New Gayborhood or city. What would you include?

[Deadlift1]

Reading the Retirement thread gave me the idea of posting this one. If you were given a blank canvas to design a gayborhood from the ground up, what would you include? What type of homes and architecture? Lets keep it simple and locate it somewhere in the NE on the water.

[Walker1]

Throngs of hot young men who find you desirable and will massage and have sex orgies for free?

[N13]

A ghetto is a ghetto. No thanks.

[+ José Soplanucas]

A very expensive college nearby, full of students in need of support to pay for tuition.

A porn industry complex tax free.

A public dungeon.

[jjkrkwood]

A HEALTH center....

[+ Charlie]

A large park with lots of bushes. A nude beach. A 24/7 STD clinic. A mix of large Victorian and Mid-century Modern houses, with lots of antique stores and an Ikea. A large variety of restaurants, including some with outdoor dining areas. A dog park, a good veterinary hospital, and pet-sitting services. A good hairstyling salon.

[OneFinger]

I'm currently living in the gayborhood of Hillcrest in San Diego. Things that I really like and would include in my a new gayborhood are:

 

• Walkability: In Hillcrest I can walk to numerous gay waterholes, the grocery store, pharmacy, my doctors / hospital and a gay-friendly Ace Hardware store.
  
• Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Parking and driving in San Diego is horrendous. That why I love being able to take the bus downtown for events rather than driving. But, I would really like to see a TOD like the Pearl District in my other home in Portland. Lots of buildings with businesses on the street level and housing on upper floors with easy access to bus, streetcar, or light rail.
  
• Mixed Housing: I would love to see a variety of housing such as condos, apartments, and homes. I totally agree with Charlie that it should include a mix of Victorian and mid-century modern homes.
   
  
• Inclusivity: While Hillcrest is VERY gay-friendly, it is also an inclusive neighborhood with ethnic diversity and a great mix of gay AND straight couples. I really like the mix of gay and gay-accepting people of various nationalities.
  
• Affordability: I'm still in shock at the cost of housing in San Diego. If I were to transport my 3-bedroom condo from Portland to San Diego it would be valued at over $1M. The current value in Portland is $250K. My 5-bedroom home in Utah is worth about $200K and would cost about $2.5M in San Diego. In my new gayborhood, housing would have to be affordable.
  
• Weather: I hate the winter / snow at my Utah home. I tolerate the rain in my Portland home. But I love the climate in San Diego and would like my gayborhood to have temperatures in the 60's to 70's all year.
  

[+ oldNbusted]

[Deadlift1]

I think a mix of product is important so one can age in place. Start with a single family home, TH, Condo, to studio above retail.

[Rudynate]

I'm currently living in the gayborhood of Hillcrest in San Diego. Things that I really like and would include in my a new gayborhood are:

 

• Walkability: In Hillcrest I can walk to numerous gay waterholes, the grocery store, pharmacy, my doctors / hospital and a gay-friendly Ace Hardware store.
  
• Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Parking and driving in San Diego is horrendous. That why I love being able to take the bus downtown for events rather than driving. But, I would really like to see a TOD like the Pearl District in my other home in Portland. Lots of buildings with businesses on the street level and housing on upper floors with easy access to bus, streetcar, or light rail.
  
• Mixed Housing: I would love to see a variety of housing such as condos, apartments, and homes. I totally agree with Charlie that it should include a mix of Victorian and mid-century modern homes.
   
  
• Inclusivity: While Hillcrest is VERY gay-friendly, it is also an inclusive neighborhood with ethnic diversity and a great mix of gay AND straight couples. I really like the mix of gay and gay-accepting people of various nationalities.
  
• Affordability: I'm still in shock at the cost of housing in San Diego. If I were to transport my 3-bedroom condo from Portland to San Diego it would be valued at over $1M. The current value in Portland is $250K. My 5-bedroom home in Utah is worth about $200K and would cost about $2.5M in San Diego. In my new gayborhood, housing would have to be affordable.
  
• Weather: I hate the winter / snow at my Utah home. I tolerate the rain in my Portland home. But I love the climate in San Diego and would like my gayborhood to have temperatures in the 60's to 70's all year.
  

 

I really enjoy Hillcrest.

[ericwinters]

so much for the northeast... Hillcrest. LOL

[Rudynate]

I havent been to SD in a long time. It used to make me think of Denver with palm trees and an ocean.

