Facing Closure, Chicago's Oldest Bathhouse Throws Epic Party for the Ages
... On Clark Street in Andersonville ... sits Chuck Renslow’s Man’s Country, open since 1973.
Renslow was the pioneering godfather of the leather scene — the ultimate leather daddy who opened his first bars and gyms in the 1950s, published erotica with partner Dom Orejudos (known by his pen name “Etienne”), accrued clout in Chicago politics, gave widely as a philanthropist, and founded the International Mr. Leather competitions and the Leather Archives and Museum.
... It has been six years since Man’s Country turned a profit. Ehemann points to ever-increasing Cook County and municipal property taxes, insurance costs, and postponed upkeep — not competition with Steamworks or a cultural shift away from bathhouses — as the reasons behind this...
The second Loose Ends party will be held from 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve through the first 12hours of 2018, at which point Man’s Country will close forever (LooseEnds-nye.eventbrite.com). The building on Clark Street will be torn down next year, and a condominium building, the Renslow, will rise in its stead. Man’s Country’s mahogany elephant will occupy the new building’s lobby ...