Sacto LGBTs Push Lavender Heights Project

LGBTs in Sacramento are working to establish an official gay district in the city, complete with rainbow crosswalks and a rainbow flag.

The area in the city's Midtown neighborhood is already known by many as Lavender Heights, but efforts are being made to formalize the name so the area can be marketed to gays from outside the city, and to help preserve the district's heritage as a Whole Foods Market and other changes are expected.

One benefit to identifying the neighborhood now, said Bonnie Osborn, a lesbian who's backing the project, is it gives the LGBT community a way to lay claim to it "before someone else comes along and brands it for us."

Gary Ferderer, 57, a gay man, has lived most of his life in Sacramento, and initiated the Lavender Heights project.

Ferderer, a building inspector, said people had informally given the name to the neighborhood years ago, but as that generation has been "moving off and dying off and pretty much staying home," the mention of Lavender Heights "was starting to go away, and I didn't want that to happen."

He thought it was important for the district to have established boundaries, so he contacted gay City Councilman Steve Hansen, whose District 4 includes Lavender Heights, after Hansen was elected in 2012.

In an emailed statement, Hansen's office said, "The Lavender Heights neighborhood has been and will continue to be a place for everyone to feel safe and welcome. Our hope is to educate the public about the history of the neighborhood and celebrate those who have come before us."

Ferderer said initially "there was some confusion with the younger gay men" around the Lavender Heights moniker. "A handful didn't like the name," he said. "... They had no history with what the area had been called." But the name has stuck.

The boundaries would be 19th to 21st and I to N streets. The area includes several gay bars and the city's LGBT community center.

Ferderer said when the Whole Foods opens in the neighborhood, along with more than 100 apartments, he imagines new residents complaining about noise from the neighborhood bars. He wants it so that "nobody can say they weren't aware they moved into an LGBT neighborhood."

The first phase will be the development of the rainbow crosswalks, which are planned for 20th and K streets. Ferderer said the crosswalks will cost about $39,000, and the funds have been raised. An unveiling is planned for October 10, the day before National Coming Out Day.

Next will be street signs and banners that say "Lavender Heights," at an estimated cost of $4,000 to $6,000.

Then, backers want to have an arch greeting people to the neighborhood, similar to San Diego's gay Hillcrest district. That would cost about $40,000.

Finally, they'd like to get "a big huge rainbow flag," as well as a walk of fame, Ferderer said, although "We haven't got a price on that yet."

They hope to have the work completed in two to three years. Ferderer said funding for all the projects is coming from private donations.

"We're not asking the city for anything," he said.

Although he's concerned about preserving the neighborhood name, Ferderer doesn't seem too worried about the area losing its gayness any time soon.

"On any Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night after 10, there's a line half a block long to get in to all the bars," said Ferderer, who spoke to the Bay Area Reporter on a recent Friday afternoon in Lavender Heights as people gathered outside at numerous restaurants and bars despite the grueling heat.

Ferderer also said the city has seen more gays and lesbians relocating from the Bay Area for the cheaper housing prices.

Osborn, 64, who's the business manager for Sacramento's Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, said people want the Lavender Heights designation because other areas in the city "have branded themselves" and are able to use that for marketing.

It's also "an expression of LGBT pride, and it's a way of making a statement for youth ... a way of connecting them to the history of the movement and our community," Osborn, who lives in nearby Antelope, runs the public relations operation Write Away.

Osborn said she sees the changes coming to the neighborhood as positive, especially since "it's better than the opposite trend, where businesses are moving out."

Michael Kennedy, 48, who's gay, owns the Kennedy Gallery, which has been exhibiting art in the neighborhood for years, said, "I'm excited to see things develop."

"I don't think anybody is being pushed out of the area," he added, but "gays need to do a better job at supporting their own businesses."

One business gays seem happy to support is the bar Faces, which is near the gallery and close to where the rainbow crosswalks are planned. When the B.A.R. visited, workers were preparing for the club's 30th anniversary celebration. Men tinkered around the swimming pool in the back patio, while others blew up balloons on the main downstairs dance floor.

A 30th anniversary news release from the bar, which is owned by Terry Sidie, touts the Lavender Heights project. The club "has cemented its place as the 'bulls-eye' in the heart of Sacramento's Lavender Heights," the statement says. "And Faces continues to push to make 'Lavender Heights' the LGBT-focused Sacramento entertainment district (watch for those rainbow crosswalks) where people can have fun and be safe."

The community center is also a strong supporter of the Lavender Heights project.

"It is a necessary move whose time has come," Donald Bentz, the center's executive director, said in response to emailed questions. "The formalization of a Lavender Heights district is an important step toward cementing the LGBT community's presence and history in the Midtown district and Sacramento as a whole. This sends an inclusive message to young people as well as helps enshrine LGBT influence in the community as a whole for years to come."