Those hours forced her to stop making art, “but that’s fine,” she says, and it sounds like she means it. And like that, she was working 80-hour weeks again. In 2003, long after Big Chicks stopped keeping morning hours, Fire opened an all-day restaurant next door, Tweet. She’d open her bar in the morning, when the old guys would come in, and work a shift at the Loading Dock at night. In the early years she worked 80-hour weeks. When the bar that became Big Chicks came up for rent, she had just enough money to grab it. She’d eyed the art deco terra-cotta buildings on the North Side forever-it’s what she used to draw. She knew she never wanted to borrow money, and she knew she wanted to be prepared. She started saving, though she didn’t know what for. bar.” That’s when she decided to, as she says, start participating in capitalism. In 1984 she landed that job at the Loading Dock-an “all-consuming, very exhausting 5 a.m. For ten years, she hustled, making drawings and prints, tending bar, working catering gigs, manning the temporary tattoo stand at street fairs. She studied art at UIC and made a place for herself in Chicago’s art scene. Nothing could be beat out of Fire she’d just fight through. “It’s called safety,” she says.įire peeking through the windows. Did that make sense? I’m having a hard time articulating myself, I can’t find the words. When I was here, I felt like a citizen, of the city and of the bar. Gejas Cafs atmosphere has come a long way from the early years of 1965-1971 in Old Town to its present look in Lincoln Park. Did she know what I meant? I felt calmer there, and maybe a little hopeful-like Chicago, a city that could be so backward, could be as good as I thought it was. Now I’m telling her how I used to feel those nights at Big Chicks, how I wanted to become part of the place, to be bolted to the wall like the photographs. We are resuming the monthly take overs of a straight bar somewhere in Chicago.
I tried to look tough, like I owned the place, like the floor was mine. Guerrilla Gay Bar South Loop is now called Chicago Take Over. I philosophized, drunkenly, that nobody gets to live with art like this nobody gets to flirt and make out and spill beer in a museum. I sucked on a cigarette (this was back when people still smoked inside) I exhaled on the Diane Arbus photograph above me. But at Big Chicks-and only at Big Chicks-a bear could not intimidate me. Sometimes it seemed like it was only bears in the place-muscle bears, cubby bears, ginger bears, otters. Cruising the trans boys, the black girls, the grizzly raising eyebrows at me from the bar. I’ve been that boy leaning against the wall, lightheaded, cheap gin in my glass. call trails off, but I spent ten years of the aughts going to Big Chicks-I can fill in the rest.
we look forward to seeing you soon at Chicago's best place to relax & have some fun. Thank you for making us a part of your night and as always, we thank you for your patronage and hope that you enjoy the time you spend with us. For more information about making reservations or attending a show at the Baton see Reservations. Reservations are recommended for seating during the reopening phase as outlined by the City of Chicago as we have very limited seating. Come in, relax and enjoy your favorite beverage with the "ladies" of the Baton Show Lounge. The Baton is the longest running revue of its kind in North America. so make your reservations early to secure your space at the club to celebrate the special occasion. The bachelorette season is always in high gear. If you’re celebrating a friend’s night out, your anniversary, a birthday, having a bachelorette or bachelor party or just looking for an evening of entertainment and fun please visit us and enjoy one of the most entertaining night clubs in Chicago. You will not believe your eyes as the entertainers take the stage in their one of a kind solo numbers and extravagant group productions.
D FASHIONED GAY BAR CHICAGO PROFESSIONAL
The cast of the Baton Show Lounge has entertained for Hollywood's top celebrities, recording artists and professional athletes. Founded in 1969 by Jim Flint, the Baton’s “Tops of the Nation Review” have been pleasing audiences from across the globe featuring the best of the best in female impersonation and male revue. The Baton Show Lounge, America’s premiere drag showcase celebrated 53 years this past March 2022.