America’s ‘Gayborhoods’ Are a Lot More Expensive, a Lot Less Gay

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

The Philadelphia gayborhood is still gay but it's not what is used to be...but is that really a bad thing? Many gays in Philly have moved into South Philly...because it's more affordable and still gives quick access to Center City.

Gayborhoods formed to give us a safe place....that's no longer really necessary in many liberal cities.

Affordable quick access...

Originally Posted by fflint

Push: Gayborhoods were established and grew up in an age when walkable and transit-oriented urban areas were less desirable than houses in the suburbs. Thus, they were affordable to a wide segment of the gay population. As cities have become more desirable, many/most gayborhoods are situated in some of the most desirable areas. Thus, they have become more expensive as demand rises--and this pushes less affluent gays out to other more affordable areas.

Pull: Meanwhile, gay ghettoes were established and grew up in an age when harrassment, violence and discrimination against gays was ubiquitous and rampant--there was safety in numbers. Gayborhoods also made it easier to meet other gay people. As society has become more inclusive and fair, 'safe spaces' are less critical and gays are integrating into the fabric of society at large. And the Internet has made finding other people rather, ahem, easy. Gayborhoods just don't have the pull they once did.

All of this quick access and pushing and pulling... you dirty birds with your thinly-veiled sexy talk!

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by sentinel

'After'?? Ha, try the 24 hours before AND after midnight

Haha, I don't doubt it a bit! I'm just never there between 5AM and say 11PM, so I can't say from experience.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Just taking SF for instance, my understanding is that the gayborhoods here have already evolved, twice.
...

Chicago, too, has had evolution over the years. From what I've read, the first documented neighborhood commonly known to be home to a lot of gays was called Tower Town, which is part of what is now the Gold Coast or northern edge of River North. That was in the 1920s or 1930s.

From there gay men and women migrated north to Old Town (nicknamed "Out Town" at the time), in the 1960s and 1970s, then moved through Lincoln Park fairly quickly until East Lakeview became Boystown in the 1970s and 1980s, eventually becoming the first officially City-designated gayborhood under Richard M. Daley.

At about the same time, many lesbians were settling in the Andersonville neighborhood, which was sometimes called "Girls Town" (not called that often, though), and it also attracted more than few older gay couples and the Edgewater neighborhood today has a strong gay presence (Andersonville is a subset of Edgewater) of all ages. I actually feel that most of the time Andersonville "feels" more gay than Boystown does.

Today Boystown is still the center of gay nightlife in Chicago, but there are gay bars in every lakefront neighborhood from River North to Rogers Park, and a few others around the city, and seeing gay couples is not unusual pretty much anywhere downtown, the Near South, Near West, close-in northwest and most of the North Side.

Originally Posted by memememe76

I wonder if there will be gay suburbs (or perhaps they already exist?). We see certain suburbs dominated by a racial/culture group, maybe that will take place amongst LGBT members.

In the Chicago area there is at least one suburb (Berwyn) actively marketing itself to gay couples.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Crawford

As others have stated, gentrification and less of a need for a "safer space" makes gayborhoods somewhat less critical in importance.

Yeah, I feel like this is the biggest reason, we no longer have to huddle up in our own little hoods as much as before, we're spreading out and some straight people are moving in as a result.

[brickell]

it works in reverse too. American's in general are much more comfortable around gays than they were a generation ago and are probably more likely to move into a gay neighborhood than they were a generation ago.

Sully had a good write up about it on The Dish.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/...ture-watch-17/

Re: Provincetown

Don’t get me wrong: it’s still an unabashedly gay-friendly town. You wouldn’t mistake its vivid tableau of street life or its scootering drag queens for, say, Chatham. But when dozens of bachelorette parties invade the gay bars, when children are building sand-castles where gay men used to cruise, it has a very different vibe.

[PhillyRising]

Originally Posted by memememe76

I wonder if there will be gay suburbs (or perhaps they already exist?). We see certain suburbs dominated by a racial/culture group, maybe that will take place amongst LGBT members.

There are gays all over the Philly western suburbs. We've spread out like weeds. You just don't have the harrassment around here. We've gone into stores in the suburbs to look at wedding rings and the people could just not be any nicer to us.

Collingswood, New Jersey could be considered a gay suburb....many gays have migrated there as it has a stop along PATCO which is the light rail line from South Jersey into Philadelphia. A number of guys in my gay bowling league live there.

[atlantaguy]

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

There are gays all over the Philly western suburbs. We've spread out like weeds. You just don't have the harrassment around here. We've gone into stores in the suburbs to look at wedding rings and the people could just not be any nicer to us.

Collingswood, New Jersey could be considered a gay suburb....many gays have migrated there as it has a stop along PATCO which is the light rail line from South Jersey into Philadelphia. A number of guys in my gay bowling league live there.

It sounds like ATL. I live 9 miles NE of Downtown across the line in DeKalb County, and our condo neighborhood is more than half gay. We are all over the place here, and it's a non-issue.