There goes the gayborhood...

alexjon · #1 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 1:27 PM**

I got clarification tonight over the little blurb on the Portland Eagle's website-- it seems their building was sold. They're moving and have to be out by the end of february.

Now, this is interesting becaue it fleshes well with my theory about the Pearl consuming the burnside triangle area...

Can't say I'm surprised.

pdxtraveler · #2 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 5:05 PM**

Do you think this is where the press got mixed up on the Club Portland/Silverado building? Actually, thinking more, it probably goes more into your theory, Alexjon, that both are potentially going almost wiping out the gay district (Burside Triangle). Not that it was that big in the first place.

MarkDaMan · #3 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 5:46 PM**

G-E has purchased an option to purchase the Silverado block.

Truth be told, I would like to spend my dollars at updated and less trashy places without paying Hobo's prices, $7.50 for a bottle of Bud...ugh...so I hope these 70's style bars will be replaced in old town with more current and classier joints.

pdxtraveler · #4 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 6:29 PM**

I agree Hobo's is a bit pricey, but I love the atmosphere. I host 8-10 events there a year because they can accomodate the size of the group and the atmosphere is great. They also remember what I drink, I am easy to win over obviously!

Capitol Hill · #5 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 6:38 PM**

Stragely, we're starting to have the devolution of gay bar areas in Seattle, too. Thumper's is closed, Manray has a development planned, I'm hearing rumblings of something for where CC's is, so the only bars that I think here in Seattle that are safe for the next 3 years are R.Place, Neighbors, Madison Pub and the Eagle, and Purr. But you never know, the Pike Pine corridor is starting to get a lot of activity.

The BMW dealership is going away, and I hear Phil Smart Mercedes will be leaving soon as well, lots more development. And the newcomers most likely won't be wanting to live above a nightclub or gay watering hole.

mSeattle · #6 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 7:39 PM**

^The Cuff?

MarkDaMan · #7 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 7:47 PM**

In Portland, it's not uncommon to see two guys getting freaky on a 'straight club' dancefloor. I find that central Portland's club scene isn't defined by it's gay section and separate straight clubs. I've been to CC's on many nights and it seems like I run into one breeder after another. I've also been in Doug Fir on a non 'gay' night and was overwhelmed with the touchy grabby men. I wonder if this is just the end to separate gay and straight club scenes in progessive cities?

mSeattle · #8 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 7:57 PM**

The owner of Thumpers was quoted in the PI saying that gays feel safe going almost anywhere in the city and not just to gay bars/clubs anymore, and straights of course had been showing up to gay bars/clubs more and more (Neighbors/R-Place).

Anybody remember the Timberline when it was in the big loghouse (now a Cornish College building), and that little place (can't remember the name) that used to be where "The War Room" is now at Harvard and Pike?

Unfortunately I never went to any gay clubs in Portland, but I can tell you about the little monthly dances in Walla Walla and Touche.

Does anyone know how Vancouver BC handled it, building density and keeping night spots? I'd think they would have already experienced what we're starting to down in PDX/SEA.

pdxtraveler · #9 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 8:59 PM**

Mark,

I think that is a major reason. Portland is so progressive a 'ghetto' isn't needed. But it is sad in a way where do you go when you want to be around your on kind for a while. It would be nice to have a identifiable such as Davies in Vancouver, Castro in SFO, or Cedar Springs/Oaklawn in Dallas.

It is a really good and bad thing at the same time.

Black Box · #10 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 9:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

In Portland, it's not uncommon to see two guys getting freaky on a 'straight club' dancefloor. I find that central Portland's club scene isn't defined by it's gay section and separate straight clubs. I've been to CC's on many nights and it seems like I run into one breeder after another. I've also been in Doug Fir on a non 'gay' night and was overwhelmed with the touchy grabby men. I wonder if this is just the end to separate gay and straight club scenes in progessive cities?

