Prior to The Kerryman, the space served as Doc's River North, and billed itself as the only neighbourhood bar in River North. Prior to Doc's it was the trendy Tonic 661, which served Southern cuisine. Before that, it was the Wonton Club, Joey's Italian Kitchen, a punk rock legend called O'Banion's.

O'Banions was named after Dean O'Banion who was an Irish-American mobster and the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920's. Who apparently used to work at another previous tenant at this particular spot (661 N. Clark St)... "O'Banion wowed patrons with his beautiful Irish tenor voice at McGovern's Liberty Inn, where he worked as a singing waiter; later, he and his pals would rob drunken customers of their wallets and mug others outside"

Before O'Banion's, it was PQ's, before that the largest strip club in Chicago in the 1950's called McGovern's Liberty Inn, and simply McGovern's Saloon, hangout for the likes of Bugs Moran and illustrious gambling kingpin Mont Tennes during the Gangster Era and Dean O'Banions apparent place of work, before that. The Kerryman is the latest of many incarnations at this site.

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