[+ José Soplanucas]

Local law enforcement

Local Merry Christmas

Local self defense

Physical punishment reinstated

http://d2jv9003bew7ag.cloudfront.net/uploads/Left-Tom-of-Finland-Untitled-4-Motorcycle-Series-1959-Right-Tom-of-Finland-Untitled-5-Motorcycle-Series-1959.jpg

City Council meeting

http://www.dmovies.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/TomOfFinland3-800450.jpg

[rvwnsd]

I'm currently living in the gayborhood of Hillcrest in San Diego. Things that I really like and would include in my a new gayborhood are:

 

• Walkability: In Hillcrest I can walk to numerous gay waterholes, the grocery store, pharmacy, my doctors / hospital and a gay-friendly Ace Hardware store.
  
• Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Parking and driving in San Diego is horrendous. That why I love being able to take the bus downtown for events rather than driving. But, I would really like to see a TOD like the Pearl District in my other home in Portland. Lots of buildings with businesses on the street level and housing on upper floors with easy access to bus, streetcar, or light rail.
  
• Mixed Housing: I would love to see a variety of housing such as condos, apartments, and homes. I totally agree with Charlie that it should include a mix of Victorian and mid-century modern homes.
   
  
• Inclusivity: While Hillcrest is VERY gay-friendly, it is also an inclusive neighborhood with ethnic diversity and a great mix of gay AND straight couples. I really like the mix of gay and gay-accepting people of various nationalities.
  
• Affordability: I'm still in shock at the cost of housing in San Diego. If I were to transport my 3-bedroom condo from Portland to San Diego it would be valued at over $1M. The current value in Portland is $250K. My 5-bedroom home in Utah is worth about $200K and would cost about $2.5M in San Diego. In my new gayborhood, housing would have to be affordable.
  
• Weather: I hate the winter / snow at my Utah home. I tolerate the rain in my Portland home. But I love the climate in San Diego and would like my gayborhood to have temperatures in the 60's to 70's all year.
  

I agree with you on ALL of your points. When I moved to San Diego from Chicago I was bracing myself for a conservative city that was not known for supporting the LGBT community and expected the LGBT community to reflect that. I was very pleasantly surprised at the vibrancy of the Hillcrest gayborhood. Despite being the gayborhood, it is welcoming to people of all orientations and genders.

 

This will shock some, but I think it is more vibrant than The Castro or Lakeview. Why? Because it is not only a center of gayness, but it is a center of shopping, entertainment, culture, and healthcare (Mercy Hospital, UCSD Hospital. and all the allied medical clinics and services) for all of San Diego. The Center (The San Diego LGBT Center) is chock full of programs for community members of all ages, genders, and orientations (even straight people). In many respects it is the true central business district. This coupled with the aforementioned welcoming of everyone has pivoted the city to become a very accepting, supportive, gay-friendly place.

 

So - in addition to the things Hillcrest has, my gayborhood would have affordable housing, as @OneFinger said. It would also have light rail or a subway to make travel to other places easy and car-free. It would have restaurants at all price points, dog parks, excellent veterinary services (including a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital), plenty of green space, a public performance venue, art galleries, a 24-hour grocery store that has a 24-hour pharmacy, a Target, and plenty of coffee shops and bistros.

[N13]

What bothers me about this is that being gay is a part of who I am. It is also only one of the defining attributes - not the 'raison d'être' - of who I am. For the past 60 years I have lived a life where my friends are gay, straight and everything in-between. I have never had to sequester myself in a self-imposed ghetto to live a full and interesting life. I have not hidden my sexuality or pushed it into people's faces. I am proud that I have lived a life that I not ashamed of. But I am no more proud to be gay than I am to have brown hair or brown eyes. These are things that I had no control over - so why proud? Why would I want to create and live in an environment that is limiting? I will say that living in Manhattan does make it easier to just live my life.

[Rudynate]

I lived in the Castro district for about a year after moving to San Francisco - thoroughly enjoyed it. I would live there again. But, otherwise, living in a gay neighborhood has never been a priority and, other than that year in the Castro, I never have. I always enjoy visiting the local gayborhood whenever I visit a new city.

