What Happened to the Neighborhood?

Steve Weinstein pens a great piece on The Big Cup, Chelsea, and migration patterns in the city...

It’s an old story that’s been repeated many times in many places: gay businesses move into a marginal neighborhood. They attract gay residents. These charming businesses and well-appointed apartments change the nature of the neighborhood.

Before you can say “Cafeteria,” the neighborhood becomes fancy. Bold-faced names start moving in. Straight bars and restaurants replace older gay ones. Landlords cash in by charging high rents, which drive out the funky gay businesses that made the neighborhood fashionable for higher rents in the first place.

...We’ll ask ourselves what happened to the neighborhood. And then we’ll find someplace else.