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

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  WINDY CITY TIMES

Chicago Whispers, by Sukie de la Croix
A Very Personal Gay and Lesbian History
2000-03-08

This article shared 2864 times since Wed Mar 8, 2000
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CK/Augie's ...

"I used to go to CK and Augie's, but I would get there very late in the evening. I worked in a place where we wore long black evening gowns and I would be in such a hurry to get to CK and Augie's that I wouldn't even change out of my gown. I'd hop in a cab and get down there half an hour, or sometimes 15 minutes, before they were going to close, and they'd still charge me a cover charge. Finally, after a while, I stopped going, because usually at that hour the gals that were in there were pretty well hooked up, and if you saw somebody really together you were afraid to go over and say anything to them, unless you knew them, or unless you knew someone who could introduce you. Women's bars are not easy to get acquainted, you're liable to get in a big fight." — Joyce

My first gay bar ...

"CK's on Diversey, and it was before CK and Augie were together. I have a strong memory of walking into the bar. At that time, which I think was 䚚, there was a short period when you could drink at 19. They changed the law, and I was in that age group. So the first time I walked into CK's I was alone. I had found out about the bar from a friend of mine in junior college. I walked into the bar and I was very nervous, and a woman at the door took a step back and she looked me up and down and she said, 'Well, what are you, a butch or a femme?' And all I could say without losing a beat was, 'Well, I'm 19.' And she put her arm around me, patted my back and said in a really patronizing way, 'Maybe next year when you're older, you'll have to decide.' I never did decide. But she said that within earshot of the other women, so she was using me to make a joke. The other women were her audience. I later learned that the woman tended bar there and her style was to be very sarcastic. After a while people liked her humor, but if you were a stranger and walked in, it was more alienating than comforting. Her name was Phyllis." — Maria

Lesbian T—shirt ...

"I was first introduced to that bar by a classmate; Judy was her name. Judy wore a black T—shirt to school with two women on it, and it was the first time I saw a T—shirt of that kind. It was clearly two women, I don't think they were kissing but it was an outline of two women on her T—shirt and it was from Augie's bar on Halsted. That was before I went to Augie's.

"What I would like to say is that the thing about Augie's and CK's was the bars were small. At that time, women didn't go out as much, so if you went out you were bound to run into the people you knew, because everyone was going to the same places. So there were groups of women who knew each other and there was a feeling of comfort about that, an extra closeness that I don't see in the bars now. Some of it had to do with the technology; there weren't videos at the time so there was a lot more conversation.

"At Augie's there was a woman named Ellen who used to sing and play guitar there. She would change the names of songs. You have to remember I was 19 or 20, and this was the first time I heard a woman singing Neil Diamond's 'Solitary Man,' and she would change the name to 'I'll be what I am, a solitary woman.'" — Maria

Thanks to Achy for contacting Maria for me. Maria was a bartender at the Swan Club and Off The Line. More of her stories in two weeks time.

Memory check: CK's ( 1425 W. Diversey ) opened approx. August 1974. In January 1979 a CK's was listed at 2417 N. Milwaukee; does anyone know anything about this bar? Augie's ( 3729 N. Halsted ) opened in 1974. CK/Augie's ( 3726 N. Broadway ) opened approx. September 1979.

Chicago historian, the late Gregory Sprague, wrote about the Oak Street ( gay ) beach in his notes for his lecture, "Discovering the Thriving Gay Male Subculture of Chicago During the 1920s & 1930s." ( the notes are written by hand and can be found in the Chicago Historical Society ) . He wrote:

"In Chicago, the public cruising areas included:

* Public toilets: elevated train stations and the Public Library Building.

* Streets: especially downtown in Loop State Street in front of Marshall Field's, Michigan Ave., from Loop north to Drake Hotel.

* Parks: Bug House Square. Grant Park ( lower classes, homeless men ) . Oak Street Beach.

A man told a showgirl in the early 䙮s how queers cruise Oak Street Beach:

"They sat down on the beaches and watch for trade and when they see some boy they like real well they get up and follow him and try to break conversation with him. They never hang around one place too long for fear that the law will get wise and they usually know the detectives and when they see them they stay clear of the place."