[+ Just Sayin]

funny thing...I have been thinking about spending a long weekend in San Diego, and earlier this year Sommerset Suites located in Hillcrest on Washington Avenue and Fifth St was sold to new owners who will be converting it to luxury apartments; to add to the list of amenities a gayborhood should have is reasonably priced hotel accommodations; Sommerset Suites was located within easy walking distance of shops, restaurants, bars, Whole Foods and Balboa Park, accessible to the rest of San Diego and was dog-friendly to boot! I really miss not having it available and am not finding anything comparable

[rvwnsd]

I've never lived in a gayborhood, but I think it is good for a city to have one so that folks who are working on being "out" in the world at large have a place to practice.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Must include vibrant performing arts.

[Bearofdistinction]

A Good 24 hour Diner, with a great selection of toast, syrups and great Thanksgiving Roast Turkey Dinner platter!. None of the Gastro-pub-café-bwaats crap with their micro-greens

 

A Glory Hole Maze would be nice - with padded kneelers and a fleet of Solar-Powered Golf Cart

taxis

[bigvalboy]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/future-retirement-margaritaville-090014767.html

 

 

"Latitude Margaritaville" Daytona Beach, Florida

The Future of Retirement Is Margaritaville

In February, the company said it was partnering with a Canadian homebuilder called Minto Communites to build 7,000 homes in Daytona Beach, Florida, in an age-restricted development called Latitude Margaritaville.

 

 

Joe Lombardi strolled through the packed Field 5 parking lot outside the Jones Beach amphitheater on Long Island—past the men dressed as pirates, the boat parked atop a party bus, the cornhole players and the silver-haired tailgaters pedaling tandem bikes. The diehards had arrived at dawn, and by mid-afternoon, some had crashed out in the shade of inflatable palm trees, napping away the hours before Jimmy Buffett would take the stage." data-reactid="15">Joe Lombardi strolled through the packed Field 5 parking lot outside the Jones Beach amphitheater on Long Island—past the men dressed as pirates, the boat parked atop a party bus, the cornhole players and the silver-haired tailgaters pedaling tandem bikes. The diehards had arrived at dawn, and by mid-afternoon, some had crashed out in the shade of inflatable palm trees, napping away the hours before Jimmy Buffett would take the stage.

 

“A certain segment of his fans would like to live in Margaritaville,” said Lombardi, who serves as president the local chapter of the Parrot Heads in Paradise, a Buffett fan club with 25,000 members around the world. " data-reactid="16">“A certain segment of his fans would like to live in Margaritaville,” said Lombardi, who serves as president the local chapter of the Parrot Heads in Paradise, a Buffett fan club with 25,000 members around the world.

 

It wasn’t an idle observation. Over the last two decades, Buffett has built a licensing and hospitality empire on the back of his most ubiquitous hit, selling everything from hotel rooms to deck chairs and frozen shrimp through his company, Margaritaville Holdings. " data-reactid="18">It wasn’t an idle observation. Over the last two decades, Buffett has built a licensing and hospitality empire on the back of his most ubiquitous hit, selling everything from hotel rooms to deck chairs and frozen shrimp through his company, Margaritaville Holdings.

 

Now he’s slapping his brand on 55-and-older communities in a novel bid sell homes to boomers who are ready to kick back—just not in the same way their parents did. In February, the company said it was partnering with a Canadian homebuilder called Minto Communites to build 7,000 homes in Daytona Beach, Florida, in an age-restricted development called Latitude Margaritaville. " data-reactid="19">Now he’s slapping his brand on 55-and-older communities in a novel bid sell homes to boomers who are ready to kick back—just not in the same way their parents did. In February, the company said it was partnering with a Canadian homebuilder called Minto Communites to build 7,000 homes in Daytona Beach, Florida, in an age-restricted development called Latitude Margaritaville.

 

“The last thing anyone wants is to go someplace where people are living out their last years.”

 

Buffett has a loyal fan and consumer base, but aging home buyers may prove a tricky market. Boomers are working longer and moving less than their parents, preferring to renovate their homes so they can age in place. For some, the snowbird lifestyle their parents’ generation invented might look like one last tradition against which to rebel. Others might just not want to admit they’re getting old.' data-reactid="22">Buffett has a loyal fan and consumer base, but aging home buyers may prove a tricky market. Boomers are working longer and moving less than their parents, preferring to renovate their homes so they can age in place. For some, the snowbird lifestyle their parents’ generation invented might look like one last tradition against which to rebel. Others might just not want to admit they’re getting old.

