“But I found out that Boom was for sale, and in my opinion it had the most potential,” Hunter said. I’d always wanted to open a bar in the Fort Lauderdale area.”Īt first he thought his new Hunters location would be in “Searstown,” the commercial center located where North Federal Highway and East Sunrise Boulevard converge. “I lived on the beach and was traveling back and forth between Chicago and Palm Springs,” Hunter said. “An opportunity came up. While owning and operating a bar and nightclub wasn’t always the plan – Hunter is an accomplished former ballroom dancer and instructor with the Fred Astaire Dance Studios – he’d been living on and off in South Florida, becoming more of a regular resident in 2005. He’d already had Palm Springs gays dancing and drinking since 1999. He ran the gay bar and dance club there for 31 years before setting his sights on a South Florida spot. Nevertheless, Mark Hunter jumped into the fray in 1982 when he opened Hunters Chicago in Elks Grove, Illinois. (Mirror) You don’t own and operate successful bars and nightclubs in the Chicago area, in Palm Springs, California, and in Wilton Manors without knowing a thing or two about a thing or two.Īfter all, all three locales are arguably some of the most competitive in the entire country for such ventures.
