The article isn't the best ever written on the subject, but it makes clear that anybody interested in seeing any trace of what made Manhattan an infinitely fascinating place to grow up in had better hurry.

http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-soul1005,0,4510283.story

What has been so truly interesting to me is that all my friend that live in the city keep complaining that there is no gay nightlife here at all. I have not tested the theory but it seems that many think the clean up that occurred in Times Square to Disnify the area may have rubbed off all over and is still being spread.

What has been so truly interesting to me is that all my friend that live in the city keep complaining that there is no gay nightlife here at all. I have not tested the theory but it seems that many think the clean up that occurred in Times Square to Disnify the area may have rubbed off all over and is still being spread.[/quote

I first moved to New York in 1990. It was such a fascinating place to me. Then it still seemed to have a soul (that is to say, it was a city full of independence and independents). Then, from 1997 to 1999, I was away, living in another city for my business. When I returned it was such a different place.

I hated the Disnification of Time Square. I wondered at the transformation of Chelsea, previously largely latino, to gay ghetto, then to fab neighborhood all in the course of five years.

Really, the only thing that explains it is.. money. There is so much of it in Manhattan now. Where as the rest of the country yearns for the $100,000 income, one can hardly live like a pauper on that sum in Manhattan now.

As long as folks are willing to pay $2500 a month for a walk up studio in once gritty neighborhoods, there will be no place for the artists and creatives who gave Manhattan its reputation of "making it anywhere".

There is still creativity and independence in New York City. It's just in the outer boroughs where rent can still be reasonable and dreams can still be lived out.