When Chester Street Bar closed in 2017, Champaign-Urbana lost a slice of its multicultural fabric. Amy Beth Myers is doing her best to bring it back.
In April, Mayers opened C-U’s newest woman-owned business: Amy’s Place, a gay bar at 120 N. First St., Champaign. If it’s not an homage to Chester Street — to paraphrase a famous line from “No Country for Old Men” — it’ll do until the homage gets here.
“I worked at Chester Street Bar from 19 years old until 43 years old,” Myers said of the beloved business that was in operation in Champaign for nearly 40 years, also known as 63 Chester Street or “theBar.”
“That was 30-something years of my life, and I was missing a safe space, a gay bar that was gay-owned, gay-operated, because we have our own culture (and) our own style. Everybody deserves a safe space. The college kids need a safe space to go, and it took me a while but I made it happen.”
Indeed she did. Amy’s Place has proven popular, and it’s no secret why. Drinks are inexpensive; music of all types is plentiful; and people enjoy various types of special events while in the company of people who appreciate them for who they are.
“Everybody’s welcome,” said Myers, a native of Canton who moved to C-U at age 19. “We are a gay bar, we are LGBTQ operated, but if you’re cool with us, we’re cool with you. I encourage everybody to come party, to come dance. That’s a question I get all the time: Can straight people come? Everybody can come over any time. We welcome all.
“We’re very diverse. Sometimes I sit at the front door and look out and we’ve got black, brown, Caucasian, couples, college kids, older people, gay, bisexual, and I just look out at the crowd and it just makes my heart smile that we’re just all partying and having a great time together with no drama.”
Myers’ vision is distinct. She wanted a place that was cash-only — though she does now accept Venmo for payment — which offered reasonably priced drinks, with fast service, that wasn’t fancy (she readily calls Amy Place a dive bar) with special events that would appeal to many entertainment-seekers.
“We have a lot of programming,” she said. “We have karaoke on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. We have a Goths night the first Tuesday of every month so the Goths can come dance. Thursdays we partner with Gay Bar, they were a house on campus when we didn’t have a safe space, and I admire and love that mission. They use college DJs, and I’m a DJ, and everybody needs to get their start so we’ve got a lot of queer DJs that are coming and are really good, so we can switch up the type of music. (Sometimes) we’re doing techno/EDM, sometimes we’re girlie pop, sometimes we’re hyperpop, we just switch it up.
“We just did a Fag Friday, so we had two go-go dancers, we had a trans male dancer. We do Sapphic Nights; we have another one coming up soon. We have a disco party coming up soon. We have drag shows” which recently included Heidi N Closet from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Things to know if you go: Bring cash. Again, Venmo is an option but credit cards aren’t. (There is an ATM on site.) Amy’s Place doesn’t offer any food but you’re welcome to bring in your own. Operating hours are 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
To learn more about Amy’s Place and find out what’s happening, visit its website, Facebook page or Instagram feed.
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