CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - It's been called the "home of the Drinking Illini".
That’s Kam's bar in the University of Illinois Campustown.
This week, demo work started near the Kam's building. The incoming changes will soon mark the end of an era.
WAND News spoke to a few members of the campus community about how they feel about losing the bar. They reflected on enough memories to last a lifetime.
"Long live the cup of shots, that was the best drink at Kam's," University of Illinois senior and former Kam’s Bartender Luke Wolff shared.
"The weekend that it was closing you could just tell so many alums and people who went to school here came back to see it one last time," senior Nora Halleran added.
Both seniors felt the local landmark had a special quality about it.
"I think because it's just like been here forever and everyone just goes and has a good time. There's no expectations when you go to Kam's. You can just go with your friends and have fun," Halleran explained.
"You didn't even have to text anyone,” Wolff shared. “You'd just show up and find someone that you knew."
If the walls of the old Kam’s could talk, they'd share tales from Thursday Happy Hour, to the more ... unique encounters.
"It was like a legitimate, live, penguin that was in the bar one time to raise awareness for animal cruelty or something like that,” Wolff exclaimed. “It was crazy!"
Just because the building on East Daniel Street is set to go in the coming days, it doesn't mean that's the end for Kam's. Expect a new chapter coming in 2020.
The bar is set to re-open at a new location at First and Green Streets in Champaign. It's slated to share a building with two other bars.
While it isn’t the original Kam’s, both Halleran and Wolff agree they’ll be by to support the new Kam’s.
“I work at a different bar now, but I'll be there a few times,” said Wolff.
Kam's and other buildings along the stretch of East Daniel Street are being knocked down to make way for an apartment, office and retail complex.
