Did home buyers avoid Montrose at one time due to homophobia? (title, area)

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

South Beach (club) has been crap for a few years...but I think it will make a comeback. My friend told me it used to called 'Heaven'. Is Blur still open? I'm in Michigan now.
JR's (bar) is OK. Mining Company is crap.
The new gay club - F Bar - is nice looking but the clientele = label ***** *******...I like nice clothes but don't make it a way of life.... But I guess F Bar isn't even in Montrose but in Midtown.

Heaven was the place! Until it burned down... and then it took them years to build South Beach which I liked for the first month it was open.

Montrose was a mega hood in the 70's comparable to near north and east end. You like that new HEB on Alabama? You remember the disgusting ramshackle public housing that was there before? Same with Allen Parkway. Allen Parkway Village was some of the worst in Houston. How many people in those new townhomes know how many murders happened where they sleep.

Montrose started coming back in the 90's but there was still a lot of violence. I remember the pink angels riding around in a van watching out for bashers and anyone trying to attack LGBT folks.

It's supposed to be a good sign that LGBT folks live all over Houston (including in the mayor's office!). Even West Hollywood out here in LA is now taking down some of it's rainbow spirit to better reflect the fact that it's not a purely LGBT town.

[9162]

Originally Posted by wehotex

I hadn't visited Montrose since 1990 and thought that it was really bohemian, kinda reminded me of Hyde Park area in Austin but a lot gayer. Flash forward, it looks like half of Houston lives there! Did people shun it in the past because of the gay population and the AIDS stigma of the 80s? When did the neighborhood start changing?

History supports that it has been common for gay guys to often move into slums, or somewhat depressed urban areas and gentrify them. In Boston, the South End was a terrible slum. Since most gay guys are urban dwellers, and many couldn't afford to live in the more affluent areas, they moved to the South End. Within ten years, the neighborhood was gentrified, with new grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, and all kinds of new stores. Now, only the wealthy can afford to live there. Gay men seem to be the only minority that drives the COL up, rather than down.

[hbcu]

The gays have not made their way towards fifth ward...and I'm not talking about 5th ward near downtown..the liberty road side..

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by hbcu

The gays have not made their way towards fifth ward...and I'm not talking about 5th ward near downtown..the liberty road side..

If/when that happens, do you think a lot of lower income people will move to North Forest?

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by hbcu

The gays have not made their way towards fifth ward...and I'm not talking about 5th ward near downtown..the liberty road side..

Will the breeders finally stop following us around if we go to Fifth Ward?

[intencity77]

Originally Posted by hbcu

The gays have not made their way towards fifth ward...and I'm not talking about 5th ward near downtown..the liberty road side..

That's because some of us are making our way to the East End first! This includes EaDo, Second Ward and the Eastwood areas. Here in Second Ward last June, I saw pride flags and rainbow bunting on one house the next street over. Pride flags were flying at other homes around the East End as well, including our house. There are also a good amount of gay couples living in Eastwood too. I'm a native Houstonian but I have only lived in the East End for 5 years and in that short amount of time, I have seen a lot of good changes happening in the area, even on my street! There's also been a visible increase in hipsters/bohemian type moving in the past year. Probably from being priced out of the expensive west side. Houston's East End is a changing.

[Anon4This]

Originally Posted by crono_clone

Will the breeders finally stop following us around if we go to Fifth Ward?

Will the gaywads stop gaying up our historic neighborhoods, and stop causing our families who have been here for generations to be taxed out of our homes?

Wait, I'm sorry-- I guess I am the one with the clinical, mental disorder, a phobia. Please go easy on me because it's not nice to verbally assault sick people.

[bmantx512]

Originally Posted by travelguy_73

You have to remember this happened over MANY years, so it wasn't like everything changed over night. We can look back at the changes and see them clearly, but at the time a house here-and-there would sell, new townhomes go up, businesses open and close, and life went on for most people. It was much more subtle, much like gay rights in general, no watershed moments. I'm sure there were many Montrose leaders who understood and hated the changes they were seeing, but the younger generation coming of age in the 90s didn't necessarily want to live in the gay ghetto, it was more reserved for the older ones who had grown up in the era where they HAD to live there just to be themselves.

This is an excellent explanation. I came to Houston in 1982 and the friends I was staying with took me down to Montrose on a Saturday night to see the "circus" (as they put it) Remember, the times and attitudes were way different. Funny thing, is I loved the area and went down there a lot over the years. The street festival was one of the coolest things in the city and I rarely missed a year.

But little by little things changed. The high dollar new buildings and the big money renovations raised property values year after year. The owners of the dumpy apartments, where all the wild young kids who longed for a place to be themselves would stay, took the money and ran. And something expensive would go up in it's place. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I miss the old Montrose and Houston of the 80's in general, but totally understand the process. Nostalgia has no place in the business world I've learned over the years.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by intencity77

That's because some of us are making our way to the East End first! This includes EaDo, Second Ward and the Eastwood areas. Here in Second Ward last June, I saw pride flags and rainbow bunting on one house the next street over. Pride flags were flying at other homes around the East End as well, including our house. There are also a good amount of gay couples living in Eastwood too. I'm a native Houstonian but I have only lived in the East End for 5 years and in that short amount of time, I have seen a lot of good changes happening in the area, even on my street! There's also been a visible increase in hipsters/bohemian type moving in the past year. Probably from being priced out of the expensive west side. Houston's East End is a changing.

It's amazing the changes in that area. I did student teaching over there in 2002 and it was just barely sparking towards redevelopment. I also haven't ever heard it called Second Ward. I know that was its original name and probably its current name once again, but it was "Segundo Barrio (second ward)" for the longest time! Funny how things change... I'll have to revisit next time I'm in Houston. Are there any gay hangouts that way? Most of the gays I know headed west to galleria area through much of the 2000's, maybe they have moved on now... We are a transient population.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by David Dollar

I hate what Montrose is becoming. It sure is losing its Bohemian vibe and becoming an extension of Wash Ave

The people who made it what it was have been priced out. Few artists make the money to pay that kind of rent.