The Identity of West Hollywood

As a an eager young politico, I followed West Hollywood’s recent city council election last month with great interest.  However, as my previous post may have suggested, I was a little turned off by some of the rhetoric coming from the opposing candidates.  I thought the rhetoric implied that the LGBT community in West Hollywood was a monolithic group all moving the same direction with the same tastes and preferences.

As it so happened, my final report in a physical planning class I am taking at UCLA offered me an opportunity to explore a question I have had since moving to West Hollywood in August of 2010.  I could sit and argue that there is another group, another community in West Hollywood that was being ignored in this grandiose messaging but I could not prove it.  My final report for my class was on precisely that.  I sought out to prove that there are, in fact, two distinct communities within West Hollywood as evidenced by the physical environment.

I have pasted a clip from my introduction below.  Please feel free to download my report (15mb).  Critiques and counter-arguments are welcomed.

Losing the “Gayborhood”

Is America losing its gay neighborhoods by out-pricing young gays or have gay men and women simply changed their tastes and preferences?

(Photo by Roobs)

Every once in a while I read an article about how traditionally “gay” neighborhoods have been becoming “less gay” or, to use some creative journalists phrase, “the graying of gay neighborhoods”.  One that has come up more often than not has been the City of West Hollywood; a 25 year old self governing city West of Downtown Los Angeles that has served as Southern California’s gay mecca. (Note: I am a resident of the City of West Hollywood).

Is this true?  Are gay meccas becoming less gay as property values rise and straight families enter with their minivans and lattes?  Many in West Hollywood would probably say yes.  But I am not entirely sure.

The following excerpt comes from the website Curbed LA:

With West Hollywood elections coming up, both candidates (three council seats are opening up), and residents are taking the opportunity to vent, particularly about development. KCRW’s “Which Way, LA” recently covered the fight, interviewing John D’Amico, a candidate for city council, and former planning commissioner for the city, who believes that the current regime is more interested in catering to developers–and their “$1 million condos” than creating an that allows younger gays to afford to move in. West Hollywood losing its culture has been an ongoing theme for quite some time. [Which Way, LA]

Again, is this really the case?  Are gay neighborhoods really becoming less gay or, perhaps, are they merely reflecting the current state of the gay community in American society?