OAKLAND / Gays in the mainstream / East Bay city ranks third in nation for gay and lesbian households

Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, June 25, 2004

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A.J. Alfieri-Crispin and his partner had no idea when they bought their home in the Oakland hills four years ago that three of their immediate neighbors were gay or lesbian couples.
"It was totally random -- a big surprise for us,'' said Alfieri-Crispin, 40, whose block now has five same-sex households. "We moved to Oakland because it's a diverse, interesting city. We had no idea we were moving into this little lavender neighborhood."

Oakland, which is already one of the nation's most integrated cities, has quietly become home to more lesbian couples per capita than any other big city in the nation, and ranks third for gay and lesbian households combined, behind San Francisco and Seattle, according to census data.

"I know there are a lot of us here, but I had no idea we were No. 1," said Annie Dorn, who moved to Oakland's Temescal district in the early 1970s. "There's a huge network here. We're open, but we're low-key."

Oakland is also the largest major American city without a pink ghetto -- no Castro Street or Greenwich Village -- even as it was second behind San Francisco as the hometown for same-sex couples married there this year.

But as many East Bay gays and lesbians plan to attend the annual pride parade Sunday in San Francisco, an Oakland City councilman is pushing to create a new gay and lesbian business district southeast of Lake Merritt, near a heavily gay swath of the city from Rockridge to Mills College including a large part of the Oakland hills.
The proposal by gay Councilman Danny Wan has been greeted by a mix of excitement, curiosity and skepticism.

Wan said he hopes that creating a gay district for Oakland will have economic benefits for a once-rundown area and enhance community pride by having a cultural center. He would like to see the area evolve into a gay district that encourages social interaction with cafes, bars, bookstores and restaurants.

"A city of our size usually has some kind of district, a place where you can go and find these types of businesses" catering to gays and lesbians, said Wan, who represents the area. "People always ask me why there isn't more to do here. Oakland needs something like this."

The area already boasts the Parkway Theater, a popular and quirky movie house on Park Boulevard near East 18th Street that sells beer and pizza. But beyond a bakery and a grocery store that is being remodeled, there are few retail shops.

Many people question whether Oakland can successfully form a gay district. In most cities, gay neighborhoods developed over time, often becoming home for same-sex couples who were unwelcome in other parts of town or surrounding cities.

"I'm not sure if Oakland can just do this from the top down,'' said Gary Gates, a demographer with the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., which analyzed census data for same-sex couples in Oakland and other U.S. cities. "There are some organic processes that go into how neighborhoods become the way they do."

West Hollywood, Palm Springs and tiny Wilton Manors, Fla., for example, have successfully marketed themselves as gay-friendly communities -- but only after a small neighborhood was there to build upon.

Wan said he hopes the Lake Merritt-area district will take off on its own after a jump-start by the city, although it is not in a part of Oakland with the highest percentages of same-sex couples.
"It would be nice to have this gay area here by the lake, but I don't want to be limited to it,'' said Peggy Moore, who lives with her partner near 18th and Park and organizes the Oakland Dyke March, a walk around Lake Merritt in the fall each year.

"I embrace all of Oakland," Moore added. "Oakland is the perfect place for me. I have overlapping identities. I'm a black woman, a lesbian and a Raiders fan."

Although Oakland and Berkeley have hosted gay and lesbian activism since the 1960s, the inner East Bay has not developed traditions and festivals of its own. Oakland, where 1.8 percent of households are headed by same-sex couples, had a pride celebration for a few years in September but canceled it this year because of financial problems.

"One of the reasons I think Oakland does not have a gay neighborhood is what we call the Castro effect," said Gates, co-author of the Gay and Lesbian Atlas, based on the Urban Institute's findings. "People are not far from the Castro district in San Francisco, and all over the Bay Area there is already a broad level of acceptance."

Many Oakland folks who will appear in Sunday's parade in San Francisco will be marching as members of groups in San Francisco where they volunteer or socialize.

But Merle Yost, publisher of East Bay Voice, a news and information Web site catering to gays and lesbians, said there is a successful gay business presence in Oakland. "We're already all over this city,'' he said.

Standing on the corner of Park Boulevard and Glenfield Avenue in the Glenview district of the city's foothills, Yost pointed out four gay-owned businesses and two others managed by gays or lesbians. But all the companies thrive because they serve everyone in the community, regardless of sexual orientation.

"There's nothing particularly queer about being a locksmith, but it so happens that the locksmith in this neighborhood is run by a very nice lesbian, '' Yost said. "We're part of the fabric of many neighborhoods. We're not any one place."

Alfieri-Crispin supports Wan's idea but wonders whether it is the best approach.

"Do we need more restaurants and clubs in Oakland? Yes, of course,'' said Alfieri-Crispin, who lived in downtown San Jose when it was transformed in the 1990s. "But that's not a queer question. That's an issue for everyone in Oakland. Everyone needs more things to do here. The whole city would benefit."

North Oakland's Temescal district has been popular among lesbians since the early 1970s, but there hasn't been a lesbian bar there since Ollie's closed in the 1980s and two bookstores for women -- A Woman's Place and Mama Bears -- failed.

The closest thing to a lesbian hangout is the Temescal Cafe, which also caters to straight, artsy types who are also moving into North Oakland.

"Temescal has always been an unpretentious place where we felt at home,'' said Dorn, 52, who works at the Temescal Cafe and lives with her partner nearby. "We had Ollie's. We had Mama Bears. We had the Brick Hut just over in Berkeley. It's sad the businesses didn't make it. But this community is thriving. There are new people moving in all the time, coming from all over."
One of them is Rena Fischer, moved to Temescal from "Lesbianville" -- the college town of Northampton, Mass., because she wanted to be around a diverse but tolerant mix of people.
Oakland, Fischer said, is a "real city, and it's a place where anyone can come from and find a comfortable niche. "We don't need a crossroads like Castro and Market."