City of Villages: Andersonville, the other Gay Kingdom

This Thursday I traveled from my home gaydom to the opposite gaydom. I only had to travel 15 minutes due north on the Halsted bus to reach Andersonville, home of the less glittery, better basketball playing gays. My mission was a cheap bikini wax but the journey turned out to be a far greater reward.

First there was the bus filled with the most random smattering of people I have ever seen including a dread locked hippy, a sober faced Hispanic worker, a young professional man in a great suit, a rather beefed up young lady, and one guy trying to take subtle swigs of vodka from a small plastic bottle.

Then there was the neighborhood. With large stamps into the cement on all the corners reading Andersonville there was no doubting where I was. There were occasional rainbow sightings, of course not as prevalent at in Boystown and not any in the phallic form. In general the area was a little dingy like it was wearing an old thin coat of gray. With a plethora of bars and restaurants, it reminded me of a cheaper, older, less obvious boystown. In short it felt like home.

Then there was the wax: 25 bucks, including a threading of the details and some super cool smelling lotion. It was a steal especially considering Sonia the waxist gave me neighborhood tips the whole time. Definitely worth the trip to Andersonville!

Finally the way back I noticed all the hidden gems: little wine shops, less sketchy looking Mexican restaurants and a bar that showed the L word on Sunday nights.

In short it’s not the pretties of neighborhoods but definitely has those gems every Chicagoian dreams of finding.