 

“We have people who are really into the lifestyle. They can’t wait,” said Lombardi. Other fans worry the communities could resemble theme parks, or worse: “The last thing anyone wants is to go someplace where people are living out their last years.”" data-reactid="23">“We have people who are really into the lifestyle. They can’t wait,” said Lombardi. Other fans worry the communities could resemble theme parks, or worse: “The last thing anyone wants is to go someplace where people are living out their last years.

 

Forty years ago, long before it became a microwave 

dinner or real-estate development, “Margaritaville” was a 1977 hit that saw Buffett playing his trademark role of everyman in paradise, bemused at his circumstances but determined to live in the present, cocktail in hand, not dwell on the half-remembered past. 

' data-reactid="26">Forty years ago, long before it became a microwave

dinner or real-estate development, “Margaritaville” was a 1977 hit that saw Buffett playing his trademark role of everyman in paradise, bemused at his circumstances but determined to live in the present, cocktail in hand, not dwell on the half-remembered past.

 

Buffett turned Margaritaville into an actual place with the opening of his first restaurant in Key West in 1987, but it wasn’t until the late-’90s that he kicked his branding operation into gear. Today, the singer’s website offers an astounding array of branded consumer goods, including LandShark Lager, rum and tequila, chips and salsa, pool floats, beachwear, and a selection of souped-up blenders sold under the heading of party machines.

 

Margaritaville’s hospitality business has become an even bigger draw, with 70 restaurants and a string of hotels in resort towns dotting the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. In all, its sales topped $1.5 billion in revenue in 2015, and more than 20 million guests walked into a Margaritaville establishment last year, according to John Cohlan, the company’s CEO.

 

Even so, the brand’s expansion into real estate shouldn’t have been a surprise. “Twenty years ago, if you had asked me what’s the logical, highest, and best use of the IP, I wouldn’t have said restaurants,” said Cohlan. “I would have said a place to live.”

 

." data-reactid="30">For Cohlan, that can mean a hotel room to stay in a few nights or a cottage to visit a few times a year. Yet Latitude Margaritaville may be the brand’s true apotheosis.

 

“We joke about how soon he’ll be selling us Margaritaville Depends or LandShark Ensure.”

 

Buffett’s songs, from “A Pirate Looks at Forty” (1974) to “Oldest Surfer On the Beach” (2013), have long concerned themselves with aging gracefully. Buffett himself is 70. His fan base is getting up there, too. Little wonder that the largest chapter of the Parrot Heads in Paradise, with more than 1,000 members, is in The Villages, a sprawling 55-and-older (“55-and-better,” in industry parlance) community in central Florida.

[bigvalboy]

Good Morning America, Michael Strahan wondered if he were old enough to move in." data-reactid="37">That tantalizing alignment of brand and product helps explain why news of the first Latitude Margaritaville generated a lot more interest than the typical retirement community. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel picked up on the announcement; on Good Morning America, Michael Strahan wondered if he were old enough to move in.

 

More than 100,000 people signed up for updates on the project, according to Mike Belmont, president of Minto Communities USA. (That prompted the developer to move forward with a second Latitude Margaritaville, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and a marina condo project—named for the 1983 Buffett tune “One Particular Harbour”—near Sarasota, Florida.) While the first homes won’t be ready until next year, in October, prospective buyers can visit a sales center in Daytona Beach to see what’s in store.  " data-reactid="38">More than 100,000 people signed up for updates on the project, according to Mike Belmont, president of Minto Communities USA. (That prompted the developer to move forward with a second Latitude Margaritaville, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and a marina condo project—named for the 1983 Buffett tune “One Particular Harbour”—near Sarasota, Florida.) While the first homes won’t be ready until next year, in October, prospective buyers can visit a sales center in Daytona Beach to see what’s in store.

 

 

 

“What we try to do is create emotional triggers that transport you to Margaritaville,” said Pat McBride, whose firm has been designing Buffett’s restaurants and resorts for nearly 20 years. Taking his cue from Buffett’s 1979 song “Volcano,” he installed tequila-and-sour-mix-spewing mountains in some early restaurants. A 14-foot-tall blue flip-flop and a chandelier made of margarita glasses remind guests at the Hollywood, Fla., resort why they’re there.' data-reactid="40">“What we try to do is create emotional triggers that transport you to Margaritaville,” said Pat McBride, whose firm has been designing Buffett’s restaurants and resorts for nearly 20 years. Taking his cue from Buffett’s 1979 song “Volcano,” he installed tequila-and-sour-mix-spewing mountains in some early restaurants. A 14-foot-tall blue flip-flop and a chandelier made of margarita glasses remind guests at the Hollywood, Fla., resort why they’re there.

