ROSCOE VILLAGE — Over the past two weeks, a rat-shaped hole in a Roscoe Village sidewalk has drawn crowds of fans, curious neighbors, shrines and even a proposal and wedding ceremony.
But some neighbors want everyone to calm down.
Along with admirers, the rat hole has attracted garbage that piles up on the sidewalk, vandalism, cars honking as they drive by, late night chants and more, according to neighbors.
There is a “total loss of privacy, especially for ground floor tenants,” one Roscoe Village resident posted on Reddit in a public plea for the end to rat hole madness.
“This past weekend was absolute hell for me and my neighbors,” they wrote. “We have always liked the rat (or squirrel) — it was a cute, quirky little thing in our neighborhood. People would smile and laugh as they walked by, and that was it. It’s been there at least 20 years.
“But now the internet has learned about it, and taken things waaaaay too far. What was once a fun little quirk has become a trashy, cheap marketing ploy.”
Neighbors near 1918 W. Roscoe St. are making a “gentle plea” to visitors of the Roscoe Village rodent hole — which many locals believe is actually a squirrel — to be more respectful of those who live around it.
“Let me reiterate that we don’t want to fill in or otherwise destroy the rat hole. I’m glad that it has brought people joy,” rat-hole-neighbor wrote. “But we need you all to chill out. Please.”
The rat hole became a sensation after Winslow Dumaine, a local comedian and artist, snapped a photo and created a viral post, triggering an outpouring of love for the curious sidewalk imprint. Dumaine has similarly urged fans not to bother neighbors when they visit.
Maggie, a neighbor who has lived near the rat hole for two years, said it was a “harmless” and “little quirk” in the neighborhood before it went viral.
“We would occasionally hear people being really surprised by it, they would take pictures. It was kind of harmless,” she said. “It really hasn’t been an issue until it has recently gone viral.”
Now the rat hole draws dozens of visitors a day, and they often bring gifts. Maggie said she’s found alcohol, weed, a variety of drugs, a vial of testosterone, condoms, cigarettes, food and more around the sidewalk, which she and neighbors have had to clean up.
“The shrines and everything are nice, but this isn’t like a historic landmark,” Maggie said. “There’s no one designated to clean up after it, so it’s just been us and the neighbors next door that have been cleaning up.”
She’s also worried food offerings from visitors might lead real rodents to the rat hole and her home.
“Rats run in packs,” Maggie said. “So if one rat were to come and see that there’s fresh cheese here every day, more rats would come. They nest, they burrow. We just don’t want a nest of rats burrowing in the foundation of our house.”
About a dozen people were crowded around the rat hole at any given time throughout the day this past weekend, Maggie said. At one point, a line formed and stretched down the block to Wolcott Avenue.
Maggie said she understands noise comes with living in a big city, but the crowds have been a bit much for a normally quiet block. She doesn’t want to fill the rat hole and hopes people can still have fun with the attraction while not bothering neighbors.
“I think the idea of treating it like a wishing well is kind of fun, and I think that might be the easiest way,” she said. “If you want to toss a coin in, take a pic, I think that’s nice. The leaving of the stuff, it’s just someone has to clean it up eventually. And it’s being put on us, the community.
“I understand why everyone else in the neighborhood thinks it’s great, but the onus is being put on us to take care of it, which is kind of a lot.”
Other neighbors have benefitted from the rat hole, however bizarre its popularity.
Matt Kozlowksi, longtime resident and the owner of the nearby Four Moon Tavern, 1847 W. Roscoe St., said the rat hole has been good for business.
“On Saturday, about half of our business was people who came to the rat hole and came in for a drink afterward,” Kozlowski said. “We are getting business from the rat hole, which is absurd.”
Kozlowski said he’s been in the neighborhood for 25 years, and the rat hole has always been there. But this is the first time he’s gotten business from it, he said.
“All of my regulars are like, ‘For that thing? That thing’s been there forever.’ For some reason, something took off because a certain person tweeted something,” Kozlowski said. “That’s a very recent phenomenon.”
Kozlowksi sympathizes with neighbors who are dealing with increased litter and noise, but he also said he’s “all for stupid, silly stuff.”
“It’s not going to last forever,” Kozlowski said. “Pretty soon, someone’s dog is going to look like Abraham Lincoln and we’re all going to pay attention to that. Weird stuff happens. I can’t explain it.”
