Before the Castro, Polk Gulch was San Francis's Gayborhood - 7x7 Bay Area

Contents:

• 5 REASONS WHYSAN FRANCIS'S ORIGAL GAYBORHOOD REMAS TIMELS
• MEET THE NEW GAYBORHOODS OF THE US
• GAYBORHOODS AREN'T AD. IN FACT, THERE ARE MORE OF THEM THAN YOU THK.
• THE GATHERG SPOTS SHOW WHY SAN FRANCIS’S ORIGAL GAYBORHOOD REMAS TIMELS
• SAN FRANCIS'S TECH BROS TOLD: QU CHANGG THE GAYBORHOOD
• GAYBORHOOD
• RECENT COMMENTSMNK5152 ON REFLECTNAMARIS ALEXANDRA ANDRA ON REFLECTNAMBER GRAHAM ON BT GAYBORHOODS THE WORLDBLR5305 ON BT GAYBORHOODS THE WORLDAMBER GRAHAM ON ARE GAYBORHOODS GOG AWAY?ARCHIV
• GAYBORHOOD
• BEFORE THE CASTRO, POLK GULCH WAS SAN FRANCIS'S GAYBORHOOD
• SAN JOSE GAY CY GUI - GAY REALTORS AND GAYBORHOODS
• FOR WOMEN, HILLCRT ISN’T THE ONLY GAYBORHOOD

5 REASONS WHYSAN FRANCIS'S ORIGAL GAYBORHOOD REMAS TIMELS

Home to a vibrant gay and lbian muny and to a vast array of non-prof anizatns supportg LGBT polil and cultural movements, San Francis has been crowned the gay pal of the Uned Stat for a reason. Soclogist Am Ghaziani suggts that LGBTQ urban are foregog the ia of a sgular gayborhood exchange for what he refers to as cultural archipelagos: queer pockets throughout a cy’s landspe that reflect a diverse exprsn of sexuali and liftyl. Halstead Street has been the central ve nng through Chigo’s OG gayborhood, Boystown, for 50-pl years, but Clark Street, the mercial artery the heart of nearby Anrsonville, is emergg as the new ontier for LGBTQ rints.

MEET THE NEW GAYBORHOODS OF THE US

After an attempt by police to arrt patrons 1959, an army of drag queens, trans women, lbians, and gay men fought back what’s believed to be the first LGBT uprisg the Uned Stat. The Castro San Francis is the crowng jewel of the US’s gayborhoods, but as the cy ntu gentrifyg wh the onslght of the tech dtry, many lament the loss of the neighborhood’s queer inty.

There’s only one gay waterg hole of which to speak — Port Bar, which opened 2016 — and while a brand-new LGBTQ Comuny Center opened 2017, there isn’t much else the vicy directly related to queer life.

GAYBORHOODS AREN'T AD. IN FACT, THERE ARE MORE OF THEM THAN YOU THK.

Buckhead, home to Woof’s, Atlanta’s only gay sports bar, is a popular statn close to queer waterg hol around Ansley Mall (Osr’s Bar, Mixx, and Felix’s Atlanta are jt a few worthy of note). Sure, the area is home to JR’s and a handful of other popular gay bars, but as rents have bee too expensive for all but the wealthy, many queer rints are head eastward and takg the gay tablishments wh them.

Both gay tablishments mix wh a ser cuise scene (check out Le Diplomate for lic French lici), world-class performance venu (see what’s playg at Stud Theater), and classic Victorian archecture that rivals what you’ll fd the old ‘hood.

Hell’s Kchen is the island’s newt eratn of the gayborhood, and while ’s still the queen of Manhattan’s scene, there’s a new lole emergg to share the limelight. The recently opened 3 Dollar Bill, a queer event and performance space, attracts an eclectic crowd wh parti thrown by people like nightlife legend Sanne Bartsch, pop-mic prce Ty Sunrland, and the hedonistic homos behd Bt.

THE GATHERG SPOTS SHOW WHY SAN FRANCIS’S ORIGAL GAYBORHOOD REMAS TIMELS

Open up a travel gui and you're likely to see multiple passag about where to fd the lol "gayborhood, " a neighborhood disproportnately populated by LGBTQ people.

"There go the gayborhood, " The New York Tim proclaimed one 2017 Am Ghaziani, assistant profsor of soclogy at the Universy of Brish Columbia, isn't exactly grievg. In his recently published piece, "Cultural Archipelagos: New Directns the Study of Sexualy and Space, " Ghaziani analyz new rearch to make a bold hypothis: The gayborhood hasn't died, and isn't beg diluted out of existence. If you're queer and live an urban area, chanc are cent that you've at least travelled to a "gayborhood" — maybe to stand among a crowd of sweaty bears thongs durg a pri para or to pe your guts out outsi the lol queer karaoke bar.

