Both B&W ($24.99) and full-color ($79.99) editions available. A
prominent Chicago gay activist and entrepreneur is the subject of
an in-depth biography, Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, by
journalists and authors Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. The book
contains more than 300 images, including murals and drawings by Dom
"Etienne" Orejudos, posters for International Mr. Leather (IML),
and photos from the Gold Coast, Pride Parades, IML contests,
physique magazines and more. The book is published by Prairie
Avenue Productions, 414 pages, $24.99 black and white (ISBN
1-46109602-2), $79.99 color (1-46111908-1). It is available on
Amazon.com. Living as an openly gay man in 1950s Chicago was no
easy task. For Chuck Renslow, that was only his first of many bold
moves. Just out of high school he began what was to become a
six-decade empire, starting more than two dozen businesses in
Chicago, as well as a few in other cities. He has owned bars,
discos, photo studios, health clubs, bathhouses, gay magazines and
newspapers, hotels, restaurants, and bookstores. Throughout it all
he dealt with Mafia and police payoffs, anti-gay political
policies, harassment from censors, and even controversy within the
gay community. In the mid-1950s, after having a portrait and then
cheesecake studio, Renslow began experimenting with beefcake
photography and began Kris Studio. With his longtime lover, the
artist Dom Orejudos aka Etienne and Stephen, at his side, Renslow
created Kris Studio a leader in male physique photography,
resulting in such magazines as Triumph, Mars and The Rawhide Male,
producing thousands of erotic images as well as several films. In
1959 Renslow took over the Gold Coast Show Lounge and transformed
it into one of the most lowdown libidinous gay leather bars in the
world. With Etienne's murals adorning the walls, a
leather/Western/uniform dress code for patrons, and a dark Pit that
featured all sorts of goings-on, the Gold Coast set the standard
for raunchy kink and gay sexual liberation. It was the birthplace
of motorcycle clubs and sex groups, but above all a place for
people to meet, connect, and explore themselves and their
sexuality. The Gold Coast was also the birthplace of the first
leather contest, which in the span of a few short years evolved
beyond the bar's capacity and became International Mr. Leather in
1979. More than three decades later, it continues to be one of the
world's most popular gay events. Renslow was also one of the
pioneers in taking a bathhouse beyond merely the borders of a mere
sex club. Man's Country became something truly unforgettable in the
1970s - a sex-and-entertainment complex with a variety of rooms,
shops, and a Music Hall that attracted top names touring in the
"K-Y circuit," from Sally Rand to Wayland Flowers to Rusty Warren
and Charles Pierce. Renslow was a dynamic force in Chicago politics
under mayors starting with Richard J. Daley, and he ran to be a
delegate for Sen. Ted Kennedy's 1980 presidential run. He danced
with another man at a 1977 inaugural ball for Jimmy Carter. Renslow
helped protest against unfair policies, fought censorship and
entrapment, and battled Anita Bryant. He even served as a field
contact for the pioneering work at the Kinsey Institute, as well as
performing sexual acts for Kinsey researchers. He knew
entertainment celebrities from Marlene Dietrich to Rudolf Nureyev,
from Divine to Grace Jones, and from Sylvester to Quentin Crisp. In
their heyday Chuck Renslow's annual White Parties were celebrations
beyond compare. When Chicago's gay community faced the loss of its
newspaper, Renslow bailed out and ran GayLife. He also co-founded
the Leather Archives & Museum (with Tony DeBlase). Through it
all Renslow has also been Daddy of the Family, a unique created
group of lovers, tricks, and friends who were bound by sex and
oftentimes love and by a goal of providing comfort and support to
one another.
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