AS, ever on the lookout for the end of gay culture, notices this.
PRICED OUT OF THE MARKET
Rent is the impetus for the dissolution of the former enclaves, the "cultural centers"; and less so the grand cultural shifts that everyone posits.
After mulling the topic for a while, I think that gay cultural enclaves are a conceit worth keeping (especially, now, after cities like Chicago have ponied up money):
Don Sheets, who has owned the coffee shop inside Crossroads Market for the last year [in Dallas], said he would like to keep it open and expand with a café in what is now the bookstore. However, the owner currently is asking $28 per square foot, up from $11, to lease the building, which Sheets says he can’t afford. The bookstore and coffee shop occupy about 5,000 square feet.
