Christmas only comes once year, and for a growing number of people who find themselves with little to do on Christmas Eve, so does the Chicago area's biggest Jewish social event.

It's not quite eleven o'clock and the line outside Drink nightclub is at least twenty people strong, all of them alternately kvetching and shivering because the club's already packed to capacity. Inside, roughly 1,800 20-somethings—who have each forked over the $20 cover charge—squeeze through. Wanna check your coat? Sorry, the coatroom's full. Want a drink? Get in line. It's likely that this many Jews haven't been crammed this tightly together since World War II.

"It's a great alternative to Christmas Eve for people who don't celebrate Christmas," says Jason Erkes, a Fox News field producer who has been throwing these Christmas Eve parties for ten years. "And it's not just for Jewish people."

Maybe so, but if past years' demographic is any indication—black-clad young women sporting matte make-up, guys trying hard to look a lot like David Schwimmer—tonight's "Retro Eve" party is slated to be another kosher meat market. Though not one to be confused with the similar New York or Miama "Matzah Balls," which Erkes characterizes as franchises that are "kind of cheesy."

(11/30/1999)