Crime, dgs and prostutn blighted var neighborhoods of Wilton Manors, Fla, mid-1990's, but when gay bar opened relict strip mall 1997 thgs began to change; boards were removed om other storeonts mall, and more gay-oriented bs opened; soon hom that would not sell for $80,000 even enzied market moved briskly for $300,000 to $400,000 as gay men and women priced out of South Beach, Key Wt and Victoria Park moved to Wilton Manors; cy of 13,000 is currently 35 percent to 40 percent gay and thrivg; has higher proportn of same-sex hoeholds than any other cy US except Provcetown, Mass, and Guerneville, Calif; gay and straight worlds have tegrated whout much cint Wilton Manors; map; photo (M)
Contents:
- WILTON MANORS: SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST FAMO GAYBORHOOD
- A GAY BOOMTOWN IS MORE MASTREAM AND LS THE CLICHé
WILTON MANORS: SOUTH FLORIDA’S MOST FAMO GAYBORHOOD
Wele to the most famo LGBT Epicenter the state. Wilton Manors is a well known gayborhood that b a small-town atmosphere wh all the ameni of urban life. * wilton manors gay community *
Wilton Manors, South Florida’s famo gayborhood, b a small-town atmosphere wh all the ameni of urban life. Wilton Manors gayborhood Florida has a lot to offer: walkabily, waterways, and wildlife – as the kd that liv the wild, and the kd that is wild. It’s also “the epicenter of the gay muny South Florida, ” says rint Jason Gonzalez.
Acrdg to the 2010 Cens, Wilton Manors is the untry’s “Send Gayt Cy” – at least terms of upl.
It began about the time DeRosa first moved there, about the time Geie’s Alibi, the first major gay bar, opened a board-up bank branch up the block om where To The Moon now stands. More Gay and Lbian tablishments followed.
A GAY BOOMTOWN IS MORE MASTREAM AND LS THE CLICHé
Jt Flippen, mayor of Wilton Manors, died sudnly Tuday night of a bra anrysm, shockg the historilly gay-clive South Florida cy. * wilton manors gay community *
There’s The Pk Submare, Gaysha New World Shi Bar, and Out of the Closet, a nonprof, send-hand goods shop beneftg medil re for patients wh HIV/AIDS. The acceptg ambience has led South Florida Gay News to name Wilton Manors “Bt Cy”– twice. “South Florida’s most famo gayborhood b a small-town atmosphere wh all the ameni of urban life, ” wrote the send time, 2013.
“It’s difficult to go anywhere Wilton Manors and not assume everyone is gay. I kd of have to check myself every once a while and say, ‘Qu assumg everyone is gay, Jason, ’” says Gonzalez.
* wilton manors gay community *
“There are plac that gays don’t feel fortable, ” says Rick Wootten, a clerk at Out of the Closet. But there’s more to Wilton Manors gayborhood Florida than food and shops.