Today, as the only black-owned gay bar in the city, Jeffery Pub remains a pillar of Chicago’s queer nightlife, one that notably stands outside of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Boystown. Over the years, she taught him how to be a restaurant operator, and he assumed full control of Jeffery Pub following her death. A family affair, the South Shore bar was passed down to Junior by his grandmother, Lula Williams, who started bringing him around the business when he was 8 years old. Jeffery Pub has served the LGBTQ community since the mid-’60s, making it one of the oldest gay bars in America. Jamal Junior hopes to open Williams Inn Pizzeria and Sports Bar in the Motor Row District, near McCormick Place, in late March or early April.
The owner of one of Chicago’s oldest gay bars, Jeffery Pub, is trying something new: a sports bar that caters to the city’s LGBTQ and black communities.
