From Outlines
Talking to Hall-of-Famer Rick Karlin …
La Cage …
"They had a pink baby grand piano they were selling, so I said I'd like to buy it, but I couldn't afford to pay for it and pay to have it moved that weekend, because they needed to have it moved right away. So the guy said, 'Well move it and I know where you work and you can pay for it later.' So I moved it the next day. Then the following day the IRS closed the bar down for non-payment of taxes. So I never had to pay for that piano.
"It used to be a place called Huckleberry's, a straight Disco run by Barbara Eden, of all people. She was married to the publisher of the Sun-Times, I think. Whether she actually owned it or not, I don't know, but she was the name attached to it.
"Then they sold it and it became La Cage, and I remember going to the Grand Opening and there were pink feathers everywhere, and there were some drag queens. They would use the piano for a bar, they would use it for a stage … they weren't open for that long (maybe six months)."
The Pelican …
"That was about a block and a half south of Touché and Jackhammer on the other side of the street. There was never a whole lot of business up there. I think they wanted to be a leather bar but they weren't, although some of the bartenders wore leather. But it was really just a neighborhood dump. Now that one was open for a couple of years at least. I dated one of the bartenders there.
"They had a couple of events there. One summer, when I was at Gay Chicago, they published a murder mystery I wrote, and part of the mystery was that there were clues posted at various bars; they were the sponsors of the story running in the paper. Then, at the end, they had a contest where you had to submit the final chapter ... . You had to incorporate at least three of the clues from around the bars and the others could all be considered red herrings. ...Most of the people involved were thinly disguised versions of people I knew. Like we had this friend _____ who had a lover _____ who moved from New York and he was the ugliest piss you ever saw but he claimed he was crowned Miss Fire Island. ... So I made him my first murder victim. The joke was that he got murdered in Sidetrack on Gay Pride Day, and people were saying, 'No, I saw him walking around the bar at 4 o'clock.' What happened was his body died but he didn't fall down for three hours because it was so crowded.
"So they had this big contest and there's a panel of people who picked the best chapter at the end, and they had a big event where they came in with a briefcase filled with $1,000 to give to the winner, and we had actors to act out the last chapter. One of the characters was inspired by Miss Peaches who was my roommate at the time. Although, he didn't do drag then, not professionally. ... One of the preliminary events to promote it was at the Pelican."
Lesbian bars …
"A lot of big dykes went to the Frog Pond. Dago Rose was a bartender there. Then there was the original CK's on Diversey. I was the only man that could walk in that bar and not get carded. My old girlfriend from high school was a lesbian and I came out to her, so I went to all the girl bars first, it was much safer."
B.J.s …
"That was on Clark. I used to go there a lot. Rick Jones was the owner, and then he brought in a partner Steve somebody who had been involved in a couple of other places, and he ended up working for Gay Chicago before he passed away. They had a whole multi-level beer garden at B.J.'s and then they opened up the basement as B'Low B.J.'s. That was a fun neighborhood bar. They had a little dance floor. It wasn't a fancy place."
The past and Chicago Whispers …
"I don't know that I think about the past, but when you mention things it stirs up a bunch of memories, and when anything new opens in a place that was a gay bar once. I often think of the people who work in the bank that used to be the Gold Coast. I think it's the same building but they put a new façade on it. I don't ever remember it being torn down. And where the Cost Plus is on Broadway used to be a bar and that was Paradise. Every so often I go past a place and think 'God, I used to get drunk there,' and it's now a church or something."
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. Call (773) 871-7610.; or e-mail Sukie at sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com .
What A Difference
A Gay Makes
By Sukie de la Croix
April 28-May 4
1997
U.S: Ellen Morgan (DeGeneres) comes out of the closet on her TV show. * Florida's Senate votes against gay marriages by 33-5. * Goldwyn Entertainment Co. announce the fall release of the screen version of Martin Sherman's gay-themed play Bent, which features original cast member Sir Ian McKellen as well as Mick Jagger. * In Los Angeles, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Retiring Persons is launched. * Chicago businessman Lee Miglin is found dead in his garage and the hunt continues for serial killer Andrew Cunanan. * A unanimous decision by the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals strikes down an Alabama law designed to prohibit funding of gay and lesbian organizations on college campuses. * Homophobe Anita Bryant files for bankruptcy with her current husband, Charles Dry. * Britain: Welsh lesbian Patricia Duncker is awarded the Dillon First Fiction award for her first novel, Hallucinating Foucault. * France: Ooups! magazine reports that for the first time an openly gay man will be running for a seat in the French parliament. Pierre Gandonniere is campaigning in Lyon for the Green Party.
1992
U.S.: President Bush tells prominent evangelicals in Washington, D.C., that he is against passing special laws to protect the rights of gays. * In D.C., a radio station apologizes for broadcasting "Crucifixion" by reggae singer, Cobra, which contains the words "kill all lesbians" in the chorus. * U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., releases a letter he wrote to Gen. Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urging the military to lift the ban on gay and lesbian personnel.
1987
U.S.: The California 4th District Court of Appeals unanimously hold that the results of HIV-antibody tests cannot be disclosed under any circumstances without the subject's consent. * New York Gov. Mario Cuomo announces a policy barring health insurers from requiring a test for antibodies to HIV, as a condition for obtaining insurance.
1982:
U.S.: Aradia, a women's center in Grand Rapids, Mich., is sponsoring a Womyn's Culture Weekend with concerts by Alix Dobkin and Therese Edell, sports and more. * The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts is in bookstores. * Lambda Toastmasters, the Chicago-based gay and lesbian speech and communications club, is chartered as an official member of Toastmaster's International. * Finland: A score of Finnish gay activists are acquitted of the charge that they "encouraged homosexuality." The activists were arrested May 16, 1981, for shouting "We encourage homosexuality," which, in Finland, is an illegal slogan. * Spain: Police continue to repress women's groups in Madrid. They arrest Jimena Alonso, who helps operate a cooperative feminist bookstore, along with her two teenage daughters and another member of the bookstore collective. Police accuse them of belonging to a Basque nationalist group.
