The History of Northalsted

From Little Jim’s to Scarlet, from Pride to the Drag March for Change, from Joan Jett Blakk to Tenderoni, North Halsted has been a place for innumerable LGBTQI+ people to meet, celebrate, and participate in activism that has shaped all of our lives. Brush up on your “Boystown” history—and even learn how the neighborhood got its many nicknames.

“The Legacy Project really is celebrating history, but it’s really about the future.
We won’t have a future community without recognizing the contributions and the experiences of the people that are on this Legacy Walk.”

-Alderman Tom Tunney, 44th Ward

Petition & Press

Read more about the June 27, 2020 Change.org petition to remove the nickname “Boystown”
—spread on Northalsted via QR code stickers—in the press below:

The Advocate — July 9, 2020
Chicago Tribune — July 10, 2020 & September 23, 2020
Block Club Chicago — October 13, 2020
WBEZ Chicago — June 14, 2021

Recognition by Google Maps

The campaign to change the “Boystown” nickname included encouraging people to “suggest an edit on Google Maps to change ‘Boystown’ neighborhood designation to ‘Legacy Walk.’ Click here, select ‘edit the map’ in the menu, and write ‘Your Opinions About Maps.’ It takes just a few seconds! Feel free to include proof, such as Block Club Chicago’s recent coverage, or the Chicago Reader’s.”

As of 2023, Google Maps has changed
the neighborhood’s name to “Northalsted.”

While Jen & Devlyn would have preferred a ‘queer-er’ choice, such as ‘The Legacy Walk’ in honor of the city’s historic landmark celebrating LGBTQ+ history on the rainbow pylons throughout the neighborhood. However, we celebrate this small step toward the gayborhood’s next chapter.

From the 2020 campaign to influence “Boystown’s” Northalsted Business Alliance on queerlegacychi.com:

The Legacy Walk is an official Chicago historic monument stretching the length of our LGBTQ+ business strip,
and displaying the diverse, intersectional queer history of this community.

As of this writing, in 2020, many changes must be implemented on North Halsted in order to leave behind a better legacy for the future of the LGBTQI+ community in Chicago. It begins with the Northalsted Business Alliance, the chamber of commerce responsible for the community of LGBTQI+ people, businesses, and events such as Pride Fest, Market Days, and several other festivals taking place on the Legacy Walk in Lakeview. Due to an extensive history of unwelcoming environments in these businesses and events, often targeting people of color, transgender people, nonbinary people, and other intersections of the LGBTQI+ identity, this website was created to explain the history of the neighborhood and lack of social progress within the Northalsted Business Alliance in order to enact real change in the neighborhood.

The Northalsted Business Alliance announced in a July 2020 press release that they had taken “diversity and inclusion” training to improve these conditions, but neglected to include that they had cancelled 3 of the 4 scheduled seminars with Praxis Group one month before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. After agreeing to drop the ‘Boystown’ moniker in September 2020, a spokesperson for the Northalsted Business Alliance told NBC, “We’re all about inclusivity here.” The Northalsted Business Alliance has not rescheduled their “diversity and inclusion” training with Praxis Group. A radical change of heart is necessary.

Our recommendations as of 2020 were these: North Halsted business owners will only implement the necessary changes if they understand that they are responsible for the consistent problems listed in the articles and neighborhood history included here. Their intent may be positive, their impact has been negative. The North Halsted business owners, management, and staff need to be trained to become more aware of — and radically change — their behavior toward other intersections of our shared LGBTQI+ minority.

Actionable Changes for the Northalsted Business Alliance:

1. ✓ Discontinue ‘Boystown’ neighborhood moniker 

2. Hold “Diversity & Inclusion” training with Praxis Group for all Northalsted business owners, management, and staff. This training should include violence deescalation training, and non-emergency training for guests experiencing mental health issues. These seminars should be held on an ongoing basis.

3. The Northalsted Business Alliance board meetings must include more diverse voices from other intersections of LGBTQI+ identities, perhaps by allowing Northalsted staff members to be present for — and contribute to — the conversation. 

4. A portion of profits from major events such as Market Days and Pride in the Park donated to LGBTQI+ services such as Brave Space Alliance and Howard Brown Health Clinic. Directing funds toward necessary service centers may begin to repair the damage caused to the community by many businesses on the strip.

5. A transparent accountability list for the above demands with a list of steps and set dates for when these actions will be completed.

We believe implementing these changes may enable us to leave behind a better legacy for the future of the LGBTQI+ community in Chicago.

The campaign to encourage a new name for “Boystown” was organized by Devlyn Camp & Jen Freitag in the summer of 2020. Learn more in the articles above. Jen Freitag is the General Manager of the Chicago Diner Halsted Street location. She has worked in the neighborhood for 8 years, attended board meetings, and identifies as lesbian/queer.  Devlyn Camp is a former manager at the Chicago Diner for 6 years. They periodically report on LGBTQI+ issues for the Chicago Reader and work as a queer historian.

Contact us here.

Contact the Northalsted Business Alliance here: info@northalsted.com