Comparing Detroit, Baltimore and Philly for a mixed, (L)GBT “artsy” type

[Zb399]

I was born in Chicago and my family moved to Austin when I was 16, I went to college in Chicago and I’ve been living in Portland for the last 3 years. For the most part I really love this city but the lack of diversity is extremely alienating for me. I’ve considered going back to Chicago but it’s so expensive and I sort of want a fresh start in a new place. I want to live in a place that’s very gay, open to the arts and alternative lifestyles, has a good music scene (I play sax) and has a lot of diversity, where it isn’t a stretch or basically impossible for me to be able to find a place with a couple of roommates where my housing costs (rent + utilities) won’t be more than $1000-$1100.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

I'm surprised Chicago is too expensive for your budget, but if it is, Philly would be off the table as well.

Detroit seems like a solid option, it's been improving a lot the past decade. I have an old high school friend who's very into music and has always gone to local punk/metal/jazz/folk shows constantly, and he moved to Detroit a few years ago and loves it. I don't know much about Baltimore.

The other cities I can think of that are cheaper than Chicago/Philly and are also diverse with a decent-sized LGBTQ population are: St. Louis, Tucson, Albuquerque, and Minneapolis. Possibly Milwaukee (good on affordability, solid on diversity, not sure if it's known for creative/artsy culture in the same way AFAIK)

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

I'm surprised Chicago is too expensive for your budget, but if it is, Philly would be off the table as well.

You can get a studio apartment in Philadelphia for $1100 a month but not utilities included.

[ckhthankgod]

For Detroit, look in the Palmer Park area or in nearby Ferndale. Both are known for their LGBTQ presence.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

For Detroit, look in the Palmer Park area or in nearby Ferndale. Both are known for their LGBTQ presence.

Yes. I would add Midtown to these areas, too. Midtown strikes me as an increasingly growing downtown-shoulder neighborhood that leans strongly progressive/inclusive. And with all the museums nearby (DIA, Wright/Africam Amer. Hist) and theaters (ie: Fox), Midtown is likely the most 'artsy' neighborhood in the City; perhaps in the entire Detroit metro area.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by TheProf

Yes. I would add Midtown to these areas, too. Midtown strikes me as an increasingly growing downtown-shoulder neighborhood that leans strongly progressive/inclusive. And with all the museums nearby (DIA, Wright/Africam Amer. Hist) and theaters (ie: Fox), Midtown is likely the most 'artsy' neighborhood in the City; perhaps in the entire Detroit metro area.

Another area is the West Village, which is actually east of Downtown and is more artsy with a mix of people: https://visitdetroit.com/inside-the-...llage-detroit/

https://www.darkroomdetroit.org/west...borhood-guide/

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

You can get a studio apartment in Philadelphia for $1100 a month but not utilities included.

Depending on whether or not you feel you must live in or near the Gayborhood, you may be able to find a studio apartment where everything runs under $1100/month.

And you might even be able to find a studio where you can stay under that ceiling in the Gayborhood: In looking for median rent data on the major apartment sites, I ran across this listing on Zumper for a studio apartment in the 1300 block of Pine Street, the southern edge of the Gayborhood and near Washington Square West's southwest corner (the Gayborhood occupies most of the western half of Wash West), for $895 per month ($5/month less than I pay for a two-room studio apartment in Germantown, a neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia that's about 30-45 minutes from Center City on public transit).

But you're probably going to have to look long and hard to find such bargains anywhere in this city. I found the apartment I live in now because I knew its landlord. I would also recommend checking out listings on Craigslist, where smaller landlords are more likely to post rental ads.

The more roommates you can get, the easier it will be for you to meet your budget target. According to Apartments.com, the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia is $2,885/month, which would leave you with a comfortable cushion for your utility bills.

So, taking that into account, I would give Philadelphia strong consideration in your search. Not only does it have a sizable gayborhood (a term that was introduced into the language in 1992 by Philadelphia CityPaper editor David Warner during the annual Outfest celebration; the term stuck), but LGBT folk are also woven into the fabric of several other city neighborhoods, especially Point Breeze in South Philly, Spruce Hill in University City, and Germantown and Mount Airy in the northwest. The two articles below, both by the same author, tour guide and "Gayborhood Guru" Bob Skiba, give you the story of our Gayborhood's evolution:

Gayborhood | The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
The Roots of the Gayborhood, the Eve of a Milestone | Hidden City Philadelphia

(Note the photo at the top of the second article: Philadelphia is one of only four cities in North America that marks its gay neighborhood/entertainment district with some form of public signage. The other three are San Francisco [huge rainbow flag at the entrance to Castro Muni Metro station], Chicago [rainbow-ring pylons lining North Halsted Street] and Toronto [as in Philadelphia, rainbow-flag street name signs in the Church-Wellesley District].)

Philly is also home to the first public demonstrations for gay rights in America, held on Independence Day from 1965 to 1969 and mentioned in that second article. A state historical marker just up from Independence Hall commemorates them.

The city has a strong arts and music scene, including jazz (which I assume you're into if you play the sax). Blacks and whites account for about 75 percent of the city's population between them, with Blacks outnumbering whites, but the remaining quarter is pretty diverse, with Puerto Ricans, Asians (especially Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodians), Mexicans and other Caribbean natives* all represented in non-trivial numbers (the Penn Relays, on the last weekend in May, is an unofficial national holiday in Jamaica, and the Penn campus is overrun with Jamaican food trucks while they're on. Philly Black Pride also coincides with Relays weekend every year).

It's also home to one of the oldest LGBT newspapers in the country, the Philadelphia Gay News.

Have I said enough? I could go on some more. I'm pretty well known in both the Gayborhood (though I no longer live in it) and media and real estate circles here. If you decide you want to visit and kick this city's tires, drop me a DM — I'd be glad to show you around.

*I've been fortunate enough to have met three very smart Haitian-American women in the course of my work, and my boyfriend is of Trini descent but grew up in Lancaster County.

[MarketStEl]

I should, however, also call your attention to this 2019 article by my Phillymag colleague Ernest Owens about the winds of change sweeping through the Gayborhood. But one of the things it does note is that one can now find LGBTQ social scenes in neighborhoods elsewhere in the city. I regularly attended one of those, a monthly meetup for LGBTQ Northwest Philly residents at a now-departed restaurant in Mount Airy. The meetup went moribund with the pandemic, but maybe someone might attempt to restart it. (Maybe I should be that someone....)

There Goes the Gayborhood | Philadelphia Magazine