South Beach is over. Rents are going up. Gays are getting bashed. And somehow, the sunshine just doesn’t look as bright during the day, and the nighttime just isn’t right for anonymous sex anymore. Blame Gap and American Apparel, we’re told. [Miami New Times]
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hardmannyc
Great article that hits the right points. It’s a shame, because Lauderdale/Wilton Manors has none of the charm of the Deco District. But so it goes.
zenflo
I was born in Fort Lauderdale, lived in NYC for 15 yrs and now reside 2/3 time back in FTL.
I’m old enough to have seen Lincoln Road when it was largely boarded up in the early 1980s, and the “gay blossoming” soon after, when it was a joy to drive 30 miles south for a fun and eclectic night on the town.
The decline in South Beach began — imho — during a period in the 1990s when gay and gay friendly establishments were hounded by “quality-of-life” residents re: noise levels and parking complaints — a good part of them true, to be sure.
Oddly enough, around this time the Miami Beach city officials and commission were successfully lobbied by MTV to host and promote its “Yo!” and spin-off weekend specials — on the surface, a great boon for local hotels et al.
Truth was, these widely televised specials drew young trash from up and down the eastern U.S. — restless kids of every stripe and color, to be sure. They were (and remain) loud, aggressive and in some cases, even armed. Of course, the young “mainland” toughs began to show up in large numbers, as well.
Boutiques and cafes closed. T-shirt stands opened. Bashings skyrocketed. “We” (the royal gay kind — now cue up the music): packed up the truck and moved to Broward Coun-tee.
Meanwile, the rising rents drove out small entrepreneurs (read: a lot of gays), to be replaced by boring, ubiquitous stores like Barnes and Crap.
Having said my piece, I’ll now read the related article on the Queerty click-thru. Wonder if there will be any common points.
CountMeOut
So true.
Exhausted by its deteriorating quality of life, I fled South Beach in 2004, having lived through the gay renaissance and seen it go from the decline of the late 80s to its boom in the 90s. Today, it is such a congested, dirty, tourist trap. The deco buildings are still there, gorgeous as ever, thank God, but the quality of life is sooo bad. Few good jobs, streets that flood constantly, rowdy crowds, an arm and a leg for parking, constant congestion, a less-than-adequate mayor, I mean, the list can go on and on and on (God help that sandbar when a real hurricane hits the Beach. It will make Katrina look like a picnic).
Result? Gays and lesbians go to Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors, where there are many gay-owned and operated businesses, guesthouses, plenty of restaurants and clubs. Of course there are problems in that area as well. No place is perfect, but there is more of a sense of community, with something for everyone. South Beach is like the pretty girl who got really arrogant and everyone put up with her for a while because she was the life of the party. But in the end, we could see her warts and all, and got tired. Only a few delusional souls would believe otherwise.
The city commissioners will tell you they have done much to improve gay life, like bringing the gay pride parade back, or allowing for gay flags to be flown. But those are little gestures that have come too late. South Beach missed the boat. The mayor goes to gay clubs all the time and has cocktails. Good for her. BUT: the issues that affect us all, gay and straight, are still there mayor after mayor after mayor, and for being such a small geographical area, it is almost impossible to believe that an administration can not make it shine as it should, a clean, comfortable modern city that protects its citizens and offers opportunity to all of them; that takes care of its stray animals and homeless; that promotes conservation and the environment; that has a police force that knows how to deal with its various communities; that can provide affordable entertainment and housing to people other than rich folks who just come to visit and don’t plant roots in the area and don’t care about it.
It is sad. It is heartbreaking. So much potential squandered. Who will take the blame though? No one, as is usually is the case in South Florida. Glad thus to be out of there. The local media, like a little paper called “The Wire”, only chronicle the life of the clubs and pretend nothing is happening while the city burns. The Miami Herald? No influence anymore. And New Times, once the best of its kind around, has also changed for the worst. Maybe this article will serve as a wake-up call to many people, in more ways than one.
Jeff
Not to be too much of a nag, but I think you’re misusing the phrase “the king is dead, long live the ____.” When they say “the king is dead”, they’re referring to the old king (the one who just died), and when they say “long live the king”, they’re referring to the next person in line, i.e., whoever it is that just became king (or queen) as a matter of automatic succession.
So unless you are meaning to say that South Beach has died but is still “South Beach” (i.e., it is still on top and has not been replaced by something else), the title doesn’t really make sense.
Jeff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_is_dead._Long_live_the_King.
terrwill
No. 3 · CountMeOut: Excellent summation! More sadness to
come, in ten years you will be able to rewrite the exact
same tale, and results about New York…………….
