Chicago gay bars 1980s
Owen Keehnen remembers the Belmont Rocks like he was there yesterday. On summer afternoons in the mids, he would stroll up the lakefront from Diversey Harbor. As he approached Belmont Avenue, he&#;d view a large grassy expanse punctuated on one side by a series of tiered limestone blocks that separated the city from Lake Michigan. Sprawled out along the grass and rocks, men cruised and canoodled. Some were clad in Speedos. Others wore loincloths. A few discreetly sunbathed in the nude. The warm air crackled with erotic energy.
Like so many LGBTQ Chicagoans of a certain age, Keehnen came to &#;the Rocks&#; to adore a relatively newfound appetite of queer liberation. At the time, the Boystown bar scene was just emerging, with taprooms such as the Closet and Little Jim&#;s and a shiny new video block called Sidetrack. But those were domains of the night, when it was safer for homosexuals to surface. The Belmont Rocks was the rare detect where the queer society could mix and mingle in broad daylight all summer long as traffic whizzed past on Lake Shore Drive. It was nothing sh
Beyond Stonewall: How Queer History Looks Alternative From Chicago
In , gay activists in Chicago achieved a surprising victory. They successfully pressured the owners of the city’s biggest same-sex attracted bars to descend their policy of throwing out any same-sex couple that danced together. And they couldn’t contain done it without a little support from the Inky Muslims—or at least their insurance agent.
Just boycott the lgbtq+ bars for one night, the activists urged their fellow citizens. “Come to the Liberation Dance at the Coliseum and see what it’s like to undertake your thing in public,” read the flyers. It was a bold approach, but there was a problem: The venue required an insurance policy, and every insurance intermediary the organizers approached said the uncertainty was too excellent that the police would raid the dance, cart the attendees off to jail, and levy fines. Only on the day before the dance did the activists uncover a broker who’d sell them a policy—a black dude whose company had insured the Nation of Islam’s annual convention at the same venue several weeks earlier.
In my work as an historian of queer American life
As one of the busiest industrial centers and transportation hubs in the United States, Chicago at the beginning of the twentieth century attracted thousands of single women and men with new employment opportunities and nonfamilial living arrangements in the lodging-house districts of the Near North and Near South Sides. The anonymous and transient character of these neighborhoods permitted the development of Chicago's womxn loving womxn and gay subculture. During the early years of the century, much of this subculture was centered in the Levee, a working-class entertainment and vice district. Here, several saloons and dance halls catered to lgbtq+ men and featured female impersonation acts. By , the Vice Commission of Chicago noted the presence of “whole groups and colonies of these men who are sex perverts,” many of them working as department-store clerks in the Loop. The lesbian presence in the metropolis was less visible during these years, in part because many working-clas
LGBTQ+ nightlife in Chicago: queer and lesbian bars, clubs, and more
Chicago’s nightlife is a lot like the city itself — inclusive, diverse, and welcoming to all. It’s also a whole lot of pleasurable. Our gay and womxn loving womxn bars have a minuscule bit of something for everyone, with late-night lounges, dance clubs,burlesque and flamboyant shows, and long-standing neighborhood watering holes in almost every corner of the city. And each comes with their own one-of-a-kind history and vibe.
Check out some of the foremost gay bars and clubs to experience Chicago’s homosexual nightlife scene.
Jeffery Pub
One of the city’s oldest male lover bars, Jeffery Pub is a neighborhood institution. The South Shore staple is also one of Chicago’s first black-owned gay bars, making it all the more meaningful for the spot’s many regulars. Don’t miss the live show, like karaoke nights, Silky Soul Sundays, and a lively dance floor featuring everything from pop to house music.
Big Chicks
This lively and colorful spot is part LGBTQ hangout, part art gallery. The walls are plastered with the owner’s personal collection of paintin