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The Boys Next Door

We weren’t hitting the scene in the 1960s or 70s (we were busy with coloring books and learning the ABCs), so the glory days of urban gay districts like San Francisco’s Castro can seem as familiar as ancient Greece. But Donald F. Reuter happily plays informal professor in his insightful tome Greetings from the Gayborhood: A Nostalgic Look at Gay Neighborhoods (out in June).

Taking readers through the rise, and in some cases fall, of areas in 12 different cities where gays have lived and thrived, such as Boston’s Beacon Hill and New Orleans’ French Quarter, Reuter packs the pages with fascinating bits of trivia: Who knew Chicago was the first city to open a gay leather bar? (The Gold Coast in 1959.)

The book has a scrapbook feel — Reuter includes maps of cities marking hotspots, photos of parties and parades, and matchbooks and fliers from popular clubs — and a cheeky writing style — he calls sailors in San Diego “seamen” who are constantly “docking in and out of ports.” If our high school history texts had been this entertaining, we would have paid more attention in class!


Greetings from the Gayborhood: A Nostalgic Look at Gay Neighborhoods will be available in June from Abrams Books.