Help with Chicago discos in the 70's (Harvey, Lynwood: 2009, mall)

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Did Mr.T work there when it was gay?

Originally Posted by Chicagodan

No question about it. The earliest - and best - discos in the seventies were gay. Funny you say that Avengerfire... out of all the bars that Manigault mentions, the only one that actually was gay (for a short time) was Dingbats, 247 E. Ontario.

Dingbats was not a gay disco. As a matter of fact, Mr. T., from an incident I witnessed, gave off a decidedly anti-gay aura and anti-gay rhetoric.

I was there several times between 74-79 and saw maybe 5% gay couples.

To each his own taste, but many good dance clubs (like Sweet Georgia Brown) were not homosexual-oriented at all.

Now I remember! There was 'The Taste' at 64th near Halsted. Some of the Bulls (like Quintin Dailey) used to hang out there.

[Brisklaw]

Originally Posted by Chicagodan

(This from discomusic.com)

DingBats
247 East Onterio St., Chicago, IL

Owner Ron Briskman
DJ Jon Ford

Bouncer Mr T. Dingbats was the largest black disco in Chicago, home to the Chicago bears/bulls.

Typical Jew, Briskman, making money off gays and blacks....disco sucked.

[WhaThe]

Originally Posted by Brisklaw

Typical Jew, Briskman, making money off gays and blacks....disco sucked.

My Troll alert is going off.

[Chi-townChica]

My mom worked at a place called Dingbats (right spelling?) where Mr. T was the bouncer. You might be able to google something about the club. let me know if you can't and I'll try to pull specifics from mom.

She was a cocktail waitress there in the later 70's and met Rick James, Mick Jagger, and some others.

Anyone remember this place???

Originally Posted by DwsinTxs

Hey everybody,
I'm working on a novel, and I need to know the name of any disco club that was located in Chicago, in the 1970's....specifically, in 1974

All I need is the name of the club, but if you have firsthand knowledge of it, I'd love to know any other details, the location, names of owners, looks of the club interioir or exterior, if they had any particular 'theme' as far as decor etc etc.

Thanks!

dws

[WhaThe]

Originally Posted by Chi-townChica

and met Rick James, Mick Jagger, and some others.

I think I would bow and exclaim that I'm not worthy.

[Chicagodan]

As you can see, DWS, there were a number of discos here in Chicago in the '70s. Many, if not most, catered to select crowds. It might help if you gave some directive as to what kind of place it is you were looking for.

[oldhousegirl]

Originally Posted by Chi-townChica

Anyone remember this place???

Many pleasant memories at Dingbats - the kiddie disco part that is. 7th/8th grade weekly event. The bartenders served us grenadine "drinks". They had lots of neon sculptures and signs. We would hold hands with each other, while at the same time one held onto the neon sign to get an electrical shock!! Loved it!

Next thing I knew Steve Dahl was at Sox park saying, "Disco sucks". I remember clearly thinking, "What the? I though we loved disco?!!"

[DwsinTxs]

Thanks everybody! I really love all this info. The 'scene' in my novel is only a couple of pages, but I ave not skimped on all the research I did for the rest of the novel...all dialogue, music mentioned, events talked about all all thoroughly checked out before I put them in there. Even though it's definitely a work of fiction, I want all the music, places, dialogue etc etc to be authentic.

This helps a LOT.....too much in fact. . . It makes me want to expand the disco scene, and include Mr T of Mick Jagger or whomever....LOL. . .and now I can't decide which disco name to use.

I was 'of age' in 74, but I never got 'into' the disco scene at all.

[alleycat]

Hello, Dws.

I see you've gotten several replies. I thought you probably would. As you can see, I've made a few replies on this website myself. ;-)

See you on AW.

[Chi-townChica]

I didn't know they had a kiddie dosco. lol That's soooo cute! I wish there were kiddie discos now to occupy the kiddies time besides video games.

I don't know if the forum leader wants to put this in his book, but my mom said she witnessed Rick James shoving up quite a bit of coke with the disco chicks. Mick Jagger was a perfect gentleman.

Maybe you could contact Mr.T????? He lives in Lake Forest.

Originally Posted by oldhousegirl

Many pleasant memories at Dingbats - the kiddie disco part that is. 7th/8th grade weekly event. The bartenders served us grenadine "drinks". They had lots of neon sculptures and signs. We would hold hands with each other, while at the same time one held onto the neon sign to get an electrical shock!! Loved it!

Next thing I knew Steve Dahl was at Sox park saying, "Disco sucks". I remember clearly thinking, "What the? I though we loved disco?!!"