Alcohol, drugs and sexy good times abounded. People who wanted something that wasn’t strictly in line with mainstream morals could find it in the Levee. With their protection, numerous brothels, like the famous Everleigh Club, set up shop there. Crooked politicians, most famously “Bathhouse” Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Kenna, ruled the Levee. The most riotous was the Levee, in the South Loop.
Rollicking vice districts soon became a staple feature of Chicago. The city afforded opportunity for work, possibly for riches, and also for freedom or anonymity.
Let me set the scene: Chicago was growing like crazy in the late 19th century, the population doubling approximately every ten years. Still, the first concentrated area where gay men and women lived or worked was the Levee. This might be stretching the definition of “gay neighborhood” a little bit. We can also create custom tours and original content creation about this Chicago topic and countless others. Join us for our public virtual events or book an exclusive team-building event for your private group. We research Chicago history and architecture like this while developing our live virtual events and custom corporate events. To celebrate LGBT Pride Month, we thought we’d look back at Chicago’s gay neighborhood history before Boystown. I love Chicago’s LGBT History and was pleased to share a presentation on the topic as a public speaker for a corporate client recently. Our town hosted the country’s first gay rights organization, its first Pride Parade, and much more. Indeed, Chicago has played a huge role in LGBT history in America. Chicago gay neighborhood history stretches back over a century though. It was the first such designation in American history. Daley designated it the city’s official gay neighborhood. Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood made history in 1997 when Mayor Richard M. In 2012, the Legacy Project selected the unique rainbow pylons as the location for the first outdoor museum recognizing the significant world achievements and contributions of LGBTQ people.Īs of 2019, the pylons have been enhanced with 40 illuminated bronze plaques dedicated to historically important figures, including Frida Kahlo, Jane Addams, Sally Ride and Alan Turing. The plaques are mounted with stainless steel frames on the sidewalk-facing sides of each pylon and is known as the Legacy Walk, the world's only outdoor museum dedicated to LGBTQ history.I started thinking about how Chicago being the “City of Neighborhoods” has intersected with the city’s LGBT history.
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The 25-foot-tall pylons were designed and installed by architecture firm DeStefano+Partners as part of a series of streetscape projects under Mayor Richard M. Daley. They were officially dedicated in 1998. It was the first time a city government officially recognized an LGBTQ community. While visiting Boystown Chicago, it won’t take long to notice the 20 rainbow pylons that adorn "Chicago's proudest neighborhood." Boystown hosts a number of annual events - Chicago Pride Fest, the Chicago Pride Parade and Northalsted Market Days - drawing over one million people to the North Side neighborhood each summer. The neighborhood is also home to the Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ community center that welcomes over 1000 people per day. Broadway primarily offers a variety of themed shops and restaurants stretching throughout the neighborhood while Halsted caters to a lively nightlife with more than 30 different gay and lesbian bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
and Broadway dominate the heart of this commercial and entertainment district. The two main (north-south) avenues of Halsted St. Rainbow crosswalk rendering (credit: northalsted business alliance)īoystown is situated just southeast of Wrigleyville in Lakeview. The first officially recognized gay village in the United States, Boystown Chicago is the commonly accepted nickname for the eclectic East Lakeview neighborhood that is home to Chicago's visible and active gay and lesbian community.