Big Chicks and Tweet
5024 North Sheridan Road
First a quiet bar founded in 1944 and frequented mostly by retired WWII veterans, Big Chicks began the transformation into a gay bar and community hub when Michelle Fire bought it in 1986. Fire was an artist herself, and took pride in covering every inch of the walls with paintings and photographs, all of which depicted women. She contributed a giant mural near the bar’s entrance with three women referred to as “the three muses” and sought out work by artists who challenged the status quo and centered humanism in their world. Early pieces came from Lee Friedland, Diane Arbus, and Lisette Model. Soon after the art started going up, the bar found its crowd with people of all sexualities and ethnicities. Fire maintained a strong sense of community, cooking for attendees and creating a safe space for people to dance and be themselves.
Big Chicks became something of an art hub as it grew more popular. Fire’s emphasis on community led to the bar sponsoring queer sports teams, distributing information on HIV, hosting game nights and political events, and holding performances. There are regular drag shows as well as spoken word poetry demonstrations. For the past 20 years, Big Chicks has been home to Scott Free’s series of queer and trans spoken word and musical performances, Homolatte. On first and third Tuesdays at 7:30, people of all ages can come for free and engage in Chicago's queer art scene. Past performers included Alix Dobkin, Wenjo Carlton (director of Hannah Free with Sharon Gless), Sabrina Chap, Marty McConnell (winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize), Tamale Sepp, and almost every gay or lesbian performer who was in Chicago venues.
