Boi in the Hood
May 24, 2001

So I live in what most would call a "gay ghetto" -- the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, where most of the gay bars, gay businesses, and a large chunk of the gay people are located.

I've been here for slightly longer than a year. And this is the first time in my life I've lived in what would be a city's core -- I'm about five miles from downtown San Diego and am considered a resident of the city proper. I've lived near cities before -- St. Louis and Orlando, for example -- but always way out in the suburbs.

I've never lived in an area where I regularly calculated distances in blocks rather than miles, or even needed to. But now I live in this wonderful place where 95 percent of my needs can be filled by businesses within walking distance of my apartment. I generally only drive on weekends (my workplace is located in the neighborhood just north of Hillcrest and is walkable).

For those of you who have never lived in a gay ghetto, it's a fun place, but not all that different from any other urban environment. There are just gay touches, like rainbow flags here and there, even in shops that aren't really gay-targeted. And of course, there are gay people and couples everywhere. Cruising is certainly less dangerous -- physically, if not emotionally, as rejection certainly does still sting. Not that I would know. [cough]

But I would stop short of classifying a gay ghetto as being a "safer" environment for gay people. Since everybody knows that Hillcrest is where all the gay people are, if a bunch of drunken local frat boys decide they want go fag bashing, they know to come looking through your neighborhood.

And since gay ghettos are invariably urban environments, you have to be concerned about the same crime issues you would be in any city. There are muggings, robbings, etc. in the neighborhood. There are quite a few homeless people, some of whom are clearly mentally ill and may or may not be dangerous.

But I love being able to walk around the corner from my apartment building and getting cheap Indian take-out. So let's take a stroll down University Avenue, Hillcrest's main drag (that has dual meaning during the summer, as it's the route of the city's gay pride parade) and take a look at all the little wonders the neighborhood has to offer.

We'll start a few blocks east of my apartment building and work our way west. At the intersection to Park Blvd. (which will take you to the zoo if you're inclined), is a block with a gay bar, a lesbian bar, a pharmacy flying a big rainbow flag, a leather store, a few other shops. I kind of treat this as the boundary of my walkable range.

Heading west, the next block contains a restaurant that serves only dishes made with French crepes. I keep wanting to try it, but it has silly hours -- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- and can't ever seem to get there in that time frame. I'm mystified that they stay in business. There's a huge, professional-looking hairstyling place next to it that I'm too intimidated to try. My hair sucks and I just know that they'll laugh at me.

Across the street here is the Gay and Lesbian Community Center. I should probably volunteer there or something, but my work hours are so erratic that I don't think I could ever commit to a consistent schedule there.

On the next block is a comic shop. I just love the fact that there's a comic shop like three blocks from my apartment. I can walk over there whenever I choose to see what's out. And I love the fact that it's in a gay neighborhood, because, you know, other gay comic fans. When I went by there last week, this really hot, young, obviously gay muscle-boy was there buying the latest X-books. If he wasn't so out of my league I might have tried to flirt with him. Yeah, like I ever flirt. There's also a used-book store next door that I keep reminding myself to visit, but it never seems to be open when I'm there.

The next block is the block closest to my apartment. It has one of the three sushi restaurants in my area, an Indian restaurant where they know me, a Chinese restaurant where they know me by name and give me free sodas whenever I get take-out from them, three thrift stores where I plan to get some cheap furniture someday, a yoga studio (Sushi's pushing me to take up yoga, which I'm very much not going to do), one of about six Thai restaurants in my neighborhood, two upscale American-international restaurants, the local post office, a great coffee house that's part of a local chain, a store specializing in clothes for strippers (really), and the only hetero bar in the neighborhood. It opens at 8 a.m., and yes, they get customers at that time.

Also on the block is a body-piercing shop. Every time I go by there, I have this conversation in my head:

Okay, the next block contains a liquor store that has the coldest bottled drinks I've ever encountered, a Blockbuster Video store which, knowing its clientele, has got all the gay film releases, a frozen yogurt place where I occasionally get smoothies, a Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop that lives to torment me with its frosty goodness, another sushi place, the crappy chain styling place where I actually do get my hair cut, a place that sells vinyl dance albums for DJs, a plant store, a Starbucks, several restaurants (Thai, Italian, pizza), and a Mexican food stand that's open 24 hours a day. That would be cool, except that I don't like Mexican food.

The next block is the big "gay" block. On one side, it has two gay bars, a gay bookstore, a gay hardware store (no really), and a couple of restaurants with probably a 90 percent gay customer base. On the other side is a shopping center with two grocery stores (a normal one and a healthy, organic one), a pet shop, floral shop, chain music store, and a number of different restaurants. I keep telling myself that I'm going to start shopping at the healthy grocery store, but I never do. The other grocery store is very nice, though. I'm not sure if all Ralph's stores are like this, but it has a very upscale deli with very nice dishes. I want to say they know their neighborhood as well, but I've never been to any of their others. They might all have mushroom and tomato marinated salads with big slices of mozzarella cheese in them. There are other weird little shops in this area, including a place that sells just water and ice and a bakery for pets. Really.

There are a few more blocks beyond that, which include my bank (full of gay guys, just like on Queer as Folk), a Kinko's shop where I spent several hours once when a computer crisis prevented me from doing my actual work, a ton more restaurants, a 24-hour gym that I'll probably never ever join, a few more upscale clothing stores and a movie theater specializing in foreign and indie films. There's even a gay burger joint connected to a gay bar.

So it's not uncommon for me to head out and walk across to Blockbuster to return a video, saunter over to the frozen yogurt place for a raspberry smoothie, and then walk a few blocks to the movie theater to catch an artsy flick. Life is good.