Maria's has been in Bridgeport since 1957, when Marge Landeck became the first woman in Chicago to hold a liquor license. The building had been operating in some form since 1885, starting as a combined bar and barbershop that ran bathtub gin upstairs during Prohibition.

The current version is a liquor store, bar, and community space that shares a wall with Kimski, a restaurant run by the family's son. Another son publishes an indie magazine out of here and runs a connected gallery space. The bar is deep and the beer list leans toward craft, including Marz Community Brewing which the family helped launch. It's a neighborhood place that has quietly outlasted almost everything around it.