Sexual Reform on a Scientific Basis
Cover of the literary magazine Earth published in Wheaton, Illinois. Magnus Hirschfeld, an openly gay German physician, was a long-time advocate of human rights for sexual minorities. The article appeared around the time Hirschfeld was lecturing in Chicago.
The Liberty Belle: She's Cracked
A woman dressed in flapper fashion delivers a speech from a soapbox. She points to a sign reading “Liberate the Libido,” a reference to the growing popularity of the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud who argued, in part, that repressed sexual feelings could manifest themselves in antisocial behavior. A handwritten note at the bottom of the cartoon comments: “A typical scene at the Dill Pickle Club.”
Dill Pickle Lending Library
Among Chicago's most unusual contributions to the culture of modern urban life was the Dill Pickle Club, located at 18 Tooker Alley just east of Bughouse Square. Operating as a coffeehouse, art gallery, and speakeasy, 'The Pickle' welcomed hoboes, prostitutes, professors, and every variety of nonconformist passing through Chicago. The club hosted weekend jazz dance parties and little theater productions of Strindberg, Ibsen, O'Neill, and local playwrights. It hosted serious lectures by university professors and spoof debates staged for pure entertainment. In its early years, the Pickle was a meeting place for some of Chicago's most famous authors, intellectuals, and radicals, including Carl Sandburg, Sherwood Anderson, Floyd Dell, Clarence Darrow, Ben Reitman, Lucy Parsons, Ralph Chaplin, Ben Hecht, Harriet Monroe, and Vachel Lindsay.
Step High, Stoop Low, Leave Your Dignity Outside: Entrance to the Dill Pickle Club, 18 Tooker Alley
Among Chicago's most unusual contributions to the culture of modern urban life was the Dill Pickle Club, located at 18 Tooker Alley just east of Bughouse Square. Operating as a coffeehouse, art gallery, and speakeasy, “The Pickle” welcomed hoboes, prostitutes, professors, and every variety of nonconformist passing through Chicago. The club hosted weekend jazz dance parties and little theater productions of Strindberg, Ibsen, O'Neill, and local playwrights. It hosted serious lectures by university professors and spoof debates staged for pure entertainment. In its early years, the Pickle was a meeting place for some of Chicago's most famous authors, intellectuals, and radicals, including Carl Sandburg, Sherwood Anderson, Floyd Dell, Clarence Darrow, Ben Reitman, Lucy Parsons, Ralph Chaplin, Ben Hecht, Harriet Monroe, and Vachel Lindsay.
Dill Pickle Tea Room
This advertisement from the Dill Pickle Club suggests some of the appeal of bohemian night spots: conversation, special parties, and “atmosphere.”
Advertisement for a lecture by Dr. Magnus Hirshfeld, Chicago, 1931.
Magnus Hirschfeld, an openly gay German physician, was a long-time advocate of human rights for sexual minorities. He founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee in 1897 to advocate for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Germany and the World League for Sexual Reform on a Scientific Basis in 1928. Hirschfeld's lecture at Chicago's Dill Pickle Club in 1931 was said to have drawn an audience of over 300.
Will Amazonic Women Usurp Man's Sphere?
An advertisement for a lecture at Chicago's Dill Pickle Club, printed on the reverse of an advertisement for a lecture by Magnus Hirschfeld. Little is known about the speaker, Elizabeth Davis, who appears to have been part of the bohemian community on Chicago's north side.
St. Patrick's Costume Ball
This flyer from Chicago's Dill Pickle Club announces a costume ball on St. Patrick's Day, 1925. Oral histories suggest that masquerade balls at this and other clubs were an important part of the early community of gay men and lesbians in Chicago. Under cover of the party, women could dress as men and men as women. With so many people cross-dressing, few took notice of same sex couples. Although the Dill Pickle Club closed early in the 1930s, citywide Halloween Balls continued to be meeting places for gay men and lesbians into the 1940s.
A Night in Bohemia: Dill Pickle Masked Ball
Among the most popular Dill Pickle Club events were its frequent masquerade balls. These events appealed to a broad range of partygoers, allowing wealthy residents of the Gold Coast to mingle in relative anonymity with working people and artists. Masquerade balls also attracted gay men and women. Under cover of the party, women could dress as men and men as women. With so many people cross-dressing, few took notice of same sex couples. Although the Dill Pickle Club closed early in the 1930s, citywide Halloween Balls continued to be meeting places for gay men and women into the 1940s.
