The Trip ...
"There was a bar called the Trip, up on the second floor on Ohio. Downstairs was dining, upstairs was cocktails and cruising, and I remember the second or third time there, another teacher from my school was there, and said, 'My dear, I knew you were one.' Once word spread to all the dykes and fruits at school, I was marked, 'Oh we have a new one on the faculty.' I ended up having a relationship with another teacher. Being new to the gay scene I was real trashy back then. Then I heard about the reputation of the Gold Coast. I really didn't know much about the leather scene back then, but I would hang around there. At that time it was anything goes."
Carol's Coming Out Pub ...
"It was a little nondescript bar, and someone said, 'If you want to get out of the loop you hang out there.' That's when I met Mother Carol Farnham who was the proprietor. It was a sandwich size bar. At weekends they had a postage stamp dancefloor, maybe 6' X 10', just a square in the middle of the bar area. Mother Carol was never one to be bitchy or wicked. If someone came in there, and they needed a drink, she would buy them a drink. Very generous. I got to know the bartenders and behind Mother Carol's they had a garden. Real small.
"Then she opened Carol's in Exile on Broadway. It wasn't as much fun as the first one, it was an awkward bar, you had to walk down and there were lots of fans and vents above. They had a stage and Carol would always do her thing and Tillie would always do 'Mention My Name in Sheboygan,' and all these drag numbers. Carol was a hoot, she was always drunk, we were all drunk.
"I'm in AA now, but looking back Carol was a terrible drunk. Carol was just a party girl. That bar was not a pickup bar, it was more her regulars that came from the Coming Out Pub. That was maybe '77, '78 and it was changing into the Disco era. Carol's in Exile was opposite the Jewel on Broadway. I remember because I always had to go and cash a check. She had the best pinball in town, and we would rotate between Carol's and Little Jim's. The big thing then was video games and pinball."
Carol's bars ...
"We got to know Ida, the coat check girl, who was a big Puerto Rican, but she was part of Carol's entourage. Pumpkin was a bartender at the first bar and then came over to the second, rather obese but a nice guy. Now, I don't know all the details, so you may have to verify this, but he was murdered, gay-bashed. What Carol eventually did is try a third bar called Pumpkins, that was his drag name. The bar was eventually Mother's Other, but she opened it in honor of Pumpkin. That bar was kind of pre-Gentry-ish. None of Carol's bars were ever sleazy.
"Carol would sit at the bar and she'd be out of it, but she would always provide food, her bartenders were well-liked and she nurtured and propped them up, making sure they appeared in one of the go-go boy contests. The funniest incident was in one of the gay pride parades, Carol was a leader on a float and she was so drunk that she said, 'Let's go this way,' and the whole parade went off the route and followed her.
Carol's last bar ...
"Then she had the Speakeasy with the cocktail bar in the front, then there was a dancefloor, then there was a low light area for cruising, then at the back there was their so-called leather cell, where they had porn movies playing ...
"On Friday and Saturday night we would always stay 'til closing, and Carol would sit and chat with us. One night she said, 'My clean-up crew can't make it, would you guys mind staying and cleaning the bar after it closes?' We said, 'Sure,' but once the lights went up you wouldn't believe what we found on the floor: popper bottles, roach clips, drug paraphernalia, earrings, trick numbers, IDs, credit cards."
Last call ...
"My last memory was Carol's birthday and she was sitting with drink upon drink in front of her. Someone had sent her a camp birthday card, and on the inside there was a feather. She must have sat there for six hours, and every half hour she would look up at the card and blow the feather, then she would go back to drinking. Four or five days later she died. She was a fun, fun person, but it was the booze that killed her."
Memory check: Richard Carroll Farnham ( Mother Carol ) operated four bars: Carol's Coming Out Pub ( 2519 N. Halsted St. ) , Carol in Exile ( 3510 N. Broadway ) , Mother's Other ( 2548 N. Halsted St. ) and Carol's Speakeasy ( 1355 N. Wells St. ) . He died Sept. 30, 1979.
In the late '60s Farnham was a produce buyer for National Tea, then later a grocer and manager of two national supermarkets in Aurora. He left the business in 1970 and moved to Chicago, where he became a booking agent for rock bands and other entertainers. He opened his first bar in 1972. Richard Carroll Farnham is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that-;memories —and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times. You can leave a message at 773-871-7610; sukiedelacroix@iname.com