 

“We like to talk about it as going back to summer camp at 55.”

 

Diners linger just a few hours, hotel guests a few days; a place where people live full-time calls for a lighter touch. In Daytona Beach, a faux lifeguard station will stand sentry at the entrance; the place will be planted with dense, tropical vegetation. The plans also call for a town center built around a series of connected swimming pools, pickle-ball courts, and a bandshell, plus a doggie spa called Barkaritaville and a mechanic shop that will specialize in customizing tricked-out golf carts.

 

The Margaritaville team is also creating programming inspired by Buffett’s interests—things like fly-fishing classes, cooking lessons, and live music. The idea, said McBride, is to give boomers a chance to pick up the pursuits they’d put on hold decades earlier in order to grow up and get jobs. Or as Cohlan puts it: “We like to talk about it as going back to summer camp at 55.”

 

It’s a sensible approach. For decades, developers sold retirement homes on golf courses and sunny climes. As boomers age, however, the market is diversifying, and builders are ditching one-size-fits-all designs to target narrower groups.

 

That means projects centered on activities like community service, agriculture, and wellness, said Margaret Wylde, chief executive of ProMatura Group, a research and advisory firm focused on older consumers.

 

But selling homes by signaling to a niche group cuts two ways, attracting some while warning others to stay away. You don’t retire to a dude ranch if you don’t like the smell of manure. You probably don’t buy a home in Latitude Margaritaville if you don’t think you’ll fit in with Buffett fans.

 

“Don’t get me wrong, I love to party,” Wylde said. “The crowd I imagine being attracted is not my crowd. It would not be something that would attract me.”

 

 

 

Joe Lombardi didn’t really consider himself a fan when he went to his first Jimmy Buffett concert in 1986, at the Jones Beach stop on his Floridays tour—but then Buffett started singing, and so, it seemed, did everyone in the stands. In the years since, Lombardi has seen Buffett more than 70 times, and spent countless hours doling out concert tickets and organizing his club’s charity events.  " data-reactid="49">Joe Lombardi didn’t really consider himself a fan when he went to his first Jimmy Buffett concert in 1986, at the Jones Beach stop on his Floridays tour—but then Buffett started singing, and so, it seemed, did everyone in the stands. In the years since, Lombardi has seen Buffett more than 70 times, and spent countless hours doling out concert tickets and organizing his club’s charity events.

 

Maybe it’s that sense of belonging that’s helped Buffett’s fans wryly stomach the recognition that their idol is always selling them something. They don’t mind being suckers for the brand, because they’re having fun.

 

“We joke about how soon he’ll be selling us Margaritaville Depends or LandShark Ensure,” said Larry DeGennaro, 57, a longtime parrot head who’d made his annual pilgrimage to Buffett’s Jones Beach from his home in Pearl River, N.Y. Sure, it’s silly to buy a house, or even a deck chair, because a singer’s name is on it, but Buffett fans tend to give in to the pull. “We all want to live vicariously through him.”

 

“My kids were like, ‘Mom, go there.’”

 

DeGennaro and his wife Denise own a townhouse in Hilton Head, and in the weeks before the Jones Beach show they’d driven around the site of the future Latitude Margaritaville. Denise, 57, was showing off photos of the development site to a friend, Michelle Moffitt, when a group of younger women interrupted, looking for “the guy with the shot stick.”

 

You mean the “shot ski,” the parrot heads corrected, describing a tailgating innovation consisting of four shot glasses affixed to a ski, allowing a group of friends to throw back shots at once. (The guy with it wasn’t around; the women moved on.)

 

Moffitt, 60, usually catches Buffett at least once when he passes through the Northeast each summer. She’d come to Jones Beach this time from Saratoga Springs, a good three hours north, but she too was thinking about a Margaritaville home where she’d relax by a pool to the soothing sounds of tropical rock and roll. “My kids were like, ‘Mom, go there.’”

[Deadlift1]

Wow. Pretty interesting concept. Thanks for the input.