I agree with your assessment. I feel comfortable going just about anywhere, even Pioneer Square. I mostly hang out in Columbia City, Capitol Hill and Ballard. The GLBT population in Seattle is booming and the boom has to go somewhere to play. Several new bars opened in the past year (Purr and Sugar). Also, the Elite on Broadway is going the way of the condo. Also, can anyone from Portland confirm for me if this has to do with Vaseline Alley? Is it a part of the area in question?

alexjon · #11 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 9:11 PM**

Stark and Burnside meet at a point, with that triangular block headed by the bathhouse and the silverado on one end... on the opposite side, across 13th, is the eagle on the opposite side of the block that has the crystal ballroom

The general consensus is that the eagle is going to have to update itself and not in that slap-dash-still-trash way scandal's did. I really think I wanna start pitching ideas to the collective club owners to sorta get them into thinking about getting with the times.

asher519 · #12 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 9:24 PM**

We rarely hit the gay bars when we go out, opting instead for divey haunts like Yamhill Pub, Kelly's, Angelo's and the like. It's true that cities as progressive as Portland and Seattle can easily support a vibrant gay population sans ghetto, but I agree with pdxtraveler that sometimes it's nice to visit the gayborhood (just as it's sometime nice to visit the gay bars). When I lived in Chicago, it was always a good time trekking up to Boystown to hang out with my peeps in what felt like our own little world.

zilfondel · #13 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

I run into one breeder after another.

ROFLMAO! That has got to be the funniest pieces of terminology I have ever heard of. A breeder! lol

MarkDaMan · #14 Posted **Nov 17, 2006, 10:50 PM**

^ha, never heard that one before? One of my favs, and clean enough to be posted here.

Quote:

It would be nice to have a identifiable such as Davies in Vancouver, Castro in SFO, or Cedar Springs/Oaklawn in Dallas.

my first trip to the Castro was when my uncle took me and my parents when I was ten, about 15 years ago. I always teased my dad that it was that trip that turned me gay...but anyway...I've been visiting the castro every few years since that first time and I've got to say, it has really gone down hill since the first time I walked that strip. Even in SF the gay community is integrating and most of the best 'gay' clubs aren't even on the castro anymore, or all that gay. One gay club had both men and women go-go dancers and there was less than a handful of women in the whole club, so I know they weren't for them.

What suprises me most in Portland is when I go to a place I always thought was some biker dive, like my recent venture to the Lotus, and there were more gay people than straights that night...very strange.

zilfondel · #15 Posted **Nov 18, 2006, 12:14 AM**

I thought all the bikers had been run out by hipsters?

I think hipsters far outnumber GLBT's in Portland, from my experience.

mcbaby · #16 Posted **Nov 18, 2006, 2:00 AM**

people seem less hung up on whether you are gay or straight nowadays. just more concerned if you are happy and able to find love.

seaskyfan · #17 Posted **Nov 18, 2006, 4:22 AM**

I always liked that seedy strip off Burnside. Too bad it will likely get redeveloped.

I haven't been to a gay bar in Seattle for years. I hardly ever get down to Capitol Hill anymore either - usually I only go down to visit friends or for a movie. I usually hang out in Wallingford (home) or Downtown/Belltown.

I swear the same folks at the bar in the Elite have been sitting there since I moved to town in 1989. I always thought it looked like one of those historic dioramas....

PDX City-State · #18 Posted **Nov 18, 2006, 7:55 PM**

Quote:

I think hipsters far outnumber GLBT's in Portland

Shake a tree in this city, and an indie rock band falls out. There is no shortage of hipsters in Portland. They bother me, but generally vote blue and aren't homophobic--so we'll keep them.

tworivers · #19 Posted **Nov 19, 2006, 3:18 AM**

^^^ Hipsters vote?!

Capitol Hill · #20 Posted **Nov 19, 2006, 8:29 PM**

mSeattle, sorry, I forgot about the Cuff.

However, I've heard rumblings of that being developed as well, similar to what I was hearing about 4 years ago with Manray.

So I think 5 years from now, we'll still be going to the Cuff at their present location, 7 years from now? Who knows.