Death of a Gay Ghetto 9

A reader in Vancouver who has been following this series sent us 19 pictures showing the current state of the Gay Ghetto in the West End together with his comments:

So I took these pics today [16 May 2013] of Denman and Davie coming by way of Robson on my way to work.

Denman Street
 
Going down Denman first the two vacant lots have been that way for easily 4-5 years already, there are other shops I tried to take pics of that are vacant next to other ones that are on their way of closing down.

Davie Street


From Denman I went up Davie, I'm totally not a photographer but tried to capture a pic of an old woman giving some street kids cash on the street.  I also took a pic of Hy's Mansion, that former restaurant, it has been vacant for a minimum of 5 years also.
 
At the top of the hill I took more pics along the way, after I took them I thought, this is a total ghetto.  Dollar pizza shops, Dollar shops in general, Denny's.  Pumpjack was empty (but it was a wednesday afternoon), I got a pic of some of the regular homeless sitting on the street, and the building with the blue awning is where Fountainhead Pub is and next to it, what used to be a gas station is now a so-called community garden.   

Across the street from there is yet another cash store, there are two of those within two blocks, there are also two of those weight lifting nutrition type places within two blocks where you often see wannabe gym bunnies leaving carrying a huge protein container with their fake tans, bleached teeth and too many bad tattoos.  If there was ever a ghetto, this is it.
 
Funny enough, a friend of mine sent me a message tonight as he hadn't been on Davie for a while and he couldn't believe how many beggars there were and even saw some woman whip down her pants and take a piss on the street.  He said, "it's not getting better, it's getting worse".

FuelMix says:

They say a picture paints a thousand words and we're grateful for the reader feedback that we're getting on this series.  As we've said before, we're not interested in gratuitously bashing Vancouver.  Yet, for all the hype, the reality appears to be that of a failing urban and social gay ecosystem.

We maintain that Vancouver presents a textbook example of how NOT to run a gay ghetto. We believe we have fairly presented a comprehensive analytical case study and a warning when the gay lifestyle meets drugs, meets sex, meets disease, meets fucked up perception, meets the homeless, meets corruption, meets politics, meets denial, meets Political Correctness.

Well, at least the sidewalks appear to look clean - at least where they haven't been urinated on.