If a Chicago restaurateur's plans work out, the city could soon be home to the country's first airport gay bar.
The Chicago Department of Aviation, which operates O'Hare International Airport, is looking for vendors to fill open concession spaces in the terminal. Among the recent bidders is Germán González, a managing partner of Somos Hospitality Group (Tzuco, Ummo), who wants to open a satellite of Sidetrack – arguably the Windy City's most popular gay bar – at O'Hare.
The Chicago Tribune was the first to report on González's bid, and it said it would likely take months before the airport operator decided who should fill the space.
Still, the owners of Sidetrack's main location in Boystown/Northalsted, Chicago's historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood, told the paper it would be a huge deal if their bar gets a location at one of the city's gateways to the world.
“Knowing the number of people who pass through here every day who could see that there are (gay) bars here, where the people there don’t have horns and tails, and we’re not trying to steal anybody’s children,” Art Johnston, co-owner of Sidetrack, told the paper. “We’re trying to live our lives and make life better for all of us. And O’Hare is, we think, a perfect next step in that direction.”
Johnston co-owns the bar with José “Pepe” Peña. The pair opened it in a small space in 1982 and it has since grown to a multi-level staple of Chicago's queer community. If González's bid is successful, Johnston and Peña will license the Sidetrack brand to Somos, which would operate the bar.