Chicago Whispers

A Very Personal Gay and Lesbian History

"The concept was born in Vancouver. It was at a square-dance convention, and we had a tradition of being photographed with a crinoline on our heads. So we were all sitting around in the hotel room, and I put on a black crinoline, and I said, 'Oh it makes you feel so Spanish,' as it was like a mantilla, and I started singing Carmen. Then someone said, 'A fabulous drag name would be Carmen D'Nominator.' And to be a She Devil it had to begin with L, so I became Lois Carmen D'Nominator. Dana (Lucy Anna Purchase: his roommate) didn't want me to be a She Devil ... at all! He didn't want two of us doing the same thing together in the same house, and he didn't want me to steal any of his glory, because he knew that I would be a better She Devil than him ... and I guess history has proven that ... she'll never forgive me for saying that." - Mike Blizzard

"At that time there wasn't a lot of butch and femme things happening. But you'd meet these older women. One time I was in His 'n' Hers with my lover, who was actually quite butch looking. This woman came in wearing an American Legion uniform. She was a hundred years old ... (Laughs) ... medals all over her bosom. She sat down next to me, and she said to my lover, not to me, 'May I light her cigarette?' ... I loved it! My lover said ... 'Of course!' We got to talking and she informed me that the word dyke, in Chicago anyway, used to mean a pimp for women. It was more than just being a butch dyke ... there was bulldagger and various things, but dyke meant that you'd be pimping for women. So she was pretty shocked that everyone was calling each other dyke." - Ruth Ketchum

"What I liked about His 'n' Hers at that time was that it wasn't a real cruisy bar. The men who were there liked being around women, and the women who were there liked being around men. I kept thinking, 'This is what it's about. We're all people, and it's about time we stopped getting into these narrow little groups.' " - Anon. Woman

"They had great burgers there ..." - Maria Kiss

"Oh yes, they were wonderful! They were incredible! I don't know what the hell Marge did to them, but the burgers and the chili were exquisite. I've never had chili like that since they closed that place. Wonderful! I think Marge ought to open a restaurant, never mind a bar." - Arlene Halko

" ... About 1977, about the time Anita (Bryant) emerged. I used to hang out at a bar called The Knight Out, and so did Ralph Paul (Gernhardt), and Ralph and I used to talk constantly. At this time he was starting Gay Chicago News ... Ralph, by the way, is a fantastic journalist, and one of the top broadcast journalists as well. The newspaper was fabulous, a little rambunctious ... I won't say pushy, but Ralph had a reputation that he would print anything. Everyone gets a voice. He asked me in the bar once, 'Do you want to write a column?' I said, 'I've never written before.' He said, 'That's OK, just write the way you talk.' So I tried it and it was fun, and he gave me a lot of freedom. I could say what I wanted. That was my introduction." - Gene Janowski

"It was set up like a temporary bar. They had an ice chest cooler, then to the right was a general congregation area. If you went to the left, then turned left again, there was a bathroom area, and there was a bathtub, which was not connected to anything. It was there for a specific purpose ... if you knew the environment ..." (Laughs) - Tim Cagney

"At Touche's the original bathtub was out in the backyard. I only saw it used once, so I can't say it was used all the time. When they redid the upstairs, there was a bathroom put in." - David Honneger

"In LA it was all Disco and it was really good, we danced every night. So we came here, in 1979, wanting to do the same thing, but there weren't that many good places to go. We used to go to this place called the Paradise, which was all boys, and they had these things that would fall down out of the sky, foam things, I don't know what they were. It was great! It was all young beautiful hustlers and older men, and groups of lesbians who went there to dance." - Ruth Ketchum

"We'd go there, and I didn't know anybody in the Closet, and people would say, 'Oh, if you just say "Linda," someone will come.' There was Linda Leslie, she was a bartender there, and then Linda Rodgers who now has Paris Dance, then there was another Linda, the owner, or part owner, I'm not sure. So you'd be there and every bartender was named Linda, so people would say, 'Linda, I need another beer!' " - Ruth Ketchum

At the Grand Opening of Le Pub, one of the owners of the Snakepit, walked into the bar ... I don't know if there was animosity between him and the owner of Le Pub, or whatever ... but he walked into the bar, looked around, took his dick out of his pants, pissed on the floor and said, 'What a piss-elegant place.' " (Laughs) - David Honneger

" ... I don't think they were ever that big in Chicago. They were more a West Coast group. There were some here ... I guess ... I don't know ... I never met anybody that belonged to it. But I did hear of it." - Arlene Halko