Lora Bothwell, a daycare provider who lives a few houses down from the rat hole, said although parents have struggled to find parking when picking up their kids, she’s a fan of the rat hole and its popularity.
“I agree with some of the neighbors that are like, ‘Please stop putting food out there.’ We don’t want to attract the real rodents, so I totally get that,” Bothwell said. “But I think it’s fun. It’s really brought people together.”
A Whirlwind Weekend Of ‘Hole-y Ratrimony’
When Minneapolis residents Molly Widstrom and Michael Obler planned a trip to Chicago this weekend, they knew they had to check out the infamous rat hole.
There, inches away from the rodent-shaped indentation, Obler dropped to one knee Saturday and popped the question in front of about 40 bystanders.
Widstrom’s post of the proposal has over 4 million views and nearly 80,000 likes.
The two met last spring, they said. Following a brief period apart, they reconnected when they became neighbors and have been together since. The couple had already been discussing marriage, and they said they mutually agreed a proposal by the rat hole would be “just a fun thing to do.”
“I’ve been calling it a crime of opportunity,” Widstrom said. “A friend of mine on Twitter said something like, ‘I would like to see a proposal at the rat hole.’ And I was like, ‘Game on.’ So we found ourselves near the rat hole, and we had already pretty much decided that we’re going to get married.”
“Hopefully by doing this we can put smiles on people’s faces and have our little story of things we can talk about when we are married,” Obler said. “Forty years from now, we can say, ‘Hey, this made apparently a lot of people happy, and it made us extremely happy.’”
Hours later, another couple made their way to the rat hole – this time, to get married.
Roscoe Village resident Raj Sarathy said he and his now-husband wanted to get married by a Chicago monument. They considered spots like The Bean and Pritzker Pavilion before finally deciding on the rat hole just nine days before the wedding.
“I wanted something that was very groundbreaking,” Sarathy said.
The location was inspired by a conversation in which Sarathy called his partner the “rattiest husband.”
“We looked at each other in the eyes and we said, ‘Why don’t we get married at the rat hole?’” Sarathy said. “That’s when I reached out to my wedding planner to make that actually become a reality.”
Lica Sato-Keene, a wedding and event planner, said she wasn’t surprised when Sarathy came to her with the rat hole idea. The two are longtime friends, and Sato-Keene knows Sarathy’s adventurous personality all too well, she said.
Sarathy gathered with his fiancé around 5 p.m. Saturday following a more traditional West Loop reception. Along with Sarathy’s close friends and family, there was a crowd of about 50 people already at the rat hole who attended the ceremony.
One accidental attendee posted the rat hole wedding to X, and in true rat hole fashion, it took off. It since garnered nearly 7 million impressions and over 80,000 likes.
“Everybody at the rat hole is literally the nicest person you’ve ever met,” Sato-Keene said. “As a wedding and event planner, you don’t usually move the decor. Once the decor’s there, it’s there. We had to figure out a way to break it into pieces, put it in the business van and transfer it there. There were people at the rat hole just helping us carry these [balloons] across the street. It was so funny and sweet.”
Sarathy said the couple plans to continue the rat-themed festivities through their honeymoon by visiting some of the world’s “rattiest” cities, starting with New York. They’re also considering places like Los Angeles, Singapore, Detroit and Philadelphia.
“I’m just excited that this is the start of my future journey,” Sarathy said. “We do want to bring a positive impact on our community, out of the attention this has brought, and do something good out of it.”
As some neighbors tire of the hole, others are still determined to celebrate it.
The Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce held a contest to christen the local landmark, and “Splatatouille” was the clear winner. Over 1,000 people voted between Friday and Saturday, chamber Executive Director Becca Girsch said.
The contest could have been spoiled when someone tried to fill and cover the rat hole Friday morning with concrete or something similar. But, neighbors and fans rushed to the rescue to dig it out and restore the indentation.
Girsch and her coworkers have been intently following the rat hole saga as it unfolds and were shocked when The New York Times picked up the story, she said.
“We’re playing along with the neighborhood and never imagined that this would be picked up at all,” she said. “Maybe the cold weather and the lack of a successful sports team in the city is kind helping this get people’s attention.
“We don’t need to build a tower to the rat, but we love that he’s part of the neighborhood. And it’s kind of a testimony to the fun people are having with it, that people are making the trek in this terrible week of weather we’ve had. People are bundling up and going over there to see it because it’s become kind of a conversation point.”
Block Club’s Alex V. Hernandez contributed.
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