Monday, February 18, 2013

Chelsea Boys ... and Girls


There's probably no better example of the death of gay Chelsea than this: The former home of the Big Cup -- setting for countless mugs of hot coffee and even hotter pick-ups -- is becoming (yet another) nail salon. (Bendix diner became one too, and the Bright Food Shop turned into a chain Mexican restaurant before that crashed and burned.) Just when I thought all hope was lost, however, I noticed the former Lite Choice down the avenue is becoming a (tiny) new coffee joint, which is something, in a one-step-forward-two-steps-back kind of way.


2 comments:

BosGuy said...

Places like NYC and SF will likely be the last to see this happen, but in smaller cities like Boston where being gay is no longer scary; traditional gay enclaves have all but disappeared.

Will this happen to places like The Village and The Castro - in due time probably.

It is the double-edged sword of gaining greater acceptance and integration into the larger society.

Tom in San Francisco said...

The Castro is indeed disappearing and one has to take it with a grain of salt. Does the disappearance of a gay ghetto mean that assimilation is happening? Is assimilation a good thing? The historic significance remains in he Castro and is duly noted. The disappearance of gay bars in SF is the result of assimilation also. On the other hand, there are probably just as many strollers being pushed by same sex couples as there are being pushed by traditional hetero couples. Go figure.