RIP Man's Country

[+ deej]

Chicago's Man's Country bathhouse closed permanently following their NYE party this weekend.

 

The building will be razed, with a condo complex named "The Renslow" taking its place.

[Moondance]

From The Chicago Tribune, December 30:

 

Man's Country, Chicago's oldest gay bathhouse, closing after 44 years

Man’s Country, the gay bathhouse in Uptown, is closing, capping 44 years of business with a 13-hour party that will begin New Year’s Eve and extend into the morning after.

 

This private club has been open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year, closing only on Christmas Eve, according to owner Ron Ehemann. It has served as a backdrop to some of the enormous achievements and challenges faced by Chicago’s LGBTQ community over the decades.

 

The property on which Man’s Country sits at 5015 N. Clark St. is being sold. Ehemann said much of the complex will be demolished to make way for condominiums in a new building to be called The Renslow, a reference to Chuck Renslow, the LGBTQ businessman and gay rights pioneer who started the bathhouse in a former fraternal lodge. (Ehemann said one part of the complex will remain: Full Kit Gear at 5021 N. Clark St.)

 

To Owen Keehnen, a Chicago author and historian, the loss of Man’s Country is “a gay version of seeing the house you grew up in torn down. It was everything. A place of sexual liberation, social ease with being gay and community building.”

 

Link to the complete article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-life-mans-country-bathhouse-closing-1230-story.html

[+ RyanDean]

[+ Cock Eyed Optimist]

At least they are honoring Chuck Renslow by naming the new condo complex after him. He was a real pioneer in gay rights in Chicago.

[+ Topseed]

One person’s view: glad it’s gone. There was stuff inside that place that medical science didn’t know existed. A demo crew should wear hazmat suits.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Topseed

[Bearofdistinction]

Chicago's Man's Country bathhouse closed permanently following their NYE party this weekend.

 

The building will be razed, with a condo complex named "The Renslow" taking its place.

 

So Sad -- Was always a Must when in Chi --- had several very memorable visits

[manderville]

Heard there were bed bugs which is why I always avoided it.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Can you imagine having to do the demo on that place?

[Bearofdistinction]

Can you imagine having to do the demo on that place?

 

Going to be difficult --- 44 years worth of dried cum and piss are holding that place together -- Not to mention the ghosts of ODs past.

 

Add in the Sweat - and the entire demolition crew will be hard as rocks just walking in the door -- Talk about pheromones!

[+ GregM]

Idk, I've never been a fan of such places. I can be a dirty lil whore but I prefer to do such activities in my bedroom, hotel or occasional empty office bathroom.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[+ Charlie]

I only went to Man's Country once, in the winter of 1975, when it was a wonderful refuge from the bitter cold.

[+ deej]

I only went to Man's Country once, in the winter of 1975, when it was a wonderful refuge from the bitter cold.

It was always that. In the 2000's it was a wonderful, warm spot when the landlord got miserly about running the boiler. And they had a rocking blowjob wall, too.