It didn’t matter if you had a bad day, a bad check-up, or your car and love life sputtered. Frank Rotondo would have your drink waiting for you and maybe a little advice, if you wanted it. Mr. Rotondo spent 48 years tending bar at L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge and its previous incarnations at the same Lincolnwood address: the Kenilworth Inn and Bones.

One time, he also served drinks at a Pump Room gathering where Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. hung out. When he started bartending, Richard Nixon was president, and customers wanted just a shot and a beer. He kept pouring ’em through the era of mixed cocktails, to umbrella drinks, to the rise of craft beer and good American wine.