No one was trying to convert everything into a condo.
The dining scene was Le Bec Fin - period.
No one was trying to re-brand the Gayborhood for marketing purposes. Philadelphia was not the same back then, either, not when I got my ticket to drink legally in 2001. Add Khyber Pass to that list, too, because while Khyber today is a very nice restaurant, it looks nothing like it did 10 years ago: a grimy club bar with writing on the bathroom walls and a second floor that shook when the band played too loud - which was always. Alfa, Sugar Mom’s, Bar Noir, Mad River, Lucy’s Hat Shop - kaput. The places I haunted as a 20-something are closed. The end of Sugar Mom’s marked it: The bars of my youth are gone.
