• Latest
  • Life
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Pride50
Queerty* Queerty* Pride
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • newsletter
  • Menu
Close
Queerty*
  • Log in
  • Register
  • Life
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Prepared
  • Joystick
  • Goods
  • Video (Queerty TV)
  • Queerty Ever After
  • Dragaholic
  • Health
  • Out for Good
  • The Queerty Interview
  • LGBTQ Nation News
  • GayCities Travel Guides
  • Share a Tip
  • Toggle Dark Mode

Identity Crisis.

By Andrew Belonsky July 29, 2008 at 5:07pm · 10 comments

Washington DC’s gays are migrating away from increasingly gentrified gay ghetto Dupont Circle, which leaves the neighborhood wondering “We’re here, we’re what?” [Washington Business Journal]

Gay Gentrification News Washington D.C.
View Comments10

Get Queerty Daily

Subscribe to Queerty for a daily dose of #gay #gentrification #news stories and more

10 Comments

  • mark

    Similar migration happened from the Village to SoHo to Chelsea in NYC
    or in Minneapolis from Loring Park to Uptown.
    We’re a fickle population,and some of us moving doesn’t kill our original settlements, we just branch out farther and farther. Besides we already re-decorated the original ghettos 500 times, we needed new horizons.

    July 29, 2008 at 7:07pm
  • Qjersey

    it’s economics, NOT being fickle.
    The queers and other bohemes move in and lo and behold a few years later the next generation can’t afford the neighborhood, so they go somewhere else. In NYC you can literally trace it…the West Village spread to the east and south and to the north into Chelsea, now Chelsea is ridiculous, so new people are moving in a bit farther up on Hell’s Kitchen. But we are running out of neighborhoods. Even downtown Jersey City has become too expensive and the queers that live there are getting priced out.

    July 29, 2008 at 7:07pm
  • SuperCat

    Hehehe, I had to look up Gentrification to understand what that article ment.

    July 29, 2008 at 10:07pm
  • l

    Could it also be the ghetto has outlived its usefulness. You can find out gay people just about anywhere now.

    July 30, 2008 at 3:07am
  • John

    I’m a DC native but live in the Midwest now. I was recently in DC on business and spent Saturday evening in Dupont. I was shocked, frankly. It was fairly dead. One legendary club was closed. Having also spent several years in SF, I’d move back there before considering the DC area.

    July 30, 2008 at 8:07am
  • mike hawk

    In New York, Hells Kitchen is starting to get pricey now and the *gays* are moving even further north to places like Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights.

    In San Francisco the *gays* are even moving out of the Castro and to places like Glen Park.

    July 30, 2008 at 9:07am
  • Rob

    i’ve lived in DC since 1985 and at one time, Dupont Circle was the “gay” area in the city. But after several years, the strollers started appearing, “Ann Taylor” stores started popping up, and the popular bars in the area shutdown. The gays started moving towards Logan Circle and now that the area has been transformed from a riot-ravaged neighborhood to pricy condos, homes, and gay bars, the strollers are invading this area now too and the gay bars are becoming straighter and straighter. Movement is now further east into Shaw and along 7th-9th Streets … it’s not that we can no longer afford the area … it’s that we’re now felt like the outsiders when the breeders start moving in.

    July 30, 2008 at 11:07am
  • emb

    It’s a pretty typical circle: artists, bohemians, and homos move into an undesirable area and make it cool and appealing; straight yuppies move there because it’s where the interesting shops and restaurants are, and they like being where the cool, hip, edgy folk live. Home values go up and rents rise beyond the means of the niche shops (like gay-oriented ones), and they start failing or moving out, being replaced by businesses that can afford the new rent–Ann Taylor and chain restaurants. Then the straight yuppies start spawning, and get all huffy about how their precious offspring are being exposed to pictures of naked men in the remaining gay shop windows, and how the gay bars are keeping little poopsie awake at night. Because the straights now outnumber the gays, the local governments respond with unpleasant zoning requirements, and that’s the end of the gayborhood.

    I was in Dupont Circle about 8 years ago, and there were flyers posted in storefronts and on lampposts decrying the noisy gay bars, from “Families to Save Our Neighborhood” or something.

    It’s happening to Boystown in Chicago, too.

    Which all raises the interesting question of whether or not gay ghettos are desirable at all. I tend to think they are, as nice little incubators for homos to enjoy before they get all assimilated and domesticized, but economics often trumps everything.

    July 30, 2008 at 12:07pm
  • GoodBuddy

    I live in Washington and go to the Dupont Circle several times a week for various meetings. They just did a major renovation on P Street (which intersects Dupont Circle), and the owners there have gotten enormous increases in their property tax bills which is causing the smaller, more interesting businesses out, to be replaced by chain stores. Plus a lot of straight women have moved to the area, bringing their boyfriends with them. Fifteen years ago if you saw a cute guy on the street he was almost surely gay – now he is more likely to be straight. Fortunately they are not narrow.

