The Gay Bars of Boystown Chicago

Chicago offers so many different gay bars in a variety of different neighborhoods. Gay visitors to the city invariably head first to the area of Chicago’s Lakeview and Wrigleyville neighborhoods known as Boystown.

What makes a Boystown bar-crawl so easy is that 99% of the bars run down about a ½ mile stretch of North Halsted Street. Beginning at the southernmost bar and running north, this is Boystown U.S.A. –

Spin, located at the corner of Halsted and Belmont, is a dance bar that attracts mainly a younger crowd. Being 42, I’ve only been inside Spin because it’s the place that participants in the annual Halloween Costume Parade register. This is definitely an under-30 crowd.

Sidetracks, at 3349 N. Halsted, is a multi-room, multi-level video bar. They have theme nights like Show Tunes on Mondays, as well as comedy nights and retro music theme nights. In the summer, there’s a relatively new roof deck. Sidetracks is not for claustrophobes – the bar is usually packed.

Roscoe’s, at 3356 N. Halsted, is what TV’s Cheers bar would be if Norm and Cliff were 28, hot, and gay. At times a stand-and-model video bar, there’s also dancing in the back room at night. Roscoe’s can get as crowded as Sidetracks but never feels as closed-in because the bar’s entire “east wall” is glass window looking onto Halsted.

Cocktail, at 3359 N. Halsted, is directly across the street from Roscoe’s – you can see Cocktail if you look out the front windows of Roscoe’s. Often Cocktail gets the run off of people from Roscoe’s. Cocktail has one unique thing to offer – go-go boys.

Buck’s, at 3349 N. Halsted, gets gays of all sexes, shapes, and sizes. The walls are adorned with the heads of real bucks but if that scares you, in the summer, there’s a surprisingly tranquil and festive back patio with its own bar.