Fixture gay muny set to close - Fort Park Review

Contents:

•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• FIXTURE GAY MUNY SET TO CLOSE
•  ILLOIS LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• GAY BAR THRIV SUBURB
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985
• THE 5 BEST ILLOIS GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ILLOIS

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

New gay bar to open Fort Park.

A new gay bar named Hard Wood is slated to open the Chigo suburb of Fort Park later this month, acrdg to the Fort Park Review. Lipka said Oak Park and Berwyn, along wh Evanston, have some of the largt gay populatns the Chigo area—and that there are few suburban gay bars, creatg an openg for this new spot.

The article is at 'Hard-Wood'-is-Fort-Park's-newt-gay-bar/. Gay and Lbian News and Feature Publitn) will be treated. (Chigo GLBT Nightlife News) and Wdy Cy Tim (a Chigo Gay,.

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

(a Chigo Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr News and Feature. GLBT Nightlife News) and Wdy Cy Tim (a Chigo Gay, Lbian.

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

One of the wtern suburbs’ few nightspots marketed almost exclively to gays is expected to close the g months. Nutbh Cy Lims, a tavern that ters predomantly to gay men, will likely close s doors late March or early April, acrdg to longtime manager Mike Jimenez. Asi om a bright, multi-lored flag reprentg gay pri, there is ltle that mak the Nutbh stand out as a homosexual that’s exactly what Jimenez and Zych have strived Nutbh ters mostly to 30-somethgs and has survived on the patronage of s regulars, Jimenez said.

Type: Gay Club.

FIXTURE GAY MUNY SET TO CLOSE

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.

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

"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.

GAY BAR THRIV SUBURB

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. "Twenty-five years ago, gay bars tend to last ltle more than four years, facg prsure om police and other thori, said Art Johnston, an owner of Sitrack, which opened on North Halsted Street 1982.

Where such bars have succeed, they have tend to be surround by a large gay and lbian clientele, as on North Halsted, which has bee "the Ma Street of gay Chigo, " Johnston said.

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

Perhaps bee of s ee-livg speakeasy roots, the tavern veloped a reputatn as a gay-iendly place s before the Nutbh opened 1976. In 1984, the Tribune stated that had been known as a gay bar sce Nutbh once drew gays om downtown Chigo search of anonymy, Matulnis said. Regular Chuck Plimmer, who grew up Oak Park, says the Nutbh was the first gay bar he ever vised.

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

"Any time you have a gay bar, you're gog to have that, " Cody said.

Many gays and lbians bee tranged om their fai when they e out. Fun Plac to Gay.