Ghaziani f as gayborhood as havg four fg featur: It's a geographil center of LGBTQ people (cludg queer tourists), has a high nsy of LGBTQ rints, 's a mercial center of bs terg to the queer and trans muny, and 's a cultural ncentratn of power. "Gayborhoods formed as gay culture self emerged the postwar perd and began to flourish: thk New York Cy's Wt Village the Stonewall era or San Francis's Castro District the 1950s. The were radil muni, home to tergeneratnal bath ho, butch femme bars, and s of the early 2000s, crics began to lament the supposed loss of the neighborhoods, cg "late-stage gentrifitn, the global circulatn of pal, chang the flow of migratn, liberalizg attus toward homosexualy, social acceptance and assiatn, and the normalizatn of geo-d mobile apps (which have altered how plac facilate social and sexual nnectns), " Ghaziani crics weren't entirely wrong.

SAN FRANCIS'S TECH BROS TOLD: QU CHANGG THE GAYBORHOOD

Ghaziani attribut this unique clterg to multiple factors: Lbians may feel more accepted ral areas, where female masculy isn't as tightly policed as male femy; lbians have ls pal than gay men (women, cludg queer women, ntue to make ls than men) and therefore may not be able to afford urban neighborhoods; lbians are statistilly more likely to have children (and therefore different hog requirements).

Even then, trans people n form their own cultural islands simply by sharg rintial space together — an apartment, a buildg, wherever may existence of other gayborhoods out there also provis a source of fort.

Ghaziani c a recent study that found that "if you know your cy has a gayborhood and you self-intify as trans, you're more likely to thk your cy is safer for trans people — even if you don't necsarily feel all that safe the gayborhood. Bee many queer people have accs to mobile technology and no longer need to fd one another bars, the argument go, the need for gayborhoods this isn't whout mer: New York, once an oasis of lbian bars, now only has three.

GAYBORHOOD

Unlike historil gayborhoods, which tend to be whe, digal gayborhoods are often more open to diversy, givg room for trans and POC queers to ers are nnectg a neighborhood whout tradnal gay tablishments, they n nohels create a "gayborhood" onle or create "pop-up" physil gayborhoods. Usg Facebook's events planner, they n plan a trans-centered party at a lol straight bar or hold a LGBTQ health fair at a nearby field, thereby temporarily transformg the spac to "gayborhood" 's how Ghaziani scrib :"You n queer any given space by loggg on to see see any queers near you. If you've grown up or around a tradnal gayborhood, you might still experience the transformatn of some of the neighborhoods as Wt Village, home to the famo Stonewall Inn, is now also home to some of the cy's wealthit rints.

The Village still serv as a pot of culture, 's jt no longer the only n feel like a centralized gayborhoods once provid "very powerful polil functns, " Ghaziani says. By -centerg the ia of a sgular gayborhood, and travelg to other gayborhoods wh a cy — maybe even spendg some time a digal on — people n transform their feelgs of loss to strength and multiply their cultural gayborhood isn't ad. For an timate, ndle-l dner, check out Chambers Eat + Drk, the swanky rtrant si the inic Phoenix Hotel, which was found by noted openly gay SF hotelier Chip Conley the 1980s.

RECENT COMMENTSMNK5152 ON REFLECTNAMARIS ALEXANDRA ANDRA ON REFLECTNAMBER GRAHAM ON BT GAYBORHOODS THE WORLDBLR5305 ON BT GAYBORHOODS THE WORLDAMBER GRAHAM ON ARE GAYBORHOODS GOG AWAY?ARCHIV

The Castro, seems, is always havg some kd of a a legacy as the nex of the LGBTQI+ rights movement and the home of in Harvey Milk, today the world's most famo gayborhood is reventg self wh artisanal ffee shops, rtrants that ter to foodi, sophistited retail, and fancy nnabis. When Cleve Jon, a longtime gay activist who led the creatn of the Aids Memorial Quilt, went to his lol gay bar the Castro district, he saw somethg that shocked him. ”Rints of San Francis’s historilly gay Castro district are worried that ’s changg, as speculators e to flip the few remag ramshackle old Victorians and the old-timer gay bars shutter.

