How Does The Gentrification of Historically LGBTQIIA+ Communities Contribute To The Erasure of Their Built-Heritage, And How Can We, As Preservationists, Mediate This Trend?

Matthew Evans

PRES 110: Introduction to Preservation Design: A Global Theory and Practice.

8 March 2018

(Final Draft)

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Gentrification of LGBTQIIA+ Neighborhoods………………………………………………………...2

The Preservation of Queer Landmarks……………….….…………………………………………...7

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….10

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Introduction

“Places and identity are inextricably linked… [and] ‘the continued presence of old places helps

us know who we are, and who we may become in the future,’”

Quote by Tom Mayes of The National Trust for Historic Preservation.1

Places embody collections of memories and experiences that make up our shared

American history. They symbolize the struggles, triumphs, and important moments that define us as a nation. Although all significant sites should be preserved to encapsulate our shared history in its unbiased entirety, this is not the case in reality. Modern forces of gentrification and assimilation threaten to erase the physical histories of historically underrepresented minority communities, especially those of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex,

Intersectional, Asexual, and AIDS-Positive (LGBTQIIA+) individuals. By destroying this community’s built heritage, these forces dissociate individuals from their identities and perpetuate the silencing of queer* citizens and their significance in the narrative of American history. As a result of this historical erasure, LGBTQIIA+ individuals are rarely represented accurately and respectfully in our culture and society.

However, recent actions taken by the National Parks Service (NPS), National Register of

Historic Places (NRHP), and other nonprofit organizations seek to reverse this trend and rebuild historically queer communities and landmarks.2 By adding historically significant LGBTQIIA+ sites to their system of U.S. National Monuments, the NPS is systematically preserving these

1 Dubrow, Gail. Preserving LGBTQ Heritage. (Washington, D.C.: National Park Foundation, 2016) Accessed 19 ​ ​ ​ ​ January 2018. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lgbtqheritage/upload/lgbtqtheme-preservation.pdf . Page 7-8. ​ ​ 2 Lavario, Andrea. “HRC Participates in National Park Service LGBTQ Heritage Theme Study. Human Rights Campaign, 2016. https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-participates-in-national-park-services-lgbtq-heritage-theme-study . ​ ​ Accessed 19 January 2018.

* “Queer” in in this terminology refers to the LGBTQIIA+ community, and its use is not meant derogatorily. ​

2 Evans sites and their surrounding communities for future generations. Meanwhile, the NRHP encourages the nomination of LGBTQIIA+ sites to spread awareness of queer history. These positive endeavors seek to push the Gay Rights Movement into the national consciousness and assert its historical significance and legitimacy.

Although these efforts are monumental steps towards preserving LGBTQIIA+ heritage, more should be done to protect queer neighborhoods from gentrifying into the common urban landscape. In many cases, these communities still provide a place of refuge and fraternity for queer individuals, a place where they can feel accepted and comfortable for who they are. The built heritage of this community originally started as a physical support system composed of

“semi-formal clusters of LGBT-friendly bars and [information exchange and health] services

[which] developed into more fully-fledged and formalised villages,” according Dr. Phil Jones

(Ph.D), a professor of cultural geography at the University of Birmingham.3 Although queer acceptance has permeated the mainstream society of politically-liberal areas, these communities still act as necessary support systems today, rendering their preservation as an extremely important and essential activity for the equity of future LGBTQIIA+ individuals.

The Gentrification of Historically LGBTQIIA+ Neighborhoods

Historically queer neighborhoods, sometimes nicknamed “gayborhoods,” are disappearing into the urban landscape of American metropolitan areas because their residents are being forced out of their homes and local establishments by gentrification.4 Gentrification is the buying and selling of houses and businesses in urban neighborhoods by upper or middle class individuals, resulting in an increase in property values that often displaces lower-income

3 Jones, Phil. “Is there a Future for Gay Villages?” University of Birmingham, 2018. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/is-there-a-future-for-gay-villages.aspx . Accessed 6 March 2018. ​ 4 James, Scott. “There Goes the Gayborhood.” The New York Times, 2016. Accessed 19 January 2018. ​ ​ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/us/gay-pride-lgbtq-gayborhood.html?_r=0 . Page 3. ​

3 Evans residents. Although many of these neighborhoods were established as places of refuge from homo / transphobic persecution, mainstream acceptance of homosexuals and transgender persons in politically-liberal areas has allowed queer individuals to leave their communities and move elsewhere.5 Their vacancies create real estate and investment opportunities in places, like

San Francisco, Oakland, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, etc…, where housing is in high demand. Real-estate moguls buy and sell these properties for a profit, thus increasing a neighborhoods’ property values and, more influentially, property taxes. Unfortunately, since

LGBTQIIA+ individuals are still generally paid less than their straight / cisgender counterparts, they can no longer afford to live there and are forced to relocate to less expensive neighborhoods.6 Consequently, this creates a vacuum that systematically displaces queer residents from their communities and destroys the establishments and landmarks they created.

