Our original location on West Madison was pretty far west! The “King of Cowboys” once visited Billy Goat Sianis at the original Billy Goat Tavern on West Madison Street. Chicago hosted an annual rodeo at the Chicago Stadium across the street from Billy Goat Tavern. Many of the biggest movie cowboys of the time paid The Goat a visit, and none were bigger than Roy Rogers.
I was 7 yrs. old. Mom knew a lot of the workers at the stadium. Some lived on Honore. So we got to meet Roy Rogers and his wife Dale Evans, also the horses Triger and Buttermilk. I remember the original Billy Goat Inn. There were goats on the roof . My brother age 6 at the time sneeked up to the roof from the alley behind the inn to pet the goats. He fell off the roof and went to the hospital. All he had was a bloody nose. Year past and I went to work downtown at a bank. LO-and behold I got off the bus, went walking down the stree and there was The Billy Goat Inn.