In a recent small survey, 77% of people who have lived the neighborhood for 10 or more years intified as gay, while only 55% of those who moved the past year an inic buildg was on the market earlier this year, was between two potential tenants: a gay strip club and a SoulCycle. Not that ’s ls gay, but you gotta have money to move , ” said Hank Cancél, who liv on the rner of 19th and Castro streets, where he keeps a llectn of gay erotic dolls the wdow. ”At the Castro district Vanguard office, real tate agent Steve Huang said he fds the gay people movg to town don’t necsarily want to live any specific neighborhood anymore but prrize beg close to work or Bart.

GAYBORHOOD

“So you’re dog this story about gay culture disappearg, and you might want to take a picture of a mother phg her stroller outsi a porn store, but that mother might be gay or she might be phg for two dads.

BEFORE THE CASTRO, POLK GULCH WAS SAN FRANCIS'S GAYBORHOOD

Photograph: Stephen McLaren/The GuardianOthers worry, though, that as the gay muny be ls ncentrated or visible, those who do stand out will feel ls Sueyoshi, 45, associate an of the College of Ethnic Studi at San Francis State Universy, says she now feels ls safe as a genrqueer person walkg around San Francis and fac more street harassment. ’”On a recent Thursday night at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, one of the only remag drag bars the Tenrlo, the crowd clud a mix of longtime gay patrons and younger straight people – some of whom work the neighborhood.

Bar manager Joe Mattheisen, 66, who has worked at the hole--the-wall bar sce 1997, said the bar has attracted younger, straighter crowds recent of the reason that so many gay bars have closed or turned straight, he said, is that LGBT people have bee creasgly fortable spendg time at mastream bars. But he said the owners have no plans to sell the bs and plan to mata as a gay bar – even if the crowd is gettg Bellber, 75, is a longtime regular at Aunt Charlie’s who spends nearly every day at the bar. ”At Tenrlo gay bar Gangway, which recently acquired new owners and is expected to soon close and transform to a new tablishment, longtime manager Bob Am, 58, said he hoped the gay muny would ntue to patronize the bar s new form.

SAN JOSE GAY CY GUI - GAY REALTORS AND GAYBORHOODS

(Image cred: David Tosat/Getty Imag)While San Francis and Los Angel are renowned for their gay scen, San Diego has long been one of the US' most tolerant ci. Cecil/Alamy)But while plac like San Francis and Los Angel have famoly helped tablish California as an LGBTQ+ bastn, the state is home to another gay hub that is often overshadowed by the other ci: San Diego. In his book Comg Out Unr Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women World War II, historian Allan Bébé explaed that the cy's role as a major ary headquarters advertently created a nascent gay scene durg the war.

Gay and lbian people who had been isolated smaller towns across the untry where homosexualy was owned upon were sudnly brought together durg the war effort. Gay bars like Bradley's and Blue Jacket San Diego's Gaslamp District attracted so many people that the cy was featured the 1952 book USA Confintial about Ameri's "s spots", while clubs like the Seven Seas and Jack's Steam acted as a cisg ground for gay men. "Hillcrt is affectnately known as San Diego's "gayborhood" (Cred: Dana Delimont/Alamy)Nowadays, the hub of the cy's LGBTQ+ muny is Hillcrt, where a rabow-l sign and rabow flags flappg over die book shops, f and vtage clothg shops remd visors why the area is dubbed San Diego's "gayborhood".

When the sun dips down behd the horizon, you n follow the mic along Universy Avenue to dance the night away at Rich's, Hillcrt's most popular gay nightclub, which has been featured on shows like the Real Hoewiv of Beverly Hills. Then, a few shops away, stop by HUMANITY!, a novelty shop where you n fd the perfect pair of Speedos, though those preferrg to swim their birthday su should h Black's Beach, a clothg-optnal beach that's a popular hangout for the gay muny.

FOR WOMEN, HILLCRT ISN’T THE ONLY GAYBORHOOD

The hotel will reopen June 2023 after a $26m renovatn, and is jt one of many LGBTQ+-iendly hotels the 's Beach is a popular hangout for San Diego's gay muny (Cred: Roy Johnson/Alamy)San Diego may not be the first cy people thk of California when they thk of tolerance, but wh s mix of year-round warm weather and climate of acceptance, there's nowhere Orban would rather be. Back when people were clarg the ath of Amerin ci, LGBTQ+ rints search of affordable hog gravated to urban areas, and eventually created gayborhoods—cultural enclav of muny and belongg. —Michael KleWhile many LGBTQ bars "The Gayborhood, " as the LGBTQ muny affectnately lls Mount Vernon [ Baltimore, Maryland], have shuttered, this Mount Vernon dive bar will mark s 50th anniversary next year.