BURIED TOGETHER
Partner Dom Orejudos
Queer Places:
The Tool Box, 414 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
The Machine Shop, 504 or 510 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Chicago Eagle/Man's Country Bathhouse, 5015 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640
The Grubsteak Restaurant, 414 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Center Stage, 3730 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60613
The Barracks Hotel, 506 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
Zolar’s, 936 W Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60614
Leather Archives and Museum, 6418N N Greenview Ave, Chicago, IL 60626
The Club Baths of Chicago, 609 N LaSalle Dr, Chicago, IL 60654
Sparrow’s, 5220 or 5224 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL 60640
Episcopal Church of the Atonement Columbarium
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Charles
George "Chuck" Renslow (August 26, 1929 – June 29, 2017)[1][2] was an openly gay American businessperson, known for pioneering homoerotic photography in the mid-20th-century US, and establishing many landmarks of late-20th-century gay male culture, especially in the Chicago area.[3] His accomplishments included the cofounding with
Tony DeBlase of the Leather Archives and Museum,[4][5][6] the cofounding with
Dom Orejudos of the Gold Coast bar, Man's Country Baths,[7] and the International Mr. Leather competition, and the founding by himself alone of Chicago's August White Party,[8] and the magazines Triumph, Rawhide, and Mars.[8] He was the romantic partner of Dom Orejudos (who was an erotica artist better known by his pen names Etienne and Stephen) and later Ron Ehemann.[3]
Charles George "Chuck" Renslow was born in Chicago on August 26, 1929, and grew up during an era of
repression, yet he boldly chose to live his life as an openly gay man. Just
out of high school, he began forming his seven-decade empire.
Renslow was a photographer, and in 1952 met Dom Orejudos on Chicago's Oak Street Beach, asking him to model for him.[9] They founded Kris Studios, a physique photography studio that took photos for gay magazines they published. The studio was named in part to honor transgender pioneer
Christine Jorgensen.[9][10][11][12] In 1958, they bought a gym which they renamed Triumph Gymnasium and Health Studio. That same year Renslow and Orejudos bought Gold Coast Show Lounge, and transformed it into the country's first gay leather bar, called the Gold Coast bar, with a uniform/western/leather dress code, a backroom, and homoerotic art (by Orejudos) on the walls.[13][14][1] In 1965, Renslow helped found the Second City Motorcycle Club.[15] Renslow founded Chicago's August White Party on August 8, 1974, when he hosted a party to celebrate his birthday and thank his patrons. It was then held for the next 36 years until 2010. The largest party was held in 1979 at Navy Pier with 5,000 participants.[16] The forerunner of the International Mr. Leather competition was the 1970s "Mr. Gold Coast" bar contest held at the Gold Coast bar owned by Renslow and Orejudos. The "Mr. Gold Coast" contest became one of the bar's most popular promotions causing the need to locate the competition to a larger venue (in 1979), upon which the title was changed to International Mr. Leather. In 1991 Renslow and Tony DeBlase founded the Leather Archives and Museum “as a community archives, library, and museum of Leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM history and culture.”[4][5][6]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
