MAP: All Of The Former And Current Gay Bars In New York City History

Today's post about the coming closure of Candle Bar prompted JMG reader John to tip us to OUTgoing, a recently-launched project to map all of the former and current gay bars in New York City history. Citylab reports:

Jeff Ferzoco has created an interactive map, OUTgoing, that captures the ever-unfolding history of New York’s LGBT nightlife venues. Ferzoco, an information designer with his own company, linepointpath, came by the idea naturally. “I go out a lot,” he says. “Probably four or five nights a week.” While chatting about spots that had vanished over the years with a fellow patron at his local bar, Nowhere, he started thinking about mapping them all.

Soon, Ferzoco was delving into research, combing through histories such as Gay New York and The Gay Metropolis and consulting old pamphlets. (The “New York City Gay Scene Guide” of 1969 included listings for “all the exciting gay bars, clubs, baths, motels, meeting places THROUGHOUT the CITY” while the 1970 edition promised, “Realistic: Only those places where you will be welcome are listed.”)

The resulting map, which is very much a work in progress, is a fascinating trip through time and space. Each nightspot is marked with its dates, its audience, its “genre” (i.e., “leather” or “lesbian”), and Ferzoco’s source. Ultimately, the map will enable users to submit stories, photos, and other information. Currently, Ferzoco has marked 800 spots on the map. He estimates there will be as many as 1,500 in the end, covering all five boroughs as well as the surrounding area.

His research has uncovered revealing patterns. Between 1931 and 1960, Ferzoco found records of just 26 gay nightspots, a number that rocketed to 318 between 1961 and 1990, then dropped to 264 between 1991 and 2010 and stands at just 99 today. Those numbers reflect the complex history of the closet, the sexual revolution, the AIDS epidemic, and the mainstreaming of queer culture.

I was surprised to see that more than a dozen gay bars once populated the blocks around my place on the now quite dull Upper East Side. It looks like the Chirping Chicken outlet on First Avenue, which I patronize at least once a week, is located next to a storefront which was once home to a gay club called Mildred Pierce, which was open from 1970 - 1980. Fascinating stuff. Click around the map and share your memories.

MAP: Largest Companies By Home State

See the full listing.

One Last Marriage Map Change?

The last time Wikipedia updated its marriage map, I mused that it was probably the last change we'd see before SCOTUS rules. However following yesterday's stayed decision in Alabama, the map monitors have advanced the state from purple to mustard. In case you are wondering, it was back in January when Alabama went from red to sapphire.

MAP: Salary Needed To Buy A Home

From the Washington Post:

Here’s definitive proof that San Francisco’s real estate market is insane. HSH.com, a mortgage research site, has estimated how much salary you need to earn to afford the principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments on a median-priced home in 27 metro areas. On a national scale, a buyer who puts 20 percent down would need to earn a salary of $48,604 to afford the median-priced home in America. But that total varies a lot from city to city. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati rank as the most affordable metros in which to buy a new home – HSH.com estimates that you can buy the median home while making less than $34,000 – while New York, Los Angeles and San Diego are at the high end, requiring salaries of nearly $90,000 or more. But the most expensive city by far is San Francisco, where the site estimates you would need to make $142,448 to buy the median home in the area.

Popular Street Names By State

From the Washington Post:

For decades we have believed that the most popular name for a road was “2nd.” But by my analysis, that crown actually goes to “Park.” (Again, look to the methodology section for a discussion of this.) Out of over a million roads in the United States, 9,640 are named “Park.” Only 8,232 are named “2nd,” or “Second.” Still, both the Census and I agree that “2nd” is a more popular road name than “1st.” The most convincing explanation anyone has come up with so far is that in many towns the primary thoroughfare is “Main” street instead of “1st” street. Because those two names split the honor, so to speak, they tumble in the rankings. Trees, numbers, and presidents are the most popular names for streets, which is understandable.

Alabama Joins The Sapphire States

Alabama Retreats To Red

Our insider at Wikipedia writes this morning to say that he was against advancing Alabama to sapphire on Friday, but was overruled by the other editors.

South Dakota Turns Mustard

And the number of red states shrinks again.

MAP: Federal Aid By State

Via the Washington Post:

Nearly $1 in $3 in state revenue comes from the federal government, according to a new analysis. While taxes are responsible for most state general revenues, the federal government is responsible for about 31.5 percent of the total, according to the nonprofit Tax Foundation. Mississippi is most reliant on the federal government, with 45.3 percent of general revenue in the most recently available fiscal year coming from the feds. Oil-rich Alaska‚ whose revenue is highly volatile, is least reliant on the federal government. The Tax Foundation’s analysis is based on a simple calculation of Census state revenue data published last month. The Census data offer a detailed breakdown of revenue sources for each state, so the Tax Foundation simply divided the “intergovernmental revenue” each state received from the federal government by the state’s “general revenue” total.

