Brief
Tonik bar, on 7247 Roosevelt Rd., closed its doors last month and will be replaced by a new watering hole, according to the establishment’s operating manager Marcelo Muñoz.
Information on the transaction is currently limited, although Muñoz said he purchased the bar from former owner Nik Pervan. Presently, there is no record of the sale available through the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, although there is generally a lag time of a few weeks before such information is publicized.
Muñoz did not share the name of the bar, but told the Forest Park Review that he aimed to open a “sports-bar lounge.” The bar might also serve up appetizers, but Muñoz hasn’t decided yet.
Tonik was a source of controversy with the Forest Park Police Department, the public, and the bar’s owner and patrons. There was a heavy police presence around Tonik because of reports of allegedly rowdy patrons.
In a 2010 Forest Park Review article, Pervan and many of the patrons accused police of racially profiling the bar’s largely African-American clientele. In another incident last year, an African-American woman was shocked with a Taser multiple times in the leg while she was handcuffed in the backseat of a squad car. It should be noted that she kicked out the rear window of the squad, though.
Pervan could not be reached for comment, and the Review only spoke briefly with Muñoz who did not return additional calls.
-Nick Moroni
