The Closet, one of Chicago‘s oldest and most storied bars, has survived the recent decimation of lesbian bars. Now, the owners, Rose Pohl and Judi Petrovsky, are selling the business and retiring.
The new owners won’t shutter it or attempt to change the clientele. It will remain one of the few remaining lesbian bars in the nation.
The cozy bar in Boystown has been serving the community since 1978. In 2022, it was voted one of America’s best lesbian hangouts in the Best of GayCities competition.
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The two women purchased the bar with help from their parents. At first, it served a diverse clientele, but it started to morph into a lesbian bar as the word spread that it was a safe place.
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“Nobody was coming out back then,” Petrovsky told Block Club Chicago. “Then all of a sudden, it slowly started to happen where people would come in together, and it would be, ‘Oh, you’re going out with her? You’re going out with him?’ And when we bought the bar, we didn’t want it to be a women’s bar. We wanted it to be a mixed bar where everyone is welcome.”
She noted how the times have changed during their time overseeing the Chicago landmark. Back in the early days, the staff called the police after a pimp brought a gun onto the premises. Instead of protecting the women, they cited them for having too many pinball machines.
“It was a totally different world back then,” she said. “The next thing you know, years down the line, the police have a float in the parade.”
“When I walk or drive through the neighborhood and see all that has changed since we’ve been here, I’m proud,” Petrovsky added. “I’m proud of the community and how we’ve all banded together and made the gay community, in the political world of Chicago and at the highest levels of government, a force to be reckoned with.”
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