Man's Country: More Than a Bathhouse

by Owen Keehnen

More Than a BathhouseWhen Chuck Renslow opened Man's Country in 1973, he wanted it to be someplace special—and he succeeded. The bathhouse was a part of Chicago gay life for 45 years—serving a number of changing roles, supporting the larger community, and spawning countless memories.

Rudolph Nureyev ran naked down the halls shouting, "Who wants to swing on a star?" Puppeteer Wayland Flowers held court in the TV lounge in nothing but a towel with his puppet, Madame, on his hand. Generations of gay men explored their sexuality in this "oasis of pleasure" with amenities that included a snack bar, a retail store, a wet area and whirlpool, an orgy room, a gym, specialty rooms, a rooftop deck and garden, and the largest steam room in the Midwest.

The Music Hall stage at Man's Country was a venue for such talents as Divine, the Village People, Judy Tenuta, Charles Pierce, and Rusty Warren. When there wasn't a show, there was dancing. Some men checked in to Man's Country for six hours, and others came for the weekend. Man's Country was a place to let your freak flag fly.

When the iconic bathhouse fell to the wrecking ball in 2018, the Man's Country story came to an end, but not the legend. The stories and the memories will endure. Chuck Renslow always said he wanted Man's Country to be more than a bathhouse, and it was much more.

With chapters on the techno-dance club BISTRO TOO & the leather bar, the CHICAGO EAGLE.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction

188 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2023

About the author

Writer and historian Owen Keehnen has had his fiction, essays, erotica, reviews, columns and interviews appear in dozens of magazines and anthologies worldwide. Keehnen is the author of the humorous gay novel Young Digby Swank (Wilde City Press, 2013), the gay novel The Sand Bar (Lethe Press, 2012) and the horror novel Doorway Unto Darkness (Dancing Moon Press, 2010). He also recently released the reference book The LGBT Book of Days (Wilde City Press, 2013). Along with Tracy Baim, he co-authored Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011) as well as Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011). Over 100 of his interviews with various LGBT authors and activists from the 1990s have been collected in the book We’re Here, We’re Queer (Prairie Avenue Productions, 2011). He recently finished editing For My Brothers, the Mark Abramson memoir about life and love in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He co-edited Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago’s LGBTQ Community 1977–1997 (Firetrap Press, 2009), was a contributor to Gay Press, Gay Power (Prairie Avenue Publications, 2012) and wrote ten biographical essays for the coffee table history book Out and Proud in Chicago (Surrey/Agate, 2008). Keehnen was on the founding committee and executive board of The Legacy Project and is currently a contributing biographer for the LGBT history-education-arts program focused on pride, acceptance, and bringing proper recognition to the courageous lives and contributions in LGBT history. He was the author of the Starz books, a four-volume series of interviews with gay porn stars. He has had two queer monologues adapted for the stage and served as co-editor of the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement for several years, was a co-founder of the horror film website RacksAndRazors.com, and a featured poet in Wilde City’s 2013 collection Falling Awake. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Carl, and his two ridiculously spoiled dogs, Flannery and Fitzgerald. He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2012.

Reviews

[Warren Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of interest to the generations who survived the AIDS epidemic in Chicago. Since actual witnesses are few and far between, it sometimes feels more a history of the building than the club. Worth my time.

[Jeff Burgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible telling of Chicago gay history - Mans Country seemed like such an amazing place for so many years, I’m sad I didn’t get to visit before it was demolished. Looking forward to visiting the LA&M again to see some of the remnants left behind

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keehnan has me grieving for a place I’ve never been to.

Reading this historical account makes me feel as if I were a regular patron of Man’s Country in its heyday.