chicago whispers
by Sukie de la Croix
Talking to Henry about the
Gold Coast ...
My first gay bar in Chicago ...
"I think it was a place called the Checkmate Lounge, but it might have been the Gold Coast when it was further north on Clark Street on the opposite side of the street. I was at both of those places probably within a few weeks of each other. A friend of mine, who was a Chicago Tribune reporter, who was gay, had taken me out to those places.
"Let me explain, I was gay, and I came out in Norfolk, Virginia. I had an engineering degree and there was not enough engineering work in the state of Virginia to find a good job, so my dad, who was an Air Force officer, had an aide who was gay, and he knew it, and so my dad sent me to Evanston to live with this aide, and that was 1965.
"I can't remember anything about the Checkmate because it didn't impress me. The original Gold Coast I was at, which was their second or third bar, was a little place and, I think, the New Jamie's was later at that same location. It had Dom's art all over the walls. I agree with that guy in your column about how nice Dom was, he was a great guy. One night, later on in the '70s, at the 501 N. Clark Gold Coast, I was talking with this young guy I knew and Dom came by and this guy started off, 'Oh your art is so wonderful, such great art.' And Dom responded with, 'They're just jack-off pictures.'
"But the first Gold Coast I went to was about '67, '68, and it was very much a leather bar even then. I had never been to a leather bar before but I knew I was turned on by leather when I jacked off. Leather was a turn on to me then and it still is. I only went to that bar about two times. I don't think they had sex there, and in that era I would be very surprised if they did. I don't think they would have gotten away with it."
Gold Coast movies ...
"One Sunday afternoon I was at the Bijou, and this guy sat down and just talked, and he said, 'Come with me, I'll show you a movie that's a lot more fun.' So we went up to the Gold Coast at 501 N. Clark for their Sunday night movie. This was 10 years after I first went to a Gold Coast. It was about '73. So that was my first time in the Gold Coast at 501 N. Clark. I don't know if you've heard about their Sunday night movies, but I was sitting in the back under their 16 mm projector ... they used to get the movies from the Public Library and show them ... and the projectionist had to ask me to slow down, I was getting sucked off so much. I was in my very low 20s at the time."
In the '60s ...
"I wasn't really a bar person back then, I had a job and I did my work and I just didn't get into the other stuff yet. I hadn't flowered, as they say.
"So I really started going to the bars heavily in the '70s, and I am so glad that I was around in the '70s when things opened up fully, as far I'm concerned. You used to go to the old Sunday night movie at the Gold Coast and you literally could not walk around the bar in half an hour. It was so packed, you couldn't move. And anything and everything went on in the basement of that place. This was when Bob Maddox of Male Hide was managing the bar. He was a great guy too. He was one of my main people on the scene in this city, and I still see him often. I go to Male Hide every Saturday to pick up the gay press and I see him, but he's not there now."
Other bars ...
"I maybe went to the Bistro about 10 times, but I don't like dance bars, or loud music. I did go over to the Ozone, which was an overly loud dancebar, and I used to take pieces of cotton which I would stuff in my ears before I went in there. The noise deafened me. I only went over because Larry Seewald, who was formerly at the Gold Coast, was over there bartending. I went to see Larry. I'm a bartender type man, I go to bars to see the bartenders, as much as, or more so than, to see what's going on there."
Popular bartenders back then ...
"Angelo at the Gold Coast, I can't remember his last name but he died. His obituary was in Gay Chicago. He died after Frank Kellas took over the Gold Coast, because he worked for Frank for a while. Damien, at Buddies', now he used to work at the Gold Coast."
Gay politics ...
"I purposely, and still do, keep away from that. The nearest thing I did that was political, was when Anita Bryant was performing at the Medinah Temple, and they had a march against her, which the Gold Coast instigated. Bob Maddox was one of the people involved.
"One night, at the Gold Coast, they had a bid for the bartenders clothes, to fight Anita Bryant. So I went in and the bartenders had layers and layers of clothes on, and I bid $50 for Bob Maddox's jeans. Bob Maddox hadn't planned on this and he ended up wearing a bar towel around his waist. At the end of the night I gave him back his jeans and said, 'I don't think these are my size.'"
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 on his voicemail at 773-871-7610. E-mail sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com
What A Difference
A Gay Makes
Dec. 2-8
1996
U.S.: In San Francisco, computer programmer Jacques Servin is dismissed by Maxis Inc., after they discover that he has secretly coded thousands of copies of SimCopter, a new helicopter simulation game, to create animated images of men in swimsuits kissing each other. * In Maine, openly lesbian former state senator Dale McCormick is elected to the post of state treasurer by a 94-85 vote of the state legislature. McCormick is the first lesbian to hold statewide office in the U.S.
1991
U.S.: The Pink Angels, an anti-violence citizens patrol, takes to the streets in Chicago. * The NGLTF board vote to tighten its budget belt, downsize its plans for growth and focus its resources on a 10-point plan, in the face of a recession. * Rene Portland, a Penn State women's basketball coach, who said she would not allow lesbians on her team, says she will abide by new university regulations barring such discrimination. * Rep. Gerry Studds ( D-Mass. ) , and Don Edwards ( D-Calif. ) succeed in forcing the Department of Defense to withdraw an anti-gay briefing listing "homosexual conduct" among potential behavior patterns of spies. * Tim McFeeley, director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, calls for a boycott of Macy's department store, citing "punitive and vicious treatment of an HIV-infected applicant for a Santa Claus job."
1986
U.S.: In Philadelphia, Royce Parrish, a Tennessee lesbian, regains custody of her daughter after a six-year legal battle against her parents who claimed that, as a lesbian, she was unfit to be a mother. * In South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame University's student magazine Scholastic devotes 11 of its 24 pages to articles about "Homosexuality on Campus." * In Nashville, Tenn., park rangers arrest or cite 68 people on public sex charges in an undercover operation centering on three suburban parks. * In Reading, Penn., amid allegations of sexual improprieties with counselees, Colin Cook resigns as director of ex-gay ministry Quest Learning Center. * The U.S. Justice Department sends a threatening letter to Chicagoan Frank Kellas demanding he "cease and desist" his practice of stamping dollar bills with "Gay $," after the Chicago City Council failed to pass a gay-rights bill. * Porn star J.W. King dies of AIDS at age 31. * Comedian Richard Pryor denies rumors about his health, and says: "I don't got no fucking AIDS." * Canada: Ontario passes a province-wide gay-rights ordinance. * Britain: The leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, and the whole of Labour's National Executive, vote for gay law reform at the annual policy making conference in Blackpool. * New Zealand: Anti-gay conservatives gear up for a repeal campaign against the recently enacted Homosexual Law Reform in an effort to "restore morality." The campaign is funded, in part, by U.S. Moral Majority groups. However, the campaign is losing ground, because New Zealanders perceive this as "U.S. moral imperialism."
1981
U.S.: The New York City Gay Men's Chorus becomes the first openly gay musical group to play Carnegie Hall. * The 12th national edition of Gayellow Pages is published. It costs $8.95. * Canada: In Vancouver, Female impersonator Craig Russell...famous for his Tallulah Bankhead and Carol Channing...has a four-city tour of the country canceled after annoying promoters and audiences alike. Promoter Hugh Pickett called Russell's show "the most disgusting, disgraceful, horrifying night I've spent in a theater in 35 years." * John Holmes, also known as Johnny Wadd, who starred in numerous gay and non-gay porn films, is formally charged with first-degree murder in the fatal beatings of four people and the attempted murder of a fifth in July.