Florida Joins The Sapphire States

Wikipedia is calling it a few hours early. (Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

MAP: Marriage Supporting Pols By State

Via the Washington Post:

About 45 percent of all governors and members of Congress across the country support same-sex marriage, and in all but 10 states there is at least one member of Congress or the governor who does. The percentage of politicians who support marriage for same-sex couples is slightly lower than the percentage of Americans who do. A September Pew poll found that 49 percent of respondents were in favor of gay men and lesbians being allowed to legally marry, while 41 percent were opposed and 10 percent didn’t know. Using information from the Human Rights Campaign and governors’ public statements, the percentage of elected officials who support marriage for same-sex couples was mapped out. Vacant seats were not included in states’ total, and elected officials whose views on marriage were not clear were not counted as being supportive.

Six states are ranked at 100%: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Hit the link for the interactive map.

Most-Googled Thanksgiving Recipes

Frog eye salad. Dirt pudding. Pretzel salad. Never heard of 'em. Embiggen or go here for details.

South Carolina & Kansas Turn Sapphire

Not only has South Carolina joined the states displaying our favorite color, Wikipedia's marriage monitors have decided to remove the red stripes of shame from Kansas even though most counties continue to withhold marriage licenses and state agencies continue to refuse to recognize the marriages that have taken place.

Gov. Sam Brownback's administration will not make any policy changes to recognize same-sex couples while it defends the Kansas' gay marriage ban against a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Wednesday. Hawley said all state agencies would "take the necessary legal actions once this issue is resolved." The U.S. Supreme Court said the state can't enforce its ban on same-sex marriages while the ACLU lawsuit proceeds through the courts. Some Kansas counties are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but others are not.

The agencies' refusal to recognize the marriages will prevent couples from changing their names on their driver's licenses and could affect such things as state income tax filings, The Wichita Eagle reported. "There are still cases under appeal in the courts, and the department will not do anything different until those are resolved," Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda wrote in an e-mail. A Lawrence couple who were married Tuesday said they were turned away from a Department of Revenue office when one of them tried to change her last name on her driver's license.

MAP: What EU Nations Are Worst At

The categories for France, Denmark. and Romania are really dumb compared to the seriousness of the others. Visit Thrillist for a breakdown. A huge version of the map is here. (Via JMG reader Aaron)

Happy Purple Marriage Map

JMG reader Jay Sheckley has sent us an alternative map to the Wikipedia version posted here several times a week in recent months. Embiggen for the details.

UPDATED: Wikipedia Marriage Map

Six more states to turn dark blue shortly!

eBay Map: Most Popular Items By State

Via Business Insider:

E-commerce giant eBay has revealed the most popular item in every state. Californians favored high-end women's accessories, while men's cologne ruled in New Jersey. Some states were more practical. People in Ohio purchased outdoor equipment. North Carolina residents spent their money on baby products, while Connecticut customers bought batteries. Texans ordered "tactical and hunting goods," while New Yorkers favored firearms.

There's a huge infographic at the link. (Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Religion Maps

Via Pew Research:

Earlier this summer, on World Population Day, we explained that half of the world’s population lives in just six countries. In many cases, the world’s major religious groups are even more concentrated, with half or more of their followers living in one or a handful of countries. For several years, demographers at the Pew Research Center have been studying the demographic characteristics of eight groups: Buddhists, Christians, adherents of folk religions, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, the religiously unaffiliated and followers of other religions. While Christians and Muslims are more widely distributed around the world, the other groups have a majority of their populations in just one or two nations, according to 2010 estimates from our Global Religious Landscape report.

While there continues to be much attention paid to the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population in Europe and North America, more than half (62%) of the world’s 1.1 billion unaffiliated people live in one Asian country: China. China also is home to 50% of the world’s 488 million Buddhists and 73% of the 405 million global adherents of folk religions. Since China is the world’s most populous nation, it may not be altogether unexpected that it has a lot of people in a variety of categories. While China accounts for 19% of the world’s overall population, it is home to majorities of all Buddhists, unaffiliated people and adherents of folk religions.

More maps are at the link.

Migration Map

This map published last week by the New York Times shows the percentage of residents who live in the state in which they were born. Louisiana is highest at 79% and Nevada is lowest at 25%. The state with the highest percentage of residents born outside the United States is California at 28%. Hit the link for an interactive version.

Wealthiest Americans By State

Embiggen to read the names or go here for an interactive version.