March 2-8, 2017

1986

It's the Midwest premiere of "The Other Side of Aspen II" at the Bijou, 1349 N. Wells. It stars Steven Henson, Scott O'Hara, Giorgio Canali, Kurt Marshall, Chris Lance and many others.

"Once these guys come in off the slopes, they warm each other up with some truly sizzling sex. Falcon Studios continues their tradition of extraordinary handsome men in extremely hot sex scenes."

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IMAGE: Legacy 21 – Gay Chicago November 23, 1995

Northwest Gay/Lesbian Association and AIDS Assistance Association cosponsor a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at Good Parish MCC, 615 W. Wellington.

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Article in Windy City Times reads:

"Women and Children First Bookstore will host 'Women Candidates and Building Coalitions,' a discussion on March 5 beginning at 7 p.m., 1967 N. Halsted.

"Candidates set to appear include Lilia Delgado for Cook County Board Commissioner, Norma Quintana for 26^th Ward Committeeman, and Migdalia Collazo for 31^st Ward Alderman. The issues to be discussed include: Feminism in Latino Communities, Empowering Latinas, Elections and Community Organizing, and Lesbian/Gay Rights and Coalition Building."

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IMAGE: Hot Back Rooms at Second Story – Gay Chicago February 28, 1980

Sue Fink and Jackqueline Stander, the techno-pop evangelists of outrageousness, come to Mountain Moving Coffee House, 1655 W. School St.

1990

In the bars and clubs, every Wednesday at Hev'in, 54 E. Walton St. you can see Kenned and Karl perform; the AA Meat Market, 2933 N. Lincoln, celebrates two months in existence with 50c draft beer; on Sundays, DJ Teri Bristol is downstairs in the catacombs on Sundays at Cairo, 720 N Wells; Club 2828, 2828 N. Broadway, an intimate nightspot, has comedienne Memory Lane every Wednesday and Scott Foreman's Talent Search 1990 every Friday; join Sophie and Bubba for lox, bagels and the trimmings at the Lucky Horseshoe Lounge, 3169 N. Halsted; and it's Monday night at the movies with a showing of "The Ritz" at Bulldog Road, 2914 N. Broadway.

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IMAGE: Windy City Black Pride – Nightlines May 31, 2001

An article in this week's Gay Chicago reads:

"At this month's meeting of the Mystery Writers of America, Midwest, Mark Richard Zubro, Chicago area resident, and author of the gay murder mystery, 'A Simple Suburban Murder,' was elected vice president of the group.

"Zubro's second murder mystery is due out this March. Entitled 'Why Isn't Becky Twitchell Dead?', the book features the same main characters as the first."

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An article in Windy City Times begins:

"Early Saturday morning, a fire swept through Touche, a long-established leather bar on Lincoln Avenue, destroying the bar and bringing to an end an era for Chicago's leather community.

"According to preliminary reports, the extra-alarm fire began between 5:00 and 5:30 on Saturday morning, probably starting in a rear first-floor storage area containing electrical circuitry and the furnace.

"'The bar is a complete loss,' said owner Chuck Rodocker. 'The rear of the bar and the roof are destroyed, and there was extensive damage to the remainder.' Nothing of significant value could be saved, he said.

"Touché has been a gay bar since 1976 and was scheduled to celebrate its 14^th anniversary later this month. It was bought by Rodocker in the fall of 1977 and under his ownership became one of the triumvirate of bars which served the city's vigorous leather community-the Gold Coast, Redoubt, and Touche.

"With the closing of the Redoubt and the Gold Coast after both made unsatisfactory attempts to relocate away from the River North area, Touche remained Chicago's one outpost of leather in the city."

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Circle Theatre presents "What Ever Happened to B.B. Jane?" at the Synergy Center, 1753 N. Damen.

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Poetry reading and book signing of "Diamonds Are a Dykes Best Friend" at People Like Us Bookstore, 3321 N. Clark.

2009

An article by Amy Wooten and Matt Simonette in the Chicago Free Press begins:

"On Friday evening, Scarlet Bar co-owner Paul Cannela stood inside the wreckage of his Halsted Street bar before workers boarded up the fire-damaged building.

"'I'm still in shock,' Cannela said, looking around at the smoky and soaked space in disbelief.

"Earlier that morning, the three-story building at 3320 N. Halsted St. that housed the relatively new bar (it just celebrated its one-year anniversary in December) went up in an extra-alarm blaze that, at one point, over 100 firefighters tackled at once."

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IMAGE: Cover of Nightspots – December 5, 2007

An article in Chicago Free Press reads:

"Gay Liberation Network co-founder Andy Thayer was fined for his participation in November's anti-Prop 8 march downtown.

"Thayer is the only individual who has been charged with violating a city parade permit ordinance for the spontaneous Nov. 15 march through the streets of Chicago's Loop that thousands of people participated in that day. He was slapped with a $500 fine, plus $40 of court costs.

"In a statement released by GLN, Thayer said, 'Out of the 5,000 marchers, I was the only one charged with a violation of the ordinance. Even though the City produced no credible evidence in the trial that I incited the crowd to march, I was found guilty.'"

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Some of the headlines in this week's Chicago Free Press are: "GLBT allies win 5^th District primary." ..."Judge: Cook County Jail strip searches violated rights." ...and ..."Students to counter-protest Phelps."

Homework

Does anyone remember Hev'in?

Are Sue Fink and Jackqueline Stander still around?

Who remembers Bulldog Road?

Gay Chicago Photo Rewind

Thanks go to publishers Michael Bergeron for Chicago Gay Crusader, Ralph and Craig Gernhardt for Gay Chicago, Grant Ford and Chuck Renslow for Gay Life, Malone Sizelove for Babble/Gab, David Costanza and others for Chicago Free Press, Jeff McCourt for Windy City Times, Stacy Bridges and Mark Nagel for GRAB, 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 Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall published by the University of Wisconsin Press.