    July 30, 2008 at 6:07pm
  • Mr C

    Actually this is happening all over. SF, Chicago, NY,Philly, and now DC. There was an article in the NY Times when it was happening in SF. The fact is Gays want to fit in regular society so they are now branching into “regualar” society neighborhoods. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.

    Gay neighbornoods have become too entirely expensive to live in.

    July 30, 2008 at 7:07pm

Comments are closed.

Articles you'll enjoy

Go-Go boys are back. And we couldn’t be happier.
wanderlust

Go-Go boys are back. And we couldn’t be happier.

1 hour ago
Why ‘Drag Race All-Stars 7’ is THE season to watch
crown royale

Why ‘Drag Race All-Stars 7’ is THE season to watch

3 hours ago
Harry Styles, Lemon, Rina & more: Here’s your essential bop roundup for this week
bop after bop

Harry Styles, Lemon, Rina & more: Here’s your essential bop roundup for this week

MAGA crowd trolls Karine Jean-Pierre for wearing a dress similar to one of Ivanka’s cheap knockoffs
fashion police

MAGA crowd trolls Karine Jean-Pierre for wearing a dress similar to one of Ivanka’s cheap knockoffs


The Queerty Interview
‘Feminine, queer, and outspoken,’ Broadway’s Jaquel Spivey reimagines the definition of Broadway’s leading man
rising star

‘Feminine, queer, and outspoken,’ Broadway’s Jaquel Spivey reimagines the definition of Broadway’s leading man

Witty scribe Justin Elizabeth Sayre on Judy Garland and queer icons
get schooled

Witty scribe Justin Elizabeth Sayre on Judy Garland and queer icons

Inside Matt Doyle’s unapologetically gay, Tony-nominated performance in ‘Company’
standing ovation

Inside Matt Doyle’s unapologetically gay, Tony-nominated performance in ‘Company’

Garrett Clayton shares shocking story from ‘King Cobra’ set
onward and upward

Garrett Clayton shares shocking story from ‘King Cobra’ set


Latest on Queerty

Go-Go boys are back. And we couldn’t be happier.
wanderlust

Go-Go boys are back. And we couldn’t be happier.

1 hour ago
Why ‘Drag Race All-Stars 7’ is THE season to watch
crown royale

Why ‘Drag Race All-Stars 7’ is THE season to watch

3 hours ago
Harry Styles, Lemon, Rina & more: Here’s your essential bop roundup for this week
bop after bop

Harry Styles, Lemon, Rina & more: Here’s your essential bop roundup for this week

MAGA crowd trolls Karine Jean-Pierre for wearing a dress similar to one of Ivanka’s cheap knockoffs
fashion police

MAGA crowd trolls Karine Jean-Pierre for wearing a dress similar to one of Ivanka’s cheap knockoffs

New York’s Devin-Norelle on how the love of queer community inspires hope
Life and how to live it

New York’s Devin-Norelle on how the love of queer community inspires hope

Presented by Depression Looks Like Me
SPONSORED
Your favorite new game is about a sweaty, stripping lumberjack chopping wood
timberrrrrrr

Your favorite new game is about a sweaty, stripping lumberjack chopping wood

Today at 11:05am
Downton Abbey recapped—but just the gay stuff!
refresher course

Downton Abbey recapped—but just the gay stuff!

Today at 11:05am
Season 3 of ‘Legendary’ just dropped and it already has fans talking their mess on social media
ballroom blitz

Season 3 of ‘Legendary’ just dropped and it already has fans talking their mess on social media

“Severance” low-key gave us one of the best queer couples of the year
Severed Love

“Severance” low-key gave us one of the best queer couples of the year

Today at 8:05am
Kristi Noem’s chances of ever being president were just flushed down the toilet
gop death watch

Kristi Noem’s chances of ever being president were just flushed down the toilet

Jonathan Bennett used to be trapped in the closet, now he’s living the gay dream
pride journey

Jonathan Bennett used to be trapped in the closet, now he’s living the gay dream

Madison Cawthorn reveals new mission in life, crosses to dark side
friends like these
24

Madison Cawthorn reveals new mission in life, crosses to dark side

Today at 7:05am
Free of an agenda (except that gay one)
Andy Cohen Bowen Yang Colton Haynes Colton Underwood Elton John Gus Kenworthy Lil Nas X Madonna Meghan Markle
Relationships Grindr Rupaul's Drag Race Screen Gems Twitter The Queerty Interview
  • Q.digital
  • A Q.Digital Company
  • © 2022 Queerty, Inc.
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact

  • Share a Tip
  • Comments Policy
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Follow

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • GayCities: Your Gay Travel Guide:

  • New York
  • London
  • San Francisco
  • Chicago
  • Los Angeles
  • Washington DC
  • Dallas
  • Gay Saskatoon
  • See all 230+ cities...