Although LGBT community members live in all corners of the city, a growing number of LGBT residents and business owners are continuing to head to the East Passyunk section of South Philly. But while it’s dubbed by some as the Gayborhood South, the area offers a distinctively different flavor from the traditional Center City LGBT haven.
In the past few years, East Passyunk has seen a boom in LGBT-owned businesses, as merchants have been seeking out locations costing less than those in the Gayborhood, but still situated in an LGBT-accepting environment.
Mark Mainville, co-owner of floral and home-décor shop Chartreuse, said both the price and atmosphere of East Passyunk prompted him to move his business, which had been at 12th and Spruce streets for 10 years.
“With the economy the way it was, the rent was high and we were ready for a change. We came down here and really liked what we saw, and we had a lot of friends who’d moved to the area, so we thought this would be a great spot,” he said.
Mainville moved the business to 1616 E. Passyunk Ave., a space he said was three times the size but a third of the rent of the former location. And business has flourished in the new spot, Mainville said, as Chartreuse’s product line meshes well with the population in the area.
“Frankly we weren’t really being supported by the gay community very much [at the Spruce Street location] but, down here, the gay demographic is much different,” he said. “We’re finding that the gays and lesbians who live down here typically own their own homes, rather than a lot of people who rented properties [in the Gayborhood]. So people are more into their homes and into decorating their properties, so it’s just the kind of audience that we need.”
While the residential nature of the neighborhood fit well with Chartreuse, which opened its doors in May, it wasn’t ideal for gay-owned art shop Absolute Abstract, which previously occupied the space where Chartreuse is now located.
Absolute Abstract, which has had a location at 141 S. 13th St. for about five years, launched its East Passyunk venue early last year but closed at the end of the year for a number of reasons, said co-owner David White.
“The most interesting thing we found was that even clients who lived in South Philly were still shopping at 13th Street, so we were fishing from the same pond,” he said. “And then there was the foot traffic. Businesses rely on foot traffic and here [in the Gayborhood] there’s so many office buildings and tourists, up from the Convention Center and this whole area, so there are lots of new people walking around every day. The restaurants down in Passyunk do well because they have that built-in clientele with people living there, but with the shopping, we couldn’t really find our audience there because it’s the same audience we have here.”
Despite the location’s closing, however, White said the LGBT community in the area continued to flourish during his time there.
“We hosted one of the monthly QOTA [Queers on the Avenue] events at our place and we were packed,” he said. “It was hugely successful. And we continued to just see more and more gay and lesbian people in that area.”
Mainville said the flourishing LGBT community has assimilated well with the other populations who live and work in East Passyunk.
“You have a mix of young people with children, gay couples, older Italian people who’ve been here for years and years, but what I’m finding from the gay and lesbian people here is that they’re very comfortable. They can go out as a gay couple or a group of gay people to any restaurant or bar, and whether they’re two people or eight people, they feel comfortable. They don’t have to go into town and go to a so-called gay bar because they can go out right here and everybody’s cool with it. I think that’s pretty unique.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].
