Gay life in Chicago this week, back in...

1978

The Rodde Building Fund of the Tavern Guild of Chicago has so far raised $12,000 toward its goal for a Chicago gay community center.

(Image: Mars, March 1967)

The Gay/Lesbian Coffeehouse of Gay Horizons holds a "Come As You Want To Party" at 920 W. Oakdale.

Dignity/Chicago, Gay Life, and Renslow and Associates, Ltd., sponsor a benefit to raise funds for the gay rights referenda, which are being held in various cities around the country. This benefit, the "Orange Ball 2," is held at Center Stage, 3730 N. Clark St., on April 16, 1978. The event raises $2,500.

A meeting of Evangelicals Concerned takes place at Mondays restaurant, 565 W. Diversey, with featured speaker Dr. Ralph Blair of the Homosexual Community Counseling Center in New York City.

Loba, an all women's original music band, appears at the Mountain Moving Coffeehouse, 1655 W. School. There are two sets, 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

1986

In the bars and clubs this week, female impersonator Charles Pierce is appearing at George's, 230 W. Kinzie; Boob's Draw Two, 5834 W. Grand, a neighborhood lesbian bar, has an April Special Get Acquainted Beer Bust; there are male dancers every Wednesday thru Sunday at Inner Circle, 2546 N. Clark St.; it's the Grand Opening of Zo-Ran, 3474 N. Clark St., featuring La Faye Elliot; guest bartenders at Berlin, 954 W. Belmont, are Dan Page (Shaw's Crab House) and Steve Johnson (Cafe Ba Ba Re Ba); and during the Grand Opening Weekend of L.A. Connection, 3700 N. Halsted, 1st prize in the raffle is a Round Trip to LA.

(Image: International Film Festival, Windy City Times Nov. 9, 1989)

Christie Hefner, president and CEO of Playboy Enterprises Inc., chairs a $100 per person "Evening With Erte" at Merrill Chase Galleries in Water Tower Place to raise funds for AIDS-related projects at Chicago's Howard Brown Memorial Clinic.

Legacy, a social and service organization for older lesbians and gay men, and Gay and Lesbian Physicians of Chicago, sponsor a Health Fair at Illinois Masonic Hospital. Gays and lesbians over 50 were urged to attend.

The editorial in Windy City Times begins:

"This week, after months of debate and years after the disease first took deadly hold on this nation, Illinois will be making a major step toward formulating a statewide policy on AIDS. A comprehensive, inclusive and, most importantly, sensitive, educated policy is desperately needed to cope with AIDS in our state."

Gay Bestsellers at Unabridged Bookstore, 3251 N. Broadway:

Softcover:
1) The Blue Star – Robert Ferro (New Am. Lib.) $7.95
2) Conversations With Capote – Lawrence Grobel (New Am. Lib.) $7.95
3) The Carnivorous Lamb ­– A. Gomez-Arcos (New Am. Lib.) $6.95
4) Family Dancing – David Leavitt (Warner) $3.95
5) Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams – Donald Spoto (Ballantine) $4.95

Hardcover:
1) The Catholic – David Plante (Athenaeum) $11.95
2) Body Blows – Steven Simmons (Dutton) $16.95
3) Buried Dreams – Tim Cahill (Bantam) $17.95
4) AIDS in the Mind of America – Dennis Altman (Doubleday) $16.95 5) Ambidextrous – Felice Picano (Gay Presses of New York) $14.95

The DePaul University College of Law sponsors a conference on AIDS at the Park Hyatt Hotel, 800 N. Michigan. "AIDS: Medical, Legal, Ethical and Social Dimensions of a Health Crisis" is aimed at educating service-minded professionals about AIDS.

The Ram Bookstore, 3511 N. Halsted starts renting out videos.

1997

The Chicago Gay Men's Chorus celebrates their 15th anniversary season with Sidetrack III: The Last Call at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport.

Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church presents a seminar titled "Spiritual Strength for Survival" at 615 W. Wellington. The workshop deals with finding hope to be fully alive with HIV/AIDS.

(Image: Adodi Chicago – Blacklines Jan. 1999)

"Talking to Myself: If you could take yourself to lunch, what would you talk about?" is a neo-mondo solo performance by Dave Awl. You can see it at Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland.

Valerie James celebrates the great blond singers of our time at Berlin, 954 W. Belmont.

Karen Mason is singing at Le Cabaret, 505 N. Lake Shore Dr.

Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays Unity Conference takes place at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Illini Union, 828 S. Wolcott, 2nd Floor. The keynote speakers are Keith Boykin and openly gay former Cambridge, Mass., Mayor Ken Reeves.

This is Volunteer Recognition Week and Horizons Community Services' volunteer party is held at Excalibur. Liz Husesemann, Horizons executive director, says: "Since 1973, volunteers have been the backbone of the agency. They provide direct services to clients, which is invaluable, and yet they also have the opportunity to make friends and socialize in a lesbian and gay setting."

To assist grieving partners, family members and friends, with the loss of a loved one due to complications from AIDS, Howard Brown Health Center, 945 W. George St., offers a bereavement support group on Wednesdays.

"Chasing Amy," a comedy that shows just how unpredictable romance can be, opens at movie theaters all over the city.

Thanks go to publishers Michael Bergeron for Chicago Gay Crusader, Ralph Gernhardt for Gay Chicago, Grant Ford and Chuck Renslow for Gay Life and Tracy Baim for all the publications at the Windy City Media Group, which aided the above research. St. Sukie de la Croix is an internationally published reporter, playwright, photographer and historian. He is also the author of the upcoming book Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Homework

Is Valerie James still performing?

Were you one of the singers in Sidetrack III: The Last Call?

Does Evangelicals Concerned still exist?

(Leave your comments below)