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.
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 *
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.
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.
* wilton manors gay community *
“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.
“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.
A time when engagg homosexual activy uld get you arrted, beaten, even killed. Dpe the dangers, gay men found areas where they uld meet for clanste trysts. Hollywood's first openly gay movie star and celebry terr signer, Billy Ha, is gog to a dner party at Gee Cor’s.