Can lol gay bars survive? Should they? - Oak Park

Contents:

•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• THE 5 BEST ILLOIS GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ILLOIS
• CAN LOL GAY BARS SURVIVE? SHOULD THEY?
• GAY BAR THRIV SUBURB
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

 ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

6 plac sorted by traveler favorGay Bars • Dance Clubs & DissWhat travelers are saygWent to hydrate to support a iend. Gay bar me directly to md and this place was remend by someone at my hotel. The DJ do not help: the mic is not gay at all, which explas the crowd.

Oak Park Gay vip bars and clubs by distance.

 ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

Oak Park vip Gay Bars and Clubs om ClubFly.

THE 5 BEST ILLOIS GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ILLOIS

ClubFly provis a gay bar, club, nightlife, and GLBT center mapper for Oak Park, Illois and the rt of the US filtered by vip Oak Park gay bars and clubs are mapped the gayborhood wh an overview, tags, ntact tails, webse, social media lks, trans/walkg directns, and drivg directns. Michael Jimenez says gay bars are an important part of the culture and hop they do not disappear as gays and lbians achieve more and more acceptance.

Wh the dt still settlg after the forced closure of Fort Park’s last gay bar, The Hiaway, 7301 W. April, and light of the earlier mise of The Nutbh, Fort Park, and the fiery (as arson) close of Oak Park’s Velvet Rope, bartenr Mike Jimenez isn’t ready to give up the ghost former Fort Park rint now liv Berwyn and he is lookg for a lol rurrectn of the gay bar scene the near wt suburbs. Until then, there is still the proverbial last gay bar standg and that’s Antron’s Bar and Grill, 6319 W.

2007 Entreprenr magaze put gay bars on s list of bs facg extctn the next 10 years, addg “only the very bt of them will survive, the others won’t. “A big reason many of the lol gay bars are gone is that they did not keep up wh the tim to ntue drawg people , ” says Jimenez, who has bartend at the two former gay bars Fort Park, and Cell Block Chigo. But, jt openg up a dive and llg a gay bar is not reason enough for people to e.

CAN LOL GAY BARS SURVIVE? SHOULD THEY?

There have been a lot of gay bars that have opened and closed the suburbs. ”David Monterosso, 54, a former Hiaway patron, says sce s closg, he and his gay iends have been enjoyg Wednday night Karaoke at Carole’s, 7307 Roosevelt Rd. Fort Park, and patronizg Poor Phil’s Oak Park for their Friday night get-togethers to watch sports, or relax on the so, he would prefer gog to a gay bar to meet new iends.

“I thk there is a lot of tth to the realy that gay upl and gay people no longer feel that they exclively need to patronize gay bars, but the Hiaway will be somewhat missed, ” says Charlie Yglg, Yglg, a nurse practner says is that he often would gather at the bar to unwd after work wh straight female workers.

GAY BAR THRIV SUBURB

He acknowledg that among most gay people, cludg himself, there is still an ternalized fear and mistst toward others regardg how a gay person may be perceived public, pecially if a uple choos to hold hands, or publicly display affectn. “I would not be disappoted to see a new gay bar open the Hiaway’s space, ” says Yglg, who recently legally “re-married” his long-time partner June.

”Yet, what Jimenez and Monterosso are hopg is that a new gay bar will emerge beyond the mors that are circulatg now. “I thk there is a huge need for a gay bar out here, for a sense of muny [bee] thgs bee more open, we are startg to lose a part of our inty [cludg] the remembrance of how we got here. For me, the gay bar is part of all that, so I don’t thk is dyg, but evolutn, and between Berwyn, Oak Park and Fort Park, there is a large populatn of dividuals who would love to see one open aga.

Back when owner Mike Zych first started at the Nutbh Cy Lims, he kept a Louisville Slugger unr the bar to chase off punks who threatened his gay, a group of teens showed up yellg slurs and menacg ctomers the parkg lot of the Fort Park tavern. Zych, a Vietnam veteran and South Sir, says he persuad them to move along by smashg the headlights of their statn wagon wh his week the Nutbh celebrat s 30th anniversary--and a history that cis wh sweepg chang the way gays are perceived, both the natn at large and the suburbs where homosexuals long lived closeted liv and had few public plac to socialize. "Don't fet, back the early years, gay people didn't have no place to go, " said Zych, a no-nonsense saloonkeeper a whe shirt and black vt.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

"Dpe the asslts, the Nutbh beme a rare haven the wtern suburbs where an openly gay uple uld sip a beer whout worryg some bully across the bar might pick a fight or lob a verbal stk bomb to their bar has s bawdy si: It sometim hosts "leather nights" and strippers, and s newsletter ntas a photo of the backsi of a man droppg his pants. "Wayne Brekh, a Universy of Missouri-Columbia soclogist who has studied suburban gays, said the suatn has changed radilly recent years. Once was rare to fd gay bars outsi urban centers.

Now such tablishments are more monplace, though they tend to be more generic--like the Nutbh--and ls foced on a particular theme or, suburban gays live more openly than they once did as stigmas wane, said Brekh, the thor of "Peacks, Chameleons, Centrs: Gay Suburbia and the Grammar of Social Inty.