Castro street, a street that is located in the heart of San Francisco City and starts from Waller and Divisadero streets on the north, running down southwards through Noe Valley and the 24th Street up to its intersection with the Glen Park to the farthest end, is a domiciliary name not only in expansive city of San Francisco but virtually in all parts of the world. The young, old, rich and poor all talk about the San Francisco’s street and its sprawling gay communities within the business district for one reason or the other despite it having the same fundamentals as any other street. However, its history affects its unique appearance and its connection to the gay community. It is this popularity that the street enjoys, of being noticed across the world, that has always inspired me to take a tour of it in the event that I am privileged to visit San Francisco.
Last spring break, I luckily had the opportunity to visit my cousin who lives in San Francisco. I took the chance to visit the areas that comprise the largest gay neighborhood in the United States of America, the Castro Street and the adjacent Eureka Valley. My visit was an eye-opener as I found that the Street has the same fundamentals as any other street in the United States of America: the nightlife, the number of tourists, and the amenities. It had the same nightlife as Hollywood in Los Angeles that starts when people go to the bars and the nightclubs in order to drink alcohol, dance, and meet new people and just like the Times Square in New York, the street is always crowded with people, with a big number of tourists coming to visit from all over the world.
The history of Castro Street explicates why the street’s popularity is not only in San Francisco but also to other...
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...ure. It gave me an insight into the cultures and lifestyle of the local residents of San Francisco City. Castro Street is the only place I know of where gays freely express themselves and carry out their practices in the open. Despite the litter, foul smell and the uncomfortable gay culture, it is an amazing place to visit (Shilts 35). I would recommend my classmates to visit the street because it is very historical, beautiful and has no elements of discrimination at all. I am sure they will enjoy the place.
Works Cited
Bing, Alison. Lonely Planet San Francisco. New York; Lonely Planet,2012.
Forrest, Katherine & Buskirk, J.V. Love, Castro Street; reflections of San Franscisco.
New York: Alyson Books, 2007.
Forrest, Kathrine. Love, Castro Street. Chicago; Alyson Publications, 2007.
Shilts,Randy. The Mayor of Castro Street. San Fransisco; Penguin Publishers, 2008.
“A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem” by Eric Garber discusses how the Great Migration to Harlem was not only significant for blacks but for gays and lesbians as well. Garber argues that Harlem’s gay subculture was at its peak in the 1920’s and declined to shell of its previous self after the Stock Market crash in 1929. He goes on to discuss how in black communities, specifically Harlem, there were troubles of segregation, racism, and economic despair, but that being gay in Harlem added new troubles.
Chavez Ravine was a self-sufficient and tight-knit community, a rare example of small town life within a large urban metropolis, but no matter how much the inhabitants loved thei...
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The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
The purpose of the “Sidewalk” study is to take people into the socio-culture environment who are often seen as threats in society and work daily in the diverse neighborhood of New York City. Sidewalk also gives a portrait of several poverty-stricken black men who attempt to make their livelihoods on the sidewalks of Eighth Street, Greenwich Village, and Sixth Avenue by selling books, magazines, secondhand goods, and other merchandise. Duneier who is a sociologist who has taught at the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, recounts their failures along with
Many may argue that the gay lifestyle was hidden from society until recent years, however, many books argue otherwise. It is surprising to know just how massive and significant gay society was in the beginning of the twentieth century. It is also important to understand how society’s acceptance of the gay lifestyle has changed over time. All four books I reviewed speak on gay society and how it flourished on its own, separate from “regular” society despite existing within it. Much of the content in all books is presented with an oral history methodology. Accounts of interactions between gay individuals are presented and described to validate points made by the authors. Overall, the books help modern readers understand the history of gay society
Little Tokyo, which consists of approximately four acres and five large city blocks in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, is one of the most culturally rich and diverse historic districts in Los Angeles in addition to being one of three remaining Japantowns in the United States. Established in the late 19th century, Little Tokyo was once home to tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants as well as one of the largest Japanese American populations in the United States. Over the years, Little Tokyo has been faced with stratification and contradictions in the form of overt discrimination and the internment of Japanese people during WWII. These contradictions have resulted in the transformation/reinvention of Little Tokyo from a thriving Japanese immigrant community, to “Bronzeville” following the outbreak of WWII, to the important historic, cultural, and civic center that is today. Although the Japanese American Population is not as large as it once was, Little Tokyo is still the cultural heart of Los Angeles’s Japanese American population. However, due in part to the recent boom in downtown residential construction, little Tokyo is on the cusp on another transformation. Although Little Tokyo is portrayed as a cultural space for Japanese Americans in Southern California, it is developing into a leisure space . This process is being sped up by the addition of the Metro Little Tokyo/Arts District Gold Line station and by plans to add a Blue Line Station. Nevertheless, the Little Tokyo Community Council (LTCC) and the Little Tokyo Business Association (LTBA) are working to develop a vision for neighborhood sustainability that “respects and enhances the neighbo...
