Big Chicks

Big Chicks

Let’s talk about Big Chicks. First of all, Michelle Fire, much love, shout out, yo! You see that patch of a photograph to the left? That is a motherfucking Doug Ischar. Where else are you ever going to see a motherfucking Doug Ischar on a dance floor? Where else are you privileged to have danced to Larissa Simmer’s DJ grooves in front of a Doug motherfucking Ischar(well, you can shake that ass at Berlin where Larissa is in residence these past several years)? Nowhere, bitch. Shots, shots, shots! was the siren song at midnight when the magnanimous Fire offered platters of jaeger, or whatever for her able, willing acolytes to drank, and get your ass back in the groove. Big Chicks was my home when I first moved to Chicago in the late-90’s. Before the resto. Back when it was Sunday tea and tip the buffet meister. Good food, btw. Even back then when it didn’t need to be. Feeding the neighborhood for a buck a plate. Big Chicks, so many stories, so many nights, the sweat, back when I danced, the 80’s Chicago gay punk diaspora scene. The boys, no lie. Love, Michelle, always. She transformed Uptown from SRO’s and Vietnamese gangland to diverse, rockin’, Doug Ischar gallery danceteria. Nice one. Big Chicks was, ostensibly, a lesbian bar on the wrong side of Uptown, sandwiched between awesome gangland pho joints, Essanay studios (Charlie Chaplin, famously) and old Swedish Andersonville(where I once had cloud berry pancakes sitting next to Ted Lange at the communal table) gentrifying towards lesbian enclave. When I attended, Big Chicks was less a dyke bar and more the hip place for Boystown outliers to ride the EL North. On the weekends it was all boys. And, with Larissa at the helm driving us onward in relentless rhythm. Big Chicks is maybe nearly 30 years old? Wow, kudos, Michelle Fire.


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BONAPPETIT.COM
“I Think We Have a Gay Bar”
Big Chicks was an old-man bar on the north side of Chicago. Then Michelle Fire made it the place everyone went to drink, dance, and hook up in a dark corner.
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https://www.bonappetit.com/story/i-thin ... -a-gay-bar

Christopher Gordon wrote:That is a motherfucking Doug Ischar.

Well I never thought I'd see a reference to Daddy Doug on here.
Glad Tamarkin showed some overdue love to Big Chicks!

Big Chicks
5024 N Sheridan Rd.
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 728-5511
http://bigchicks.com/

Thanks for the link - great article!

Don't know if this was mentioned elsewhere, Michelle Fire of Big Chicks etc. was featured not long ago on NBC speaking to her implementation of an HVAC system and how she is working to keep her outdoor patrons safe. She is not only a great herald for the Uptown community for over twenty years, she also hosts one of the foremost free public queer photography galleries in America.