Sidetrack gay bar chicago
![sidetrack gay bar chicago sidetrack gay bar chicago](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/CBlHJeNSRp-i7BGiz3eUhA/o.jpg)
Get on stage to win fun prizes!ĭOG DAY AFTERNOON 1st Sat. Monthly parties include MEN'S ROOM, ALL THINGS BEYONCE, ALL THINGS GAGAĭance to Pop & Slay to Drag. TRL TUESDAYS 9pm-2am - A Totally Rad Lineup of 90's, 00's and Today's Music Videos Proud to be a major part of Boystown history, Side Track gives back to it's community at every opportunity. The largest bar on the strip, wander inside and find that time loses meaning as you laugh and sing along to masterful video mixing. And I think that’s a good thing.What started as a small, one room bar with beer boxes as chairs, is now a collection of spaces spanning more than 8 storefronts. And more and more, we’re seeing that history being written about, looked and talked about. Johnston: I am glad to see this documentary is a little more about the history of LGBTQ people, specifically in Chicago. … So I like the fact that it’s like a spotlight on a movement that has been very successful. Peña: What went on in Chicago through the ‘70s to today, I think that’s been overlooked because it didn’t happen on the East Coast or the West Coast. On what the upcoming documentary means to them To go from that to marriage in about 40 years has been kind of a remarkable thing to see. Up to that point, gay people were not viewed by city officials, by police, as being a desirable minority. … It changed all of our lives, you know, that we all found out that we could stand up for ourselves, for each other, and we could make a difference. And on that day, June 14, 1977, we had the largest rally of gay people in the history of Chicago. When I found that out, it was a great awakening for me, and so we started to work on stuff.įor me, the real moment started in 1977 when the famous Anita Bryant was going to bring her campaign against gay people to Chicago. I had no idea that I could talk to people, could lobby them. Johnston: Most of us at some point in our lives discover we have a talent that we didn’t know we had. Our history is deeply wrapped up in bar life because that was the only place where gay people could be themselves, where they could meet other folks like themselves. Johnston: If you think about the origins of the modern gay rights movement in the United States, it starts with a bar raid in New York City, the famous Stonewall. Jose ‘Pepe’ Peña and Art Johnston (right) co-founded Sidetrack (left) at 3349 North Halsted Street in 1982. It’s a business that is providing a safe space for gay people … and has been a center of organizing and advancing the gay community. There were no churches, there were no meeting halls, so the bars were significant. Peña: Bars were always the center for people to meet. On how bars helped connect Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community José Pepe Peña: For me, it’s been the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. When you fall in love, everything is easy. We’ve had a first date that’s lasted nearly 49 years.
![sidetrack gay bar chicago sidetrack gay bar chicago](https://media.timeout.com/images/100895695/image.jpg)
And then I said, ‘So, what are you doing after work tonight?’ He came over that night and never left. So I waited for an appropriate amount of time to go by - about a minute and a half - when he told me this. And then one day he said to me, ‘By the way, I broke up with my partner today.’ And his partner was, oddly enough, same name as me: Art. I used to go to the bar where he was a bartender … to have a beer. Art Johnston: I knew from the moment I met this man that I was head over heels in love - and I had to wait a while from when I first met him.