Part of the Gay Chicago Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Chicago, Illinois
A Black-owned South Shore gay bar dating to the early 1960s.
One of the longest-running Black-owned gay bars in the United States, Jeffery Pub has anchored Chicago's South Shore neighborhood since the early 1960s. What started as a straight bar became a gay institution when patrons from the shuttered Maxine's across the street made it their new home. Today owner Jamal Junior keeps the tradition alive with DJs spinning hip-hop, R&B, and house Thursday through Sunday, plus regular drag shows, karaoke, and the long-running SilkySoul Sundays dinner-and-show series. For decades, the Pub was the only dedicated LGBTQ+ space on the South Side — a counterpoint to the North Side's Boystown that gave Black and Brown gay Chicagoans a place that was unambiguously theirs. In 2024, the city unveiled a Progress Pride rainbow crosswalk at Jeffery Boulevard and 71st Street, right outside the front door.
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