Roscoe's Tavern

About this place Roscoe's Tavern

Roscoe's Tavern has been on Halsted Street since 1987 and is one of the defining bars of Chicago's Boystown neighbourhood. The venue operates across multiple levels and spaces: a main bar with high-energy dance floor, a quieter side bar for conversation, and a large outdoor patio that becomes one of the best gay outdoor drinking spaces in the Midwest during Chicago's all-too-brief summer. The formula is the time-tested one of the great American gay bar: accessible, welcoming, reliably busy, and owned and operated by people genuinely embedded in the community. Roscoe's has hosted charity events, fundraisers, political gatherings and a continuous programme of themed nights throughout its nearly 40 years. The dance floor runs pop, hip-hop and R&B; the energy is celebratory rather than serious. The outdoor patio on Halsted is one of Chicago's great summer institutions — pints in hand, watching the stream of the neighbourhood's life go past. During Pride, Roscoe's patio becomes one of the most coveted spots in the city.