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Thus, it became an early haven for queer people to meet each other too. That meant it behooved everyone in the Levee to be discreet. Alcohol, drugs and sexy good times abounded. People who wanted something that wasn’t strictly in line with mainstream morals could find it in the Levee. With their protection, numerous brothels, like the famous Everleigh Club, set up shop there. Crooked politicians, most famously “Bathhouse” Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Kenna, ruled the Levee. The most riotous was the Levee, in the South Loop. Rollicking vice districts soon became a staple feature of Chicago. The city afforded opportunity for work, possibly for riches, and also for freedom or anonymity. Let me set the scene: Chicago was growing like crazy in the late 19th century, the population doubling approximately every ten years. Still, the first concentrated area where gay men and women lived or worked was the Levee.
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This might be stretching the definition of “gay neighborhood” a little bit. We can also create custom tours and original content creation about this Chicago topic and countless others. Join us for our public virtual events or book an exclusive team-building event for your private group. We research Chicago history and architecture like this while developing our live virtual events and custom corporate events. To celebrate LGBT Pride Month, we thought we’d look back at Chicago’s gay neighborhood history before Boystown. I love Chicago’s LGBT History and was pleased to share a presentation on the topic as a public speaker for a corporate client recently. Our town hosted the country’s first gay rights organization, its first Pride Parade, and much more. Indeed, Chicago has played a huge role in LGBT history in America. Chicago gay neighborhood history stretches back over a century though. It was the first such designation in American history. Daley designated it the city’s official gay neighborhood. Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood made history in 1997 when Mayor Richard M. Strange Cargo Tees and More: This shop was a lot of fun.I started thinking about how Chicago being the “City of Neighborhoods” has intersected with the city’s LGBT history.Women and Children First Bookstore: lesbian founded and co owned bookstore which has lots of LGBTQ+ material.We really loved their explanation of their store to explain it as a safe space for anyone from the LGBTQ+ community, for example a newly trans person looking for their first shaving product could feel safe to have that open discussion here.
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AndersonvilleĪndersonville is the second major gay neighbourhood in Chicago and has it own unique charm which is quite different to Boystown.Īndersonville is a small gay neighbourhood, but is one of the highest populated LGBTQ areas of Chicago. Look out for the plaques that line the streets on decorative pillars that commemorate either an LGBTQ hero or heroine from history or a significant LGBTQ historical event.Ĭheck out some of the gay bars in Boystown further on in this guide. It really feels like a little gay utopia where things have been turned on their head and its homonormative here not heteronormative! It should come as no surprise that Boystown is the place to go for gay bars and clubs during the evening, but also for drinks and dinner during the day. It’s streets and crossings are lined with rainbows and it was named the “best gay neighbourhood in the world” by Out Traveler magazine! When you are looking into gay Chicago, Boystown will and should be, right at the top of your list.īoystown was the first officially recognised gay community in the US. Andersonville Northhalsted (aka Boystown) Chicago has two very distinct gay areas, Northhalsted (previously known as Boystown) and Andersonville (affectionately known as MANdersonville).