Take the Castro District of San Francisco, California, as an example of the importance of

“gayborhoods.” Prior to its establishment as a queer community in the 1960s and 70s, the

Castro District was a middle class, white neighborhood. However, it was abandoned in a

“working class exodus to the suburbs” during the 1930s and the district started to decline into a ​ neglected, urban area.7 While bleak, the neighborhood gave members of the queer community the opportunity to “find homes and start businesses with relatively little opposition or capitol.”8

According to Amin Ghaziani, associate professor at the University of British Columbia and author of the recently published study Sex Cultures, “The United States’ strict military ​ ​ prohibitions against gay men and lesbians meant that anyone even suspected of homosexuality was discharged, most often in major cities with major military bases,” like San Francisco,

5 Ibid, Pages 1-2. 6 Gates, Gary J . “Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples in the American Community Survey: 2005-2011.” (Los ​ Angeles: The Williams Institute, 2013) . http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/ACS-2013.pdf . ​ ​ Accessed 6 March 2018. 7 Ibid, Pages 3. 8 Ibid.

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Seattle, Miami, or New York.9 Contributing to their isolation, queer individuals “were often fired from jobs or evicted from apartments if their sexual orientation became known; same-sex dancing or kissing was illegal, as was the wearing of clothing traditionally worn by the opposite gender.”10 Labeled criminals, the discharged LGBTQIIA+ individuals settled into communities, like The Castro, where they could open their own bars and meeting spaces. According to Gay

Rights activist Cleve Jones, “These initial gayborhoods offered the first opportunities for [queer individuals] to openly interact with people of the same sexual orientation,” creating a small political clout that would eventually grow into the Gay Rights Movement.11 For example, Harvey

Milk, a resident of the Castro District, became the United States’ first openly-gay elected official when he became a San Francisco city supervisor in 1977, giving him and his community the ability to advocate for queer issues. Consequently, this movement became a long-term, national effort to bring marriage equality and mainstream LGBTQIIA+ acceptance to America, which was partially achieved in 2015 when the Supreme Court’s declared that prohibiting the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples was unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges. As the ​ ​ movement continues to fight for the rights of queer Americans, these neighborhoods currently remain the social and cultural nuclei of the historic movement.

However, many of the queer community's established bars and residences are disappearing due to new economic stressors. According to New York Times Reporter Scott

James in his article “There Goes the Gayborhood,” “as these communities improved and flourished, they eventually became affluent and desirable places to live.” Additionally, as described in Will Fellows’ A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture, queer ​ ​ individuals “lived in restored older houses, often furnished and decorated with antiques,”

9 Ibid., Page 2. 10 Carter, David; Andrew Scott Dolkart; Gale Harris; and Jay Shockley. Stonewall National Historic Landmark ​ Nomination. (Waterford, NY: New York State Historic Preservation Office, 1999) Accessed 21 February 2018. ​ https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ny/Stonewall.pdf . Page 9. ​ 11 See Note 4, Page 5.

5 Evans because it was more affordable, and typically, as a byproduct, they “creat[ed], restor[ed], and preserv[ed the] beauty, order, and continuity.” of these previously unsafe and lower-income neighborhoods12 However, their rehabilitation of these urban districts made them more desirable to developers and investors who wanted to make a large profit. Meanwhile, the modern, mainstream acceptance of queer individuals means that “heterosexuals have no qualms about sharing a neighborhood with gay men and lesbians,” according Reporter Scott James.13

Consequently, these neighborhoods are seeing their housing prices and property taxes increase exponentially in large cities that are already strapped for housing, like San Francisco or New

