This is a selfie looking into what used to be Hamburger Mary’s at the corner of Clark and Balmoral in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. Mary’s was a good and (mostly) reliable burger place which also had really good grilled cheese. But it was also a hub for LBGTQ culture - everything from dance nights to Sunday brunch drag shows or drag queen bingo were happening. They had Saturday night dance parties upstairs at Mary’s attic which I could hear a block away in my apartment during the summer. Unfortunately, they closed at the end of the year. Another victim of the downturn in the economy due to the pandemic. I walked past it this week and guys were hauling out furniture, restaurant items, and various other things, including metal scraps they’ll probably take to get recycled for money, and it was kind of sad.
Looking into the former Hamburger Mary’s space which used to be Café Boost a long time ago
Twenty years ago I had my first solo show of my art (photographs) in the same space. Back then it was a place called Café Boost. $2.50 bottomless cup of coffee. Good pastries, sandwiches, and salads, including a salad pregnant women would eat to induce labor. True.
I’d sit there at Café Boost all afternoon drinking coffee and sketching, reading, writing. I met other artists there and then got to know the owners. They were also artists and musicians. I asked if I could show my work in the café and they said yes which led to my first public solo art show in Chicago. It was even a recommended show listing in the arts section of the Chicago Reader (see other photos in this post). I went on to show my work there several other times before they closed in 2005. One of those artists I knew from drinking bottomless cups of coffee everyday at Boost, introduced me to Richard Lange, the director of Friends of the Arts (FOTA) - a non-profit arts organization helping emerging artists show their work. Richard and FOTA helped me kick start showing my art publicly in Chicago. Within a couple years I was curating monthly art shows at Café Boost on behalf of FOTA and I also showed my work around town in other places via FOTA’s network, including the Cornelia Arts Building, where I’ve had my studio space since 2006.
For most of the past 20 years, I’ve lived near this corner of Clark and Balmoral. It’s a reminder to me of when I was really starting to become an artist and showing my work in Chicago. It’s sad to see it vacant now, but hopefully it will become something new and once again be that glue that brings locals together in a way that builds community and celebrates the arts.
Mural on the side of the Hamburger Mary’s buildling
