The Story of Big Chicks, the Inic Chigo Gay Bar | Bon Appét

Contents:

• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS
•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• CHIGO HAS 3 OF THE ‘BT GAY BARS AMERI,' ESQUIRE SAYS
• “I THK WE HAVE A GAY BAR”
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• CHIGO GAY BARS
• “I THK WE HAVE A GAY BAR”

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

Mark Hunter was drivg to the grand openg of Hunters Chigo, a gay bar northwt suburban Elk Grove Village, on that Friday mid-October 1982, when his r broke down several blocks away. But we cid that the bt offer was om Robert, particularly bee he wanted to keep as a gay bar. I thk 's important to have a gay bar the northwt suburbs.

Bmbgh tagged Hunters as "an inic part of the muny for over 30 years, " and said that when he heard the bar was for sale, "I jumped at the opportuny and I'm lighted that PhoenixBar will ntue to serve the gay muny om this premier northwt suburban lotn.

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

"Wh the help of ProgrsBar's creator, David Sikora, and the new PhoenixBar general manager, Jt Romme, our team is credibly energized to bee the premier gay bar and nightclub suburban Chigo.

CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS

Fun Plac to Gay. Hunters officially closed on September 22nd 2013 and beme Phoenix Bar also a gay male bar n by Progrs bar owner, Robert Bmbgh.

Phoenix Bar: was a premier gay bar & nightclub the suburbs, which opened October 2013 wh a whole new look and a whole new attu.

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

Gay and Lbian News and Feature Publitn) will be treated.

(Chigo GLBT Nightlife News) and Wdy Cy Tim (a Chigo Gay,.

CHIGO HAS 3 OF THE ‘BT GAY BARS AMERI,' ESQUIRE SAYS

(a Chigo Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr News and Feature. GLBT Nightlife News) and Wdy Cy Tim (a Chigo Gay, Lbian. Our gay and lbian bars have a ltle b of somethg for everyone, wh late-night loung, dance clubs, burlque and drag shows, and long-standg neighborhood waterg hol almost every rner of the cy.

And each wh their own unique history and out some of the bt gay bars and clubs to experience Chigo’s LGBTQ+ nightlife scene. Jeffery PubOne of the cy’s olst gay bars, Jeffery Pub is a neighborhood stutn. The South Shore staple is also one of Chigo’s first black-owned gay bars, makg all the more meangful for the spot’s many regulars.

Come for trivia, the ee Sunday night buffet, and the themed dance parti — then e back the next morng for bnch at attached sister rtrant ClosetYou n’t talk about gay bars Chigo whout talkg about Northalsted (also known as Boystown). Come for happy hour, Sunday afternoon mimosas, or late StoryLookg for a gay bar near downtown Chigo? There’s a reason so many young queer people flock to Chigo and never leave: the cy’s gay scene is fun as hell.

“I THK WE HAVE A GAY BAR”

Boystown, of urse, is the cy’s official gayborhood, wh LGBTQ-iendly bars, rtrant, and clubs occupyg nearly every storeont on Northalsted. But Chigo’s queer muny exists far outsi the Lakeview enclave—and so do the great gay bars. Whether they clu drag, dancg, or are div—or a ltle b of all three—Chigo’s bt gay bars have a ltle somethg for everyone.

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

Gay Edgewater rints of all ag ll themselv regulars at this iendly, sual dive bar.

This Uptown spot featur a relatively mixed-genr clientele ( the scheme of gay bars). Wh no distguishg signage outsi, this unmarked dive is much more discreet than s very gay clientele is. Sitrack is generally herald as the kg of Chigo gay bars, and not for no reason: the sprawlg plex featur five different bars year-round.

Add another two the summertime, when the upstairs pat—one of Chigo’s bt, gay or straight—is open for bs.

CHIGO GAY BARS

Not only is the Jefey Pub one of the olst gay bars the untry, ’s also the only black-owned LGBTQ bar Chigo. The magaze released a list of "The 32 Bt Gay Bars Ameri, " wh Chigo beg home to three.

Now, the cy's gettg regnn for boastg three of the bt gay bars the untry, acrdg to Esquire. Louis as among the bt gay bars. Technilly, the old guys were stg a gay bar now, but they didn’t know or didn’t re.

Fire, who prevly bartend at a late-night gay bar lled the Loadg Dock, had never seen anythg like Sundays she oked. She wanted to thank the old guys—hell, the gay guys weren’t exactly knockg down the door—and, bis, they looked like they uld e a meal. Four years, five years, until the sexy gay boys fally showed a cince that thgs started to change the mute she put a piece of art on the walls?

“I THK WE HAVE A GAY BAR”

“I thk we have a gay bar, ” he three m, Fire’s first piece of art for Big Chicks. Big Chicks never f neatly to the gay bar mold. Maybe a bar n by a woman who self-intifi as beg of “termate sexual proclivi”—a bar named Big Chicks, for Christ’s sake—never had a chance of beg a typil gay that typil was the goal.

Photo by W Frazer“The unmon energy of muny”“When you travel around the untry, you realize how homogenized everythg has bee, ” Fire says to me. She’s not talkg about gay bars specifilly, but that’s where my md go.

I thk about the gay bars I know where skny boys and fat genrqueers grd on the same dance floor. And I thk about the more mon gay bars, the on full of whe guys on their phon. There are some nights—pecially ever sce the Far North Si beme wealthier, as all those SROs beme ndos—when Big Chicks looks homogenized red velvet ke.