Times Square finds itself in a city whose complexity in culture and spontaneity in character, often leaving its visitors as mere spectators, contrasts sharply with the perspective of an organized tourist industry. However, the creation of some destinations from scratch, completely repurposed districts, and the organization of the chaotic life in New York into something safe and consumable have no doubt made Times Square a place to visit as well as ridding it of many neg...
Many young, radical gays and lesbians in the late 60’s joined SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) or a Black liberation organization, rather than NACHO (North American Conference of Homophile Organizations) which “struck them as hopelessly bourgeois.” Others may have steered clear of NACHO because of NACHO’s radical (for that time) stance that homosexuality was neither abnormal nor unnatural. Duberman points out the irony of the centrist organization, NACHO, being willing to take a more radical stance on gay liberation than the gay and lesbian activists themselves (Duberman, 1994).
Warner, Michael. The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. New York: Free Press, 1999. Print.
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This paper will discuss the many unique aspects of Oakland, California. Divided into five major parts, Oakland is a very diverse city. The five major parts include: Downtown Oakland which is located in the heart of the city, East Oakland which consists of the majority of the city, West Oakland, North Oakland, and the Oakland hills where the terrain is quite different from other parts of the city. While many may perceive the population to mainly consist of African Americans and Whites, there is a significant growing population of Latinos, and Asians. The topics covered in this paper will shed light on the city of Oakland itself, and discuss the unique city that it is. I will also give my personal experience and perception on the city, after living there for 16 years of my life.
The book asks two questions; first, why the changes that have taken place on the sidewalk over the past 40 years have occurred? Focusing on the concentration of poverty in some areas, people movement from one place to the other and how the people working/or living on Sixth Avenue come from such neighborhoods. Second, How the sidewalk life works today? By looking at the mainly poor black men, who work as book and magazine vendors, and/or live on the sidewalk of an upper-middle-class neighborhood. The book follows the lives of several men who work as book and magazine vendors in Greenwich Village during the 1990s, where mos...
When you associate anything with New York City it is usually the extraordinary buildings that pierce the sky or the congested sidewalks with people desperate to shop in the famous stores in which celebrities dwell. Even with my short visit there I found myself lost within the Big Apple. The voices of the never-ending attractions call out and envelop you in their awe. The streets are filled with an atmosphere that is like a young child on a shopping spree in a candy store. Although your feet swelter from the continuous walking, you find yourself pressing on with the yearning to discover the 'New York Experience'.
“Our cultural diversity has most certainly shaped our national character,” affirmed Julie Bishop. From my perception, New York City is one of the most densely inhabited metropolitan collection of cultural diversity in the world in which structures our temperament. New York City applies an imperative influence upon trade, economics, mass communication, skill, style, and education. Frequently it is known that New York City is a crucial core for global politics and has been depicted as the ethnic headquarters of the globe. New York City has been known as a melting pot of culture and as this prolong throughout towards the current day, the city has become ornate with distinct cultures. Just walking around the streets of the city can be like walking around the halls of a cultural museum. From borough to borough, you can straightforwardly experience several features of different cultures by going to the different ethnic neighborhoods that exist throughout the city. For instance, if you wanted to take a trip to China that you've always dreamed of but couldn’t afford it, when living in New York City you can hop on a subway to Canal Street and be in Chinatown for just a few dollars. Certainly, it's not the same as literally being in China, however, you can experience a quantity of the culture and perchance grab some bona fide Chinese food for dinner. Several places holds their culture to denote each individual in New York City, to make an abundant of people to visit and feel each culture one setting at a time.