The Streets Where He Lives
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“Boys Town is getting smaller and smaller,” Casner says. “It used to be from Diversey up to Grace, now it’s Belmont to Grace, and it just sort of dies out between Halsted and Clark. There’s a fight for it, and it revolves around the gay bars and businesses in the area. The gays moved in years ago when it wasn’t such a great neighborhood, redeveloped it, as they often do, but didn’t invest in ownership.” As the neighborhood improved, rents went up, driving gays north to Andersonville and Edgewater, while straights came in. Then everything went condo. “Now there’s a huge battle on Halsted, similar to the one going on in the Steppenwolf and Royal George area, about who’s going to control that street. Is it going to be the people who buy condos? Or is it going to be the businesses? I moved here to be near the bars and businesses, and now people are coming in and complaining about them. That’s like moving out to O’Hare and complaining about the noise.”
Bits of the Blackstone
