History
In 1999, Jimmy Keup and Joe Maggio purchased the Rogers Park gay bar, Numbers, and turned it into The Jackhammer Complex. After frequenting The Gold Coast--Chicago's first official gay leather bar, opened by Chuck Renslow and partner Dom Orejudos in 1958--Keup and Maggio sought to create a space inclusive of race, gender identity and fetish where the entire LGBT+ community, regardless of age, could express themselves and explore their kink. 2Bears Tavern Group acquired The Jackhammer Complex in 2018 and reinvigorated the space into Jackhammer: Chicago's Leather and Fetish Lounge and The Hole: Chicago's Fetish Headquarters. Our goal is to preserve and celebrate the culture of leather, fetish, BDSM & kink in this space as we've lost, and continue to lose, many historic and monumental fetish venues across the country and throughout the world following the AIDS Crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.