The Infamous Cafe Al Capone Used To Frequent Along Route 66

Nestled along an obscure stretch of highway in the ghost of a long bygone industrial corridor sits one of the last vestiges of the throughway diners that once defined Route 66. The Luna Café is one of the few eateries on the famed U.S. highway that remains open to the general public. The tavern sits on the Land of Lincoln side of the Mississippi River — about a 20-mile drive from downtown St. Louis — and still serves brews and pub food in the deserted steel town of Mitchell, Illinois.

The dive bar, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, is quietly a living ode to mob nostalgia. It was once a watering hole that catered to road-weary carousers of the Prohibition era. And one of the Roaring Twenties' most notorious gangsters frequented Luna Café during his heyday. As legend has it, Al Capone regularly visited the speakeasy when he ducked away from the Windy City confines to chop it up with his underworld allies in and around the Show Me State.  

Scarface and his gangster friends placed bets in a secret — and very illegal — gambling room in the basement of the café, according to local lore. One of the roadhouse's coolest twists was its neon sign outside. When the red cherry in the cocktail glass lit up, it was a bat signal to patrons in the area that the ladies of the night were working in the upstairs bedrooms, and a racy night of fun was on the menu.

Nowadays, Luna Café is an ordinary bar with a pool table, $2 Budweiser specials, and food trucks. Its refurbished sign outside still pays homage to its reputed past, prominently advertising steak, chicken, and seafood. It's a tongue-in-cheek nod to the interesting origin story just beneath the surface, hearkening back to a time when it attracted a mixture of railway workers, wealthy St. Louis diners, and dapper criminals. 

The lore of Luna's history with infamous figures like Capone still attracts curious roadtrippers zipping cross country on Route 66. Travelers aware of the little-known ties to organized crime show up to get a whiff of the bar's mafioso juju. None of the rumors have been proven indisputably true over the years, but tales of Capone's visits are well-established in the trenches of southwestern Illinois.

While Chicago offers cool glimpses of Capone's old haunts with hallowed-out walls and secret passwords, and underground saloons tucked behind incognito passageways, those are hundreds of miles away from Route 66. Luna Café remains under the same roof that the iconic gangster often came to enjoy gambling, girls, and whiskey while hiding away from the authorities in the throes of his outlaw lifestyle. That's made Luna an unexpected tourist attraction in a surprising spot on the map.