'Chicago rat hole' in Roscoe Village removed by city

CHICAGO -- The "Chicago rat hole," a rodent-shaped dent in a Roscoe Village sidewalk that went viral in January, was removed Wednesday morning by a city crew.

The nouveau tourist attraction was preserved but its future home is yet to be determined, the Chicago Department of Transportation said.

Crews arrived about 7 a.m. Wednesday and removed the slab of sidewalk containing the rat hole in the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street. Fresh concrete was poured before midday.

Grace Pynnonen, 28, who lives on the block, said she will miss the rat hole. It felt like she was "living next to a celebrity," she said.

"It was definitely amusing," Pynnonen said. "It put our little neighborhood on the map."

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"I was like, 'No way,'" said Pynnonen's boyfriend, Isaac Cutrara, 27. "I thought, for sure, with the amount of people it has attracted, the people would be like 'No, we're not taking it down.'"

Cutrara saw the city trucks and crew from his home office.

Cutrara hopes the rat hole is preserved somewhere accessible to the public, like a museum.

"So people don't forget what happened - the year 2024, the rat hole," Cutrara said. "It's been a fun era in Roscoe Village and sad to see it come to a close."

Though the rat hole has been around for about 20 years - and neighbors think it's a squirrel - it went viral after a local comedian posted about it on social media, leading to its own Wikipedia page and widespread media attention. A couple even tied the knot at the landmark.

But the rat hole's sudden popularity also caused difficulties for neighbors. When the rathole first exploded, visitors would be there in the morning until late into the night, Pynnonen recalled.

Pynnonen said tourists left behind inappropriate items "for a family-friendly neighborhood," like condoms, pills and alcohol, next to the rat hole.

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"Some of them left coins. That's not a big deal, but when you leave like food, you're gonna attract actual rats to the rat hole," Pynnonen said.

Pynnonen, who uses a coin-operated laundry, would often keep the quarters left behind.

"I will miss my quarter supply from the offerings that people have left," Pynnonen said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire - Copyright Chicago Sun-Times 2024.)