have you been cruising?

As someone fascinated by how gay men utilize space, I got a real kick out of seeing these no cruising signs on Griffith Park Blvd. the first time I drove up it to Trader Joe's. I swear in the nearly three months I've lived in Silver Lake the number of these signs on this street have shrunk to just this one. There are tons of no U-turn (midnight to 6 a.m.) signs along it, which I assume were companions to the no cruising signs. I mean, if you were to see a sexy guy on the opposite side of the street at 4:13 a.m. you'd surely make that U-turn to pick him up.

Silver Lake is still very gay--though straightifying by the day--and these are now vestigial signs from the day when this was far from a desirable neighborhood with gay prostitutes lining the streets so of course we needed these signs to clean it up. I just love how cruising is defined as passing the same point twice within 6 hours. Hell, I do that running errands!

The ironic photo is this one of the no U-turn sign with the bike lane notice. Ironic because if these no-U turns really are just to deter cruising then they signal the neighborhood's lower point. Bike lanes, on the other hand, are usually only found in "safe" neighborhoods where people would actually want to bike--whether for recreation or transportation.