West Hollywood's increasing diversity inspires mixed emotions

[Evergrey]

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-w...#axzz2vI7KSeLo

West Hollywood's increasing diversity inspires mixed emotions

Always known as a gay haven, West Hollywood is facing an identity crisis as its population and commercial scene—and society as a whole—evolve.





By Hailey Branson-Potts
March 6, 2014, 4:57 p.m.

Councilman John Duran and his gay colleagues on the West Hollywood City Council never expected a backlash when they voted recently to remove the rainbow flag from above City Hall.

For Duran, who is gay, taking down the flag wasn't about slighting gays but sending a message about the city's diversity.

"It's not just a city of gay men. It belongs to heterosexual people as well," he said.

But the flag's removal in a place synonymous with gay life outraged many, and the city this week changed course, raising above City Hall a flag with a rainbow-colored city logo.

The dust-up underscores a larger identity crisis facing the city once known as a "Gay Camelot." When it was founded in 1984, West Hollywood was an oasis for gays, a place where they could be better protected from gay-bashing, find support during the AIDS crisis and fight discrimination.

But both West Hollywood and the rest of society have changed since those days. Gays now feel greater acceptance outside the boundaries of gay neighborhoods.

At the same time, West Hollywood has seen a development boom that has made the city a more hip, but not necessarily more gay, address. While the city's gay population has remained at about 40% for some time, the commercial scene is changing. The city's last lesbian bar, The Palms, was razed last year because the property owners wanted to develop the site, where an upscale supermarket has been proposed.

"The shedding of the LGBT identity is happening slowly with development [and] straight business owners," said resident Larry Block. "There's just a changing environment in West Hollywood."

...

[chris08876]

The identity won't be changed. It will always be there even if new development comes. Can't live in the past, supply and demand is the rule of the game.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by chris08876

The identity won't be changed. It will always be there even if new development comes. Can't live in the past, supply and demand is the rule of the game.

The identity will change. "Gayborhoods" are very much like immigrant neighborhoods, because, well, they ARE immigrant neighborhoods. They attract gay people from all over. And like other immigrant neighborhoods, as the costs in the neighborhood change, and as migration levels fluctuate, demographics will change and newly arriving immigrants will choose new areas. That's happened many times in Chicago. The first documented "gayborhood" in Chicago was in an area in the 1920s and 1930s then called "Tower Town," around Washington Square in the Near North Side near the Gold Coast. Then the J. Edgar Hoover era came along with vice crackdowns, and that waned, but Old Town slowly became the place for gay men to locate, so much so that it was sometimes called "Out Town" in the 1960s and 1970s. Speaking of which, trends are slow. Even in the early 1970s, as Old Town had become the newest gayborhood, the first Pride March in Chicago, a year after Stonewall in New York, started at Washington Square.

Then in the early 1980s, gays started moving into East Lakeview, and as culture changed "Boystown" became THE gayborhood for Chicago even earning official recognition from the City and rainbow markers on the sidewalks. But as the demographics changed and prices went up newly arriving gay guys got priced out and migrated north to cheaper places in Andersonville and Edgewater and Rogers Park.

Currently Boystown will probably maintain a visible gay presence for the foreseeable future, but the demographics are already getting more mixed again. It's still very gay, but not as gay as it was 10 or 20 years ago. My guess is that society has changed very substantially and with the internet replacing bars and clubs as a meeting place, and social acceptance increasing seemingly daily, there may not be any new "gayborhoods" in many cities simply because gay men will integrate and choose to locate in a much wider variety of "accepting" areas instead of concentrating sharply in any one or two.

Note: I am gay and have, in the past, lived in Boystown but currently live in River North, Chicago.

[pdxtex]

whew.......its been an emotional divisive week around here. gentrification's been the on the collective brain lately and thats probably going to be the urban story from here on out. one lesson we've learned is everybody wants a place to stay. newcomers want an affordable place to live and long time residents don't want to get priced out. thinking more about the whole spike lee business, maybe he's got a point. not an eloquent point but i guess i can kind of see where he is coming from. to the layman, new development can seem souless and cold. its shiny and new, but doesn't have the scratches in the formica and that well worn look or cofffe tinged smell someone is used to. it smells like a dentist office and has a bright flashy sign. i dunno, i guess some people want that. it signifies quality and establishment in some kind of ikea type way. so what the point? places change, people change, cities change and neighborhoods change, i guess its up to us to decide what kind of neighbor we want to be......shrug....

[pdxtex]

"They attract gay people from all over. And like other immigrant neighborhoods, as the costs in the neighborhood change, and as migration levels fluctuate, demographics will change and newly arriving immigrants will choose new areas."

plus new cheaper/urban areas are getting harder to find for everyone. for already established, lively cities, the notion of being an urban pioneer is becoming less common. i suspect LA is probably like that too. at some point you run out of central city and you are just out in the burbs like everybody else. LA seems so dense though that there are neighborhood, main street type nodes all over. pick one and its probably got all the junk you want. the trick is finding something close to work.....

[sofresh808]

Jeez, even the Gays are in decline in Los Angeles....

[MolsonExport]

I never knew the stones were inspired by West Hollywood diversity.

[austlar1]

I think as the gay identity matured over the years in places like LA, it becomes less necessary for many gay people to live in a "gay" neighborhood. It is much easier to live a gay lifestyle these days without feeling judged or oppressed. I don't think that other gay enclaves that may emerge in the LA area in the near future will ever have the cohesion and visibility that Weho and Silverlake had in the 1980s and 1990s.

[ozone]

Originally Posted by sofresh808

Jeez, even the Gays are in decline in Los Angeles....

No that's not what's implied here at all. I know it's hard for you to understand these things, living as you do in the Processive Mecca but many gay people no longer feel the need to live in the same hood for safety and social acceptance.