You cruised in person! You went to hear the DJs because that was the only way you heard new music." "The great thing about Manhole was that, even though there was an enforced dress code of leather or shirtless, rubber, uniforms and/or a harness to be allowed into the back rooms and dance floor, it was never something that made anyone feel out of place," he continued.
"You went out to the gay bars because that's where you met people - no Facebook, no Instagram, no 'social' apps. " definitely a very different time in Boystown," Matthew Harvat, aka Circuit MOM, told. This was before the Internet and iTunes, when the proposals we now make on Grindr and Scruff were made walking down Halsted, at the bar and on the dance floor. They envision the new Manhole, located in the Chloe's space carved from the upstairs and basement bars of the old Spin Nightclub, as both a gathering place for the fetish and leather communities and a space where all of gay Chicago can experience the kind of deep house, industrial and trace music that made Manhole famous as well as the sense of community and the atmosphere that made it infamous. Manhole, the famous - or infamous - late night club known for their steamy, dress code enforced back dancefloor and pulsating music is back, thanks to LKH Management, who seeks to bring something new to Boystown by bringing back something old. While oftentimes these changes mean bidding adieu to long-established haunts, this weekend Halsted Street saw the return of an old favorite.
It's no secret that Boystown has been going through major changes over the last couple years, with bars and restaurants closing down and springing up in storefronts throughout the gayborhood.