It was a perfect fit, in a prime location, for an under-served part of the gay community along Halsted Street. Welcome ( back ) Manhole, a one-time Chicago bar that closed 13 years ago, yet re-opened in September in the former location of Chloe's, which was part of the former Spin Nighclub.
"We felt that the time was right and the demand was there," said Mark Liberson, 52, the president of LKH Management, which operates Manhole, along with several other gay bars in Lakeview. "After successfully producing Manhole events for the past five years, we saw that there was a desire from the community for a bar like Manhole again.
Manhole was a longtime alternative/leather dance club at 3458 N. Halsted, but it was closed in 2002 when Hydrate Nightclub opened at the location in 2003.
"We revived Manhole regularly since opening Hydrate with our ongoing Manhole Events," Liberson said. "AK Miller, who is now a manager and responsible for Manhole in its new home, did an incredible job with the events, and it seemed a natural step to transition into a full-time location.
"[For] any business to survive, [it] must be constantly looking at itself and thinking toward the future. We will look at what our guests are responding positively to and continue to tweak the concept to better meet the needs of the community as we go forward. It is too early to predict what changes will be upcoming, only that you can anticipate Manhole, like all of our concepts, to develop different nights and programming with time for both the Manhole, as well as the upstairs Den at the Manhole with its pool tables, darts and a more relaxed environment."
Liberson said he has been "very pleased" with the new Manhole, and he noted that it has attracted quite a diverse audience, including men from many different generations, "which is something we strive for," he said.
Manhole is a place where people can be themselves, Liberson said. "No matter what scene [you] are into or what [your] personal preferences are, we want [visitors] to feel at home [at Manhole]," Liberson said.
The music was a major factor for the new Manhole, Liberson said. "We wanted Halsted to have an option that was different from all of the other clubs and bars. We feel it is very important to introduce new music to people as well as preserve the sounds that made the original Manhole so popular," he said. "We are carrying on a tradition that we take very seriously, which is why we enforce dress codes and policies in the Manhole, but offer admission to the [upstairs] Den at Manhole without dress code rules enforced, similar to how the front room of the original Manhole worked.
"Manhole may have a reputation of being a bad-boy bar and it is a subterranean location that is dimly lit. If people are curious, they should come check it out. Based on the return of guests each week, it appears that people like our 'hole."
Liberson said Manhole has been particularly popular with the younger generation, many of who weren't even old enough to enter a bar, any bar, when the original Manhole existed.
"The short-term goals were very simple," Liberson said. "We needed to reorganize the operation to function in a controlled manner that would enable it to survive and pay its bills. Since taking over we have instituted procedures similar to what we do at our other locations. We reorganized that operation and installed new systems to improve efficiency for bartenders to serve our guests. The next step was to get Manhole open. We can only launch one concept at a time, so we needed to get Manhole planned, created and opened.
"Now that it is open, we are modifying it, similar as we did at our other locations, all to better serve our guests."
So now Liberson and crew will shift their attention to Whiskey Trust, which they also took over management/leadership of late in the summer.
"Whiskey Trust will definitely see changes, but we are still looking at concepts for the space and identifying needs in our community that we feel could be better served in this space," Liberson said. "The space is challenging, in that the layout and large center bar reflects what was popular in the 1980s. It makes the space more challenging to develop. That being said, the new owner did a great job with the decor for the space."
Whiskey Trust recently added an event for women on the first Saturday of the month. In addition, a party with Nina Mercado of Dollhouse Chicago occurring every third Friday has been added. "We have brought back $1 drinks to the street on Wednesday, and are excited about Mannequin, a great new drag show that stands apart from any other in Boystown," Liberson said.
There are 15 people on staff at Whiskey Trust, many of whom were part of the former Spin team.
So how did Liberson and crew come to take over Whiskey Trust and Chloe's?
The owner of those bars knew Liberson through a mutual friend, who suggested he contact Liberson. "Our goal was to help him to operate his company more effectively and to develop a successful program for the spaces that were originally Spin. We did not want to see this important location on Halsted, and in our community's history, fail to survive," Liberson said.
Liberson said he was not interested in the former Spin space and did not pursue it when it was first up for sale. "We became interested only when we were contacted by the [new] owner, and our initial goal was simply to help save the owner and to set up systems to control the business and prevent it from failing," he said. "That initial engagement brought our team together to consider the spaces and envision what they could be. We feel that our reinterpretation of the lower level dance floor from Spin into Manhole is a very appropriate one for the space. And it appears that the community agrees, based upon the lines of people that were outside the bar through the night this past Saturday evening."
Hydrate was the first bar run by Liberson's company. X/O followed two years later, which ultimately became Halsted's Bar & Grill. Next was Elixir, which opened in 2011. Replay followed, which began in 2013.
Combined, Liberson's company employs 123 people through its Lakeview bars.
"At this point the former management team [of Whiskey Trust and Chloe's] is no longer involved in the operation," Liberson said. "Jason Zilberbrand, while still the primary shareholder in the operation, has returned to his original career in the airplane world. We are now operating with the team of Tyler Rathje, who has been a manager with us in all of our other locations during his long tenure with our company, and AK Miller, who was in charge of the Manhole events at Hydrate prior to the reopening of Manhole."
Liberson said most of his bar staff is "out and proud," with men and women on staff, ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-40s. There also are some DJs in their 50s.
"If we need people at any of our locations, employees of other locations are given consideration for open positions if they are interested," Liberson said. "Since each location has its own management team, it is up to them if they feel a member of our team at one location will be a good fit at another location. [Almost all] of the management team came from positions within the company, and we love that we have so many people who have grown within the company, taking on new roles and challenges, and ultimately becoming a member of the team that operates our locations."