York. Although San Francisco’s Castro District was previously an inexpensive haven, medium-sized houses located there currently sell for about $2 million and a two-bedroom apartment now costs $4,400 per month, reports Scott James.14 According to Cleve Jones, “cities are changing in a very profound and new way as the rich are reclaiming the inner cities” and pushing LGBTQIIA+ residents out of them.15 John Criscitello, an artist who resides in Seattle’s gay neighborhood of Capitol Hill, said that “gay residents there were priced out and out numbered as thousands of new housing developments were built in response to the booming local tech economy [and] new residents were heavily straight[,] heavily male [...,and] able to pay higher rents.”16 Statistically, the Capitol Hill neighborhood has seen a “23% decrease” in the number of queer individuals while “nearly every city neighborhood [in Seattle] had an increased concentration of gay and lesbian residents from 2000 to 2012,” according Scott James.17

This gentrification of queer neighborhoods had led to the closure and replacement of

LGBTQIIA+ landmarks and businesses with more mainstream establishments. For example,

12 Fellows, Will. A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture. (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of ​ ​ Wisconsin, 2004.) Page 10 (Preface). 13 Refer to Note 4. ​ 14 Refer to Note 4. 15 Refer to Note 4. 16 Refer to Note 4, Page 4. 17 Refer to Note 4.

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Cooper’s Donuts was the site of the 1959 Cooper’s Do-nuts Riot in Skid Row, Los Angeles, where, after the LAPD attempted to arrest three queer individuals for illegally congregating, “a ​ large group of transgendered women, [gay men, and drag queens] pelted officers with donuts, coffee, and paper plates until [the LAPD] were forced to retreat.”18 While this event marks the first mass uprising against the persecution of LGBTQIIA+ individuals, its site currently bears no resemblance to the original donut shop that existed in 1959 and still remains unrecognized for the significant events that took place that night. Similarly, the Compton Cafeteria in San

Francisco was the site of a similar riot in the 1960s named the Compton Cafeteria Riot; yet, the current structure again bears no resemblance of the original establishment. Only a plaque detailing the events of the riot has been installed in the sidewalk outside of what is now a modern apartment building. Meanwhile, these are not isolated incidents. According to the

National Parks Service’s recent survey of places associated with LGBTQIIA+ heritage, 85 potentially historic landmarks have been demolished across the country, and 529 potentially significant sites have yet to be listed on the National Register for Historic Places and face the threat of the wrecking ball.19 By contrast, only 11 properties have been recorded on the National

Register as sites carrying historical significance related to queer individuals.20

If we want to see a reversal of this trend, then we need to start recognizing

“gayborhoods” and their landmarks as tangible, irreplaceable symbols of the LGBTQIIA+ community and their struggles for human rights and equality. Since documented evidence scarcely exists of these historical events, these sites provide our only permanent reminder of

18Moffitt, Evan. “10 Years Before Stonewall, There Was The Cooper Donuts Riot.” Here Media, 2015. Accessed 19 February 2018. https://www.out.com/today-gay-history/2015/5/31/today-gay-history-10-years-stonewall-there-was-coopers-donuts-rio t . Page 1. ​ 19Places with LGBTQ Heritage. National Parks Service, n.d. Accessed 18 January 2018. ​ https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4700682,-110.6440237,5z/data=!4m2!6m1!1szUo4VdCIQUrM.kpjJD0fu37MU . ​ 20ibid.

7 Evans how far America has presently come towards queer acceptance, and they allow us to study how prospective generations may continue to grow towards a more equitable and inclusive future.

Preservation of Queer Landmarks

The cycle of gentrification may seem inevitable; however, there have been several projects on both federal and local levels that attempt to combat its destructive effects on queer neighborhoods. While, we discussed earlier how the mainstream acceptance of LGBTQIIA+

Americans can be potentially detrimental to their communities, it has actually done more good than harm. Queer-acceptance in politically-liberal areas has enabled these communities to

“come-out-of-the-closet,” enabling preservationists to extensively research and document the full significance of their heritage. These efforts can be seen in the preservation of two sites in particular: The Stonewall National Monument, and the Castro Theater Designated Landmark.

These sites show two very different methods that protect queer built-heritage from demolition while emphasizing the historical significance of their communities.

