30 Bt Gay Bars & Clubs Chigo Has to Go Drkg at Tonight

Contents:

• GAY IN CHUCK RENSLOW, FOUNR OF INTERNATNAL MR. LEATHER, DI AT 87
• GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS CHIGO
• THE GOLD COAST DON'T HAVE A GAY BAR, BUT THE DRAG QUEENS BEHD FLAMBOYANCE HOPE THAT WILL CHANGE
• GAY GOLD COAST
• GOLD COAST GAY MAP
• CHIGO GAY BARS

GAY IN CHUCK RENSLOW, FOUNR OF INTERNATNAL MR. LEATHER, DI AT 87

At the Chigo History Mm, a new exhib “Out Chigo” explor the stori of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Chigoans who shaped the cy and var muni over the past 150 years. In 1958, Chuck Renslow and his iends had an affy for leather that was too much for a Chigo gay bar lled Omar’s. Billed as the first gay history project of s kd ever produced by an urban mm, Out Chigo opens May 21 and explor more than 150 years of urban history, cludg the perd before the terms lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr were monly ed.

GOLD COAST, THE LEGENDARY WEHO GAY BAR, RIS OM THE DEAD

This sectn clus topics such as the bohemian life epomized by the Dill Pickle Club the 1920s; grassroots polil efforts the media and prs for LGBT civil rights; bar raids; the leather muny Chigo; and the Gay Gam. CHICAGO — Chuck Renslow, one of Chigo's earlit openly gay entreprenrs, died Thursday, but the longtime activist's leather-clad legacy ntu on. Renslow, 87, died Thursday after multiple long-term health issu and nearly seven s of pneerg the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer bs scene Chigo.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS CHIGO

Leather ntt and the Leather Archiv and Mm Rogers Park, but Renslow has a storied history of openg dozens of gay iendly bs around Chigo. Born and raised Logan Square, Renslow me out as a gay man when he was a stunt at Lane Technil High School, he told Baim, who is also the publisher of the Wdy Cy Tim.

THE GOLD COAST DON'T HAVE A GAY BAR, BUT THE DRAG QUEENS BEHD FLAMBOYANCE HOPE THAT WILL CHANGE

Wh jt a handful of gay bars Chigo entirely ntrolled by the the Mafia the 1950s, Renslow relled the "very ee atmosphere" they provid, safe om police raids thanks to payoffs om the syndite. In the early 1960s, Renslow opened Gold Coast bar, one of the first leather bars the world and among the earlit gay-owned bs the cy and went on to be the olst leather tablishment before closed 1987.

GAY GOLD COAST

RELATED: Here's Why Gay Bars Are So Important, Explaed By A Chigo Gay In. Ten years later, Renslow heard about the Stonewall Inn rts om a iend and helped anize the first Gay Pri Para Chigo.

At that pot, he also owned the drag bar Sparrow's Lounge and ntued to n his semi-nu physique photography stud, Kris Stud, which sent out photos to the gay muny at large. As gay rights rose the public dialogue, Renslow beme more active polilly, phg then-Mayor Richard J. He ntued to blaze trails bs, takg ntrol of the failg GayLife newspaper and startg Triumph, Mars and Rawhi Male magaz.

Renslow hired the first black bartenr at a gay bar and revented bathho Chigo, addg an entertament aspect to Man's Country, which remas open Anrsonville to this day. Named for the whe outfs of guts, the Whe Party grew up to 5, 000 people when such celebratns of gay life were rare. When Wt Hollywood’s Gold Coast bar shut down after 40 years last September, many speculated that the once-thrivg gay scene on Santa Moni Boulevard was down for the unt.

GOLD COAST GAY MAP

The legendary dive bar was the third gay landmark on the thoroughfare to shut down durg the panmic, followg the closure of Rage and Flamg Saddl a month before. Overstreet and his bs partner also owned Oil Can Harry’s, the landmark Country Wtern gay bar Stud Cy that shuttered last December after 52 years. (Found 1968, was the olst gay bar Los Angel—and a lnchg pad for performers om k.

Rage is returng this fall unr the ownership of former NSYNC star Lance Bass, who vows that his revamped Robertson Boulevard dis will reopen as the biggt gay nightclub the world. (Bass is also a partner Roc’s, the wildly succsful gay bar and rtrant across the street.

CHIGO GAY BARS

’s gay and nightlife scene: Wt Hollywood entreprenr Rob Novger, who recently rema the dty Circ of Books to a glossy porn emporium, began eyeg the dilapidated Gold Coast property soon after the For Sale sign went up.

We’ve both wanted to build a bar that would be an alternative to all the loud gay Weho plac wh the bad drks and awful lightg. “I thk the whole notn of ‘gay bars’ seems a b dated, ” says Schtag.

There’s no longer jt gay or straight—everythg is so much more fluid.