Also worth a mention, in a book called Vittles & Vice by Patricia Bronte ( Published in 1952 ) , in a chapter entitled "The Lake Dwellers" ( Page 179 ) , the author writes: "For many thousands of swimmers and sun bathers the daily exodus to the beach is almost ritualistic, with fixed hours of the day and fixed locations. They form in groups, the same groups every year ... so one knows in advance that the sandy strips belong to the children and their white, Negro and oriental parents ... the concrete sections are divided between clusters of 'gay boys,' who wear two piece flowered bathing suits or dainty shorts and greet each other in sweet high—pitched voices and fluttering hand waves ... ."

Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Outlines. He also interviews over the phone or via e-mail at sukiedelacroix@iname.com

Back to Top

What a Difference a Gay Makes

The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago

by Sukie de la Croix

March 5— 11

1995: 5 Years Ago

U.S.: Scott Amedure, 32, is shot to death by Jonathan Schmitz, 24, soon after Amedure revealed he had a crush on him during a taping of The Jenny Jones Show.*Jann Wenner, editor of Rolling Stone, leaves his wife for a relationship with Matt Nye, a young staffer at Calvin Klein.*Candace Gingrich, Newt's sister, tells L.A.'s Lesbian News: "I want to try to help him see that we're not 'Other.' We're not strange people living in the nooks and crannies of society. He's fallen into that heterosexual trap that ( sexual orientation ) is a choice."*Larry Conway, an Indiana man, files suit against his former employer, The Pub restaurant and bar, charging that he was illegally fired because he has HIV.*Speaking at a Human Rights Campaign fund luncheon, Rep. Steve Gunderson, R—Wisc., acknowledges for the first time that he is gay.*The Sum of Us, Kevin Dowling's film adaptation of David Steven's play about the supportive love between a widowed father and his gay son, is in movie theaters [ and stars Russell Crowe ] .*Perpetual Motion: The Public and Private Lives of Rudolf Nureyev by Otis Stuart is in bookstores.*South Africa: Five hundred HIV—positives from 82 countries gather in Cape Town for the 7th annual International Conference for People Living with HIV and AIDS.*Canada: The Ontario Human Rights Commission fines Hamilton, Ont., Mayor Bob Morrow $5000 for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Week in 1991.*Hungary: The country's Constitutional Court legalizes common—law gay marriage.*Sweden: A neo—Nazi skinhead confesses to the brutal stabbing death of ice hockey star Peter Karlsson.

1990: 10 Years Ago

U.S.: In Washington, D.C., Senate leaders unveil a massive AIDS care and disaster relief package at a Capitol Hill press conference, bringing in actress and fundraiser Elizabeth Taylor to help draw attention to the ongoing lack of access to treatment by people with AIDS.*Three Southern California phone sex firms—Westpac Audiotext, Ramrod Enterprises, and Syncronet, Inc.—file suit to have legislation banning them overturned as unconstitutional.*Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir by Paul Monette is in bookstores.*The newly appointed superintendent of New Jersey's state police announces the termination of an undercover entrapment scheme at New Jersey Turnpike reststops that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of men on charges of "lewdness."

1985: 15 Years Ago

U.S.: Gay Rights National Lobby inherits $81,689 from the estate of a New York professor/author.*An openly lesbian law student wins a race for the University of Oregon student body president. Lynn Pickney wins 55 percent of the vote in a three—way race.*Baltimore City Council votes 11— 7 against a gay—rights bill.*The Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal from mass murderer John Wayne Gacy, convicted in 1980 of the murders of 33 young males.

1980: 20 Years Ago

U.S.: Steve Azkinazy, a 30—year—old restaurant owner and gay activist, sues the New York police department for $1 million, accusing six police officers of beating and kicking him and trying to break his fingers. The incident occurred at a demonstration in August 1979.*Time magazine reports that biological researchers have discovered a species of reptiles that are entirely female, and reproduce by parthenogenesis—meaning that no male lizards are necessary for the fertilization of their eggs. Apparently these lizards alternate between being the "active" and the "passive" partner in sexual copulation, although some do prefer one "role" over another.


This article shared 2864 times since Wed Mar 8, 2000
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