From left, Brad Balof, Art Johnston, and Pepe Pena at the Sidetrack 42nd Anniversary Party. Photo by Vern Hester
On the evening of June 13, the owners of Sidetrack Video Bar, Art Johnston and his husband Jose “Pepe” Peña, held a 42-year birthday bash featuring a festive buffet and raffle.
From left_ Steve Kent, Paul Kepner, Lori Cannon, Scott Jackson, and Dean Ogren hold a sign made from rolls of toilet paper. Photo by Vern Hester
As is the tradition with the bar’s history of activism and community support the event also served as a benefit for GroceryLand. Friends and community supporters packed the space for a night of celebration and an acknowledgement that there was plenty more work for the community to do. Guests dined on sliders and homemade eggrolls as footage of the Sidetrack float in various Chicago Pride parades played.
In a wise move to keep the festivities light, Johnston, joined onstage by Peña and General Manager Brad Balof, reflected briefly on Sidetrack’s evolution from a single-room bar with one video screen with beer crates as the only seating into a well-appointed multi-level entertainment complex.
Sidetrack co-owner Art Johnston addresses well wishers at the Sidetrack 42nd Anniversary Party. Photo by Vern Hester
In a moment of levity, Johnston told the crowd, “Don’t think that anybody ever gave us anything. … We had to fight all the way. And now we have to fight over some of these issues we had to fight for years ago. If anything, vote, vote vote in this coming election. … Let’s let the good we have here in Chicago spread.”
From left, Kevin B. Morrison, Lori Cablank, Richard Streetman, and Vince Jay at Sidetrack’s 42nd Anniversary Party. Photo by Vern Hester
In the years since the bars’ opening in April 1982, Sidetrack has not only grown as a business but also mirrored the evolution of the LGBTQ+ community. Through the AIDS crisis, waves of anti-LGBTQ+ conservative politics, financial recessions and the COVID pandemic, Sidetrack has managed to anchor the LGBTQ+ community on the business front.
Organizations that Sidetrack has hosted events for include Open Hand, Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), AIDS Care Network, Amigas Latinas, The Gay Officers Action League, the NAMES Project, Asians and Friends Chicago, Center on Halsted, Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, ACT/UP, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Equality Illinois, Congregation or Chadash, Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association and the Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA).