RomanHans
Sigh: this is why I frequent Queerty. A few typos are easily ignored with such thoughtful replies.
And Terrwill is right about New York: there are a lot of vacant storefronts due to the recession, but the rents are so high only chains can afford them. It’s been a long slide downhill and we’re still moving fast.
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
Why do we create safe neighborhoods, invite celebrities (or women) into our bars which are sacred male spaces or women-only, lament that the stroller militia want to move in then they turn around and introduce ordinances to curtail our lifestyles through Quality of Life homophobic initiatives. “Ssssh, Amber-Lynne is sleeping!” Then outsiders come and declare our gayborhoods sexual expressions of freedom until the lowest possible element is drawn to the seediness of heterosexual Spring Break-style partying! It’s happening in:
Asbury Park, NJ
Brighton Beach, UK
Earl’s Court and Soho, London
Honolulu
Miami/ Fort Lauderdale
Montreal
New York including Chelsea, Greenwich Village, East Village, Hell’s Kitchen and Park Slope
Rehoboth Beach, DE
San Francisco including Noe Valley, Mission and South of Market
Sydney including Darlinghurst, Glebe, Newtown, Leichardt, Paddington and Surry Hills
West Hollywood
Our famous streets are in dangerous transformations to become gay-hunting season for homophobic terrorists; including Christopher Street, Dupont Circle, Market & Castro Streets and Oxford Streets where parades are held and gay pilgrimages end up. Are we the victims of our own success in building true livable communities? Should we develop our own industrial districts of member-based bar nightlife with stricter and more private protocols? How do we survive into a next generation? Are we doomed to become isolated, depressed and single abstinent and/or cuckolded loners resulting from our own complacence? Sadly, yes!
1EqualityUSA
dontblamemeivotedforhillary, Something tells me you will never be lonely.
RomanHans
Here in DUMBO (New York) developers had a distinct methodology. Offer very low rent in a bad neighborhood and ask gays and artists to move in. Then, after a newspaper or two declares the neighborhood now has “cachet,” triple everybody’s rent and invite the stroller set.
Usually the gays and artists at least get time to settle down. In DUMBO this turnaround — thanks, David Walentas! — took less than a YEAR.
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
The same thing will happen in Harlem, Flatbush and Crown Heights as Brooklyn is the new Berkeley (or Manhattan) in the next real estate upswing and maybe, that’s a good thing because we can only re-invent ourselves with new gayborhoods when the others become infested with Haters! Meanwhile, Manhattan is becoming a bedroom community (in bed by 10.30pm!)
1EqualityUSA – more than one sentence is invited or I’ll begin to think you are another one of the iPhone homeless.
soul_erosion
Would it be a stretch to think that the author of the linked article left out two other important variables in the time span cited? Those being (1)online hook-up sites plus online shopping and (2)the switch from the so-called softer drugs of ecstacy & k to the ravaging effects of meth. The demise & deterioration of our once bourgeoning streets & communties continues, no matter where choose to live. Ft. Lauderdale sounds nice, won’t the same thing happen there?
jason
One of the problems is that we in the GLBT community are too tolerant of women who latch onto the gay community as some sort of vanity symbol. These women bring trouble. Their boyfriends are usually thugs and homophobes.
South Beach thus seems to have fallen victim to our own “anything goes” attitude. We have tolerated these vain women and the trouble they’ve brought in the form of their intolerant boyfriends. Because we’ve tolerated the intolerant, we’ve weakened our rights.
scott ny'er
the way i hear it… Dumbo is becoming gentrified. My ex is sickened by it. He has lived there for 13 years or so and has seen it go from a crappy neighborhood, which he dug btw, to what it is now, with West Elm, the baby carriages, etc.
I kind of like the gentrification but understand how he digs the grittiness that is being lost. That realness.
On topic: I’ve heard about South Beach and wanted to visit. Thanks guys for the personal testaments.
jason
Straight women and boner dyke women are harming our community in the sense that they bring their thuggish boyfriends into our social scenes. By boner dyke women, I’m referring to women who use their supposed bisexuality to appeal to men who crap all over our rights. These women are essentially prostitutes, their boyfriends pimps.
Time to give these women the flick, methinks.
Lady Ga-Gasp
Uh, ok, haters. But you’re wrong. I went to South Beach for the 1st time in the late 60’s. It was dead dead dead. Then they revitalized Lincoln, then they protected the deco architecture, then the gays settled in (but Coconut Grove was where the bars were, or in Ft. Lauderdale). Since then there have been great Museums (the Wolfsonian is the best), great hotels (the Standard is a blast), Lincoln Road is as fun as ever… sure there are a lot of douche people, and yes crime can be a problem like in any Mecca, but its far from dead, and the chains stores are in no way as dominant as some might claim. Its a resort for god’s sake. What do you expect? But its still a blast.
