirlyball.