Gold Coast Bar: Chicago Leather Landmark and Birthplace of International Mr. Leather

Gold Coast was a leather bar for gay men in Chicago that operated from 1960 to 1988. It was one of the first bars built by and for the gay leather community in the United States. For most of its twenty-eight years—especially 1967–1984 at 501 North Clark Street beside Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood—it was famous for a legendary basement called The Pit. Owner Chuck Renslow made it a flagship among several gay businesses he ran. The bar’s founding pulled other gay businesses nearby into a kind of local “gay district,” and its pageant legacy became International Mr. Leather.

Founding and Moves

The original Gold Coast Show Lounge sat at 1130 North Clark Street. Chicago leathermen including Renslow and artist Dom Orejudos had met there as patrons since 1959. After the original owner died that year, his son offered the bar for sale. Renslow, Herbie Schmidt, and Art Marotta bought it so the emerging leather scene would not lose its meeting place. Under the shortened name Gold Coast it reopened 15 March 1960.

A rent spike moved the bar to 1110 North Clark in 1962 (a “2 am” liquor license: alcohol service with a hard close). In 1965 it moved to 2265 North Lincoln Avenue; in 1967 it settled at 501 North Clark—the classic address. Culture was hardcore leather; owners skipped a dancing license because they believed their crowd did not want a dance club. Renslow paid police bribes to reduce raids, which still happened sometimes. Orejudos (as Etienne), Renslow’s partner, made posters and art for the bar; with Chuck Arnett he created famous murals. Renslow later donated much of that art to the Leather Archives & Museum, where some still hangs in the auditorium.

Leather Cell, Mr. Gold Coast, and IML

In 1969 a leather and sex-toy shop opened in the basement: the Leather Cell, selling hankies, harnesses, vests, slings, chaps, and toys. It later became Male Hide Leathers, among the first dedicated gay leather shops. From 1972 the bar hosted an annual Mr. Gold Coast pageant; John Lunning was the first winner. In 1979 the contest rebranded as International Mr. Leather, which still runs—making Gold Coast the birth venue of one of leather’s global title systems.

Decline and Closure

In 1984 the bar moved to 5025 N Clark Street in Andersonville; a year later it was sold to Frank Kellas in exchange for stock in the GayLife newspaper. It closed permanently on 10 February 1988 after its liquor license was revoked. Popularity had already fallen after the relocation and management changes.

Legacy

Dazed later wrote that bars like Gold Coast mattered beyond fetish alone: LGBTQ+ sex lives were heavily policed and often criminalized, so pre-Stonewall (and post-) leather bars were about freedom as much as fucking. The Pit, the Leather Cell, Etienne murals, and the Mr. Gold Coast-to-IML pipeline made one Chicago address a national myth: hardcore leather room downstairs, commerce in gear, art on the walls, and a title system that outlived the bar itself. On 25 May 2018 Chicago’s City Council honorarily named the eastern stretch of Clark between Winnemac and Ainslie—historic home of Gold Coast, Man’s Country, and other Renslow businesses—“Chuck Renslow Way.” Related topics: Chuck Renslow, Dom Orejudos/Etienne, International Mr. Leather, Leather Archives & Museum, Male Hide Leathers, and Chicago leather geography. Gold Coast remains a foundational address on any map of American gay BDSM nightlife—closed in 1988, still cited whenever someone asks where U.S. leather bar culture learned to build institutions.