Meanwhile, Coconut Grove is totally weird and without much gay presence, and Fort Lauderdale, thanks to Wilton Manors, is resurgent.
South Florida is a gumbo, and while the ingredients may change, the tasty spice (and boy watching) sure doesn’t.
Mr.Woo
Come to Beijing.
zenflo
Interesing to see the thread play out, as it were.
There are some contributors to this thread who have a rather generic dislike of women, which allows them to paint women with a very broad brush, although not quite like DaVinci.
I’m not here to cause these gentle folk any further frothing at the mouth, nor am I here to form any alliances or pen pals. Still, I would likely get on a plane to Beijing at a moment’s notice with Lady Ga-Gasp to meet anyone named (or pseudo-named) Mr. Woo.
To all, a fine evening.
ABC
@18, Zenflo, you’re a genius! LOLOLOLOLOL…
Mr-T
On this one, Queerty is missing the positive outlook: it would be so boring if things didn’t change over time. It’s not so sad at the end of the day, Wilton Manors is a beautiful place for the GLBT crowd and it’s still growing, very gay and spilling over greater Ft. Laud 😉 FYI The Manor just opened, and is making everyone drive to Wilton Drive. I love fads, just saying 🙂
Mr.Woo
Come to China, for the gays. New frontiers. Nice. Shanghai is now Shangay.
Mark
Wow. Mort thought provoking, incisive comments than usual.
Cornerframe
Come to West Hollywood where the cool accessory for the tweens and twinks is an armful of straight girls. Literally, last weekend, saw guy after guy walking in with a girl on each arm and one or 2 in tow. They come alone with their “best gay” a week or 2, then they feel comfortable enough to invite the straight guys. The girls are drunk and squealing after 1 or 2 drinks (why do all girls do this?) and the guys are drunk on beer wanting to fight cuz a guy got too close.
It happened at the Abbey in the last few years (is Abbey even gay? I don’t know gays who even go there, it’s mostly tourists and straight couples and they have thug night.), and is now branching out to the other popular clubs.
Any popular weekend will show you a line of gay guys waiting to get into a gayclub while any girl or group of girls will walk to the front of the line for immediate entry.
As a security/door goon at Here Lounge said, “Most of us are straight, and so are lots of the barstaff. The girls get in.”
bubblicious
I dont’ want to go to St. Lucia, and every time I sign on, I get a couple popping up and telling me to go.
jason
Cornerframe,
Your comments are so valid. I am sick of these straight and fake bi women who exploit double standards in order to get preferential treatment. Entry into nightclubs without queueing is one such form of preferential treatment.
Someone needs to tell these women that equal means equal. It doesn’t mean preferential. If you want equal rights, live the by the rules, ladies. Otherwise, go jump.
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
Cities and/or places to move to might include:
Amsterdam (always!)
Arlington, Virginia (Alexandria if you still can afford it!)
Austin
Barcelona
Berlin
Brussels
Byron Bay, Australia
Cancun
Dallas
Florence
Fire Island (Like Fort Lauderdale but older!)
Hoboken
New York (for 5 more years only!) but only Manhattan and Brooklyn
Paris
Portland, OR
Provincetown, MA
Rehoboth Beach, DE
Reykavik
San Diego
Santa Fe
Savannah, GA
Seattle
Silver Spring, MD
Tacoma, WA
Washington DC (still damn gay!)
I’d like to hear other mentions or accept knock-downs! Life shouldn’t have to be the “Old Gay map” as we are always re-inventing our Gayborhoods and creating new ones.
Todd
In Minneapolis 12.6% (my guess is 20% and up)of the residents are homosexual(GLBT), fourth largest in the states! … and what about Boys town in Chicago? Google % largest gay neighborhoods, citys, states in USA for the real list. What struck me as odd, if 10% of the population is gay where is everybody living? I wish people would own their gayness when it comes to these polls. Once again you can never trust a survey, I didn’t know other was a choice when it came to your sexuality! lol
incognito
Gay men should toughen up and stop being such victims. Maybe its time for some str8 bashing. I would love to beat the shit out of some annoying jock whos trying too hard to be “macho”. Lets take back are neighborhoods and start sticking together. Any minority group must be strategic and purposeful it they want to win.
Stephen
@incognito Hear, hear. Carry some mace, lift some weights, learn to box. I know getting bashed changed my priorities.