The Stonewall Inn Bar was the site of a series of significant riots that took place between

28 June and 3 July 1969 where a group of gay men, lesbians, transgender persons, and drag queens led a six-day rebellion against the police, after the NYPD raided the bar and attempted to arrest several individuals.21 According to the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, this rebellion was ‘particularly unusual” and marked “the beginning of the modern LGBT Rights Movement,” after it caught the attention of the national media and inspired the creation of several

Queer-Rights organizations.22 After the riots, the property changed hands many times, and eventually closed in 1973, and local activists immediately started seeking landmark status for

21 31-33 Christopher Street Manhattan: Stonewall Inn & Christopher Park.” NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, 2017. Accessed 18 January 2018. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/stonewall-inn-christopher-park/ . ​ ​ 22 Ibid., Page 2.

8 Evans the gay bar.23 Their goal was finally achieved in 2016 when President Barack Obama officially designated the Stonewall Inn a National Monument, “creating the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the Gay Rights Movement.”24 National Historic Landmarks give greater protections to sites with LGBTQIIA+ heritage. Under Section 106 of the 1966 National Historic Preservation

Act, federal agencies are required to “take such planning and actions as may be necessary to minimize harm to such landmarks,” and to consult the the Advisory Council for Historic

Preservation about any undertakings.25 Additionally, the National Historic Landmarks Assistance

Initiative requires the NPS to assist in the property’s preservation through “technical assistance to their stewards, owners, [and] managers,” contribute to “the education of the general public,” and conduct “voluntary inspections by NPS preservation experts.”26 Given that queer landmarks are still relatively unrecognized, dedicating them as National Historic Landmarks presents an opportunity to provide the visibility and resources needed to ensure the preservation of nationally significant LGBTQIIA+ sites, like The Stonewall Inn, and advocate for the conservation of their surrounding communities.

However, it’s not always possible to obtain such a high recognition, and it’s not the best option for some properties. In this case, protecting LGBTQIIA+ built-heritage falls under the responsibility of their local communities. The conservation of the Castro Theater is exemplary of the methods used by queer neighborhoods to self-promote their own preservation. Constructed in the southern suburbs of San Francisco in 1922, the gilded age movie house contributed to growth of the Eureka Valley neighborhood, which later was to become the Castro District in the

23 Refer to Note 10, Page 21 . ​ 24Rosenberg, Eli. “Stonewall Inn named National Monument, a First for the Gay Rights Movement.” New York Times, ​ ​ 2016. Accessed 18 January 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/nyregion/stonewall-inn-named-national-monument-a-first-for-gay-rights-movem ent.html?_r=0 . Page 1. ​ 25 Dedek, Peter B. Historic Preservation for Designers. (New York City: Fairchild Books, 2014). Page 36. ​ ​ 26 Ibid., 106-107.

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1930s.27 According to writer Alex Bevk of the architecture-focused website Curbed San ​ Francisco, the Queer and Counterculture communities revitalized the neighborhood in the ​ 1960s and 70s, and it was then that “the theater started showing LGBTQ films,” converting the property into “a community center and cultural space” for gay individuals.28 In 1976, it was designated a San Francisco City Landmark, giving it greater local protections, similar to National

Historic Landmarks, than those granted by listing the property on the National Register. These include legalities like zoning codes and property easements which control any adaptations made to the visible facades and the surrounding structures, protecting the historic integrity of the neighborhood. This is a more broad application of preservation that preserves a landmark and its neighborhood while still allowing its structures to be used residentially and commercially.

This ongoing use allows the community to continue to earn capital income, practice cultural traditions, utilize neighborhood resources, and sustain long-term residents, slowing the effects of gentrification to make them more manageable.

The gentrification of LGBTQIIA+ communities, while not reversible, is certainly able to mediable at both the federal and local level, giving preservationists and historians the time and resources to conserve the significant built-heritage of “gayborhoods.” Their preservation will hopefully contribute to the visibility and legitimacy of queer heritage in the narrative of our broad

American history.

27 Bevk, Alex. “The Epic History of the Castro Theater, a San Francisco and LGBTQ Landmark.” Curbed San Francisco, 2016. Accessed 21 February 2018. https://sf.curbed.com/2016/6/22/12004316/san-francisco-pride-castro-theater-history-pictures . ​ 28 Ibid., Page 9.

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Conclusion

In brief, Queer heritage is important to the growth of the LGBTQIIA+ rights movement in its modern conception because it promotes the visibility of significant queer events and stories.

