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They were espousing anarchy, free love, atheism (gasp!), all kinds of beliefs that were way outside the status quo, so it naturally became a place where gay, lesbian and gender nonconforming people could live openly too. In this Bohemian district people were radicals and freethinkers. It was the home of the famous Dill Pickle Club where anyone with an interesting opinion could take the stage, openly discussing topics like homosexuality. It was filled with artists lofts, rooming houses where single men and women could afford to live on their own, small cafes, night clubs and bars. Back then this neighborhood was called Towertown. Intellectuals and bohemians of all kinds flocked to Chicago in the 1910s-20s, and many settled in the neighborhood around the Water Tower, roughly Old Town today.
Still, downtown’s swanky hotel bars and private men’s clubs were another place where gay men might congregate.
The Loop may not qualify as a real historic Chicago gay neighborhood. (We’ve arranged custom private tours which visited both of these famous hotels, by the way.)
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It boasted 100 furnished private rooms and a full complement of athletic facilities. Another was the Chicago Athletic Association, an elite private men’s club that opened in 1893. The bar at the Palmer House Hotel was one such spot. For example, certain high-end hotels and private men’s clubs developed the reputation for being “cruising” spots where men could pick up interested men. Though The Loop wasn’t a gay neighborhood per se, it was a place gay people could meet each other. Our next entry in Chicago gay neighborhood history may surprise you: The Loop. Gay Meeting Places in the Heart of the City Posh meeting spots, like the Chicago Athletic Association, sometimes became popular “cruising” destinations for gay men in Chicago. 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.
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. I started thinking about how Chicago being the “City of Neighborhoods” has intersected with the city’s LGBT history.