Dear Brando,
Covent Hotel is neither a "gay hotel" nor a rehab centre.
"Men's Residence" could mean lots of things: dorms (in a university)
only for men, as well as any residence intended only for men, and -
you're right in assuming that some "Men Residences" are in fact rehab
or relocation centres for homeless or otherwise misfortuned men: there
is an association called "Native Men Residence" that hosts homeless or
rehabilitated men in several cities.
However, I did the simplest thing and called the Covent Hotel (Tel.
773-549-3399) and asked them. The simple answer: they are a single
gender hotel, with only single bed in the rooms (also no visitors
allowed), with shared facilities. No couples, no women. The nice man
on the other side has told me: "It has been like that for years". They
are very nice, and would probably answer any further question you have
got.
I also found out, that they only rent rooms for a longer period
(minimum of a week). Just to add,
(1) DePaul University recommends them as an hotel for people coming
for the welcome week <http://www.depaul.edu/~rhc/welcomeWeek.html>
(2) The hotel is built, where a legendary Chicago cinema, the Covent
(initially called the Covent Garden, after the London site), used to
be in the site, opened on 1916 and demolished, maybe, in the 1960s.
You could read more about it on "Cinema Treasures"
<http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2863/>
(3) A picture of the hotel exteriors, dated 2003, is available here:
Covent Hotel Chicago (from the site Picturing Chicago)
<http://www.picturingchicago.com/pagePark%20West_26.htm>
Search terms and strategy:
called the place
searched for the term "men's residence" and for the details on the hotel.
I hope this answered your question. If you need any clarifications on
this answer, please let me know before you rate it. |
Clarification of Answer by
politicalguru-ga
on
20 Apr 2004 18:29 PDT
Dear Brando,
First of all, I had no way to know which links you already looked
into, because you've never mentioned them, when you asked the
question.
As for your ex-girlfriend: If she and/or her friend feel harassed or
intimidated, there is no question that they did the right thing by
calling the police, and I would also advice to call a
women-help-hotline.
<http://www.cwluherstory.com/phpweb/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=17&page_id=4>.
You've asked about what type of hotel it is (or, if to quote you:
"i've heard it's a men's residence but am unclear as to what that
means. Is it a rehab place is it a gay place i'm just curious."), and
I answered that question.
However, the fact that intimidating people hang around there was
neither included in your question, nor is it something that I would
speculate without visiting there. Not every cheap hotel is full of
intimidating people, and not every expensive one is safe of them.
Unfortunately, women could be harassed or intimidated everywhere.
So, back to your ex-girlfriend (and her friend): If she feels scared,
it doesn't really matter what kind of place it is - she should do
exactly what she did (call the police) and if possible, seek a way to
sleep for several nights somewhere else.
|