Although, gentrification threatens to erase these efforts, there are tools available to preservationists, specifically landmark-designations, that allow us to mediate the effects of gentrification long enough to analyze and preserve the most vital of the community’s resources for the permanent use of future generations. In my opinion, queer heritage, like the heritage of other underrepresented minorities, deserves to be told. When a community’s history, especially its built-heritage, is erased through social blights like xenophobia or gentrification, it labels that community as unimportant, further deepening their artificially false status as second-class citizens. In my opinion, that is not acceptable. All heritages, especially those that have been ignored, are imperative to the collective story of the human race.

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Works Cited

31-33 Christopher Street Manhattan: Stonewall Inn & Christopher Park.” NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, 2017. Accessed 18 January 2018. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/stonewall-inn-christopher-park/ . ​ Bevk, Alex. “The Epic History of the Castro Theater, a San Francisco and LGBTQ Landmark.” Curbed San Francisco, 2016. Accessed 21 February 2018. https://sf.curbed.com/2016/6/22/12004316/san-francisco-pride-castro-theater-history-pict ures . ​ Carter, David; Andrew Scott Dolkart; Gale Harris; and Jay Shockley. Stonewall National Historic ​ Landmark Nomination. (Waterford, NY: New York State Historic Preservation Office, ​ 1999) Accessed 21 February 2018. https://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ny/Stonewall.pdf . Page 9. ​ Dedek, Peter B. Historic Preservation for Designers. New York City: Fairchild Books, 2014. ​ ​ Page 36. Dubrow, Gail. “Preserving LGBTQ Heritage.” (Washington, D.C.: National Park Foundation, 2016) Page 7-8. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lgbtqheritage/upload/lgbtqtheme-preservation.pdf . ​ Accessed 19 January 2018. Gates, Gary J . “Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples in the American Community Survey: 2005-2011.” Los Angeles: The Williams Institute, 2013. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/ACS-2013.pdf . Accessed 6 ​ March 2018. James, Scott. “There Goes the Gayborhood.” The New York Times, 2016. Accessed 19 January ​ ​ 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/us/gay-pride-lgbtq-gayborhood.html?_r=0 . ​ ​ Lavario, Andrea. “HRC Participates in National Park Service LGBTQ Heritage Theme Study. Human Rights Campaign, 2016. https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-participates-in-national-park-services-lgbtq-heritage-theme- study . Accessed 19 January 2018. ​ Moffitt, Evan. “10 Years Before Stonewall, There Was The Cooper Donuts Riot.” Here Media, 2015. Accessed 19 February 2018. https://www.out.com/today-gay-history/2015/5/31/today-gay-history-10-years-stonewall-t here-was-coopers-donuts-riot . Page 1. ​ Places with LGBTQ Heritage. National Parks System, n.d. Accessed 18 January 2018. ​ https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4700682,-110.6440237,5z/data=!4m2!6m1!1szUo4V dCIQUrM.kpjJD0fu37MU . ​ Rosenberg, Eli. “Stonewall Inn named National Monument, a First for the Gay Rights Movement.” New York Times, 2016. Accessed 18 January 2018. ​ ​ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/nyregion/stonewall-inn-named-national-monument- a-first-for-gay-rights-movement.html?_r=0 . Page 1. ​ Fellows, Will. A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture. Madison, Wisconsin: The ​ ​ University of Wisconsin, 2004.

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Outline

- Introduction:

- Give a broad context concerning LGBTQ+ landmarks and their disappearance.

- Gentrification of LGBTQIIA+ Neighborhoods: (Largest portion of your paper) - Summarize and analyze New York Times Articles about the effect of gentrification spcifically in typically LGBTQ negihborhoods like the Castro District in San Francisco, West Hollywood in Los Angeles, Greenwich Village / Chelsea in Chelsea, and Soho in London (UK). - Important landmarks - Castro Theater - Stonewall Inn - Royal Vauxhall Tavern - Loss of Cooper’s Donuts (A popular establishment serving transgendered individuals where a riot occurred in 1959) - Loss of neighborhoods: - Greenwich village - Discuss methods to dampen the effects of gentrification, which will lead into... - The Preservation of Queer Landmarks: - Indentify the criteria needed to be an LGBTQ landmark / community. - Answer what resources are available to protect them. - Use NPS LGBTQ heritage review - Talk about successful projects and how their models can be applied to other places: - The Stonewall Inn to Chelsea - The Castro Theater - Discuss NPS map of LGBTQ landmarks and neighborhoods and the national presence of the LGBTQ community and their heritage. - Conclusion: - State the overaching significance of LGBTQ neighborhoods and landmarks in the role of sharing queer history.