The Politics of Renaming in Chicago’s Northalsted
Location
FA-152
Start Date
1-5-2026 10:10 AM
Department
Sociology
Abstract
This project examines the renaming of Chicago’s historically gay neighborhood from “Boystown” to “Northalsted” as a contested moment in the ongoing negotiation of queer space. Drawing on Sharon Zukin’s work on authenticity and commodification, Japonica Brown-Saracino’s scholarship on preservation and neighborhood change, and research on gayborhood formation and transformation, I situate the renaming within broader processes of gentrification, urban branding, and neoliberal governance. The central question guiding this study is how symbolic acts of inclusion intersect with material inequalities to shape belonging in historically queer neighborhoods. Methodologically, the project uses qualitative content analysis of Reddit discussions across LGBTQ+ and Chicago-based forums. Through iterative open and focused coding, I developed fifty open codes that were consolidated into key themes, including symbolic versus material inclusion, vernacular resistance to official naming, institutional legitimacy, place attachment, boundary policing, and political economy. These findings are designed to be triangulated with semi-structured interviews conducted with bartenders, managers, owners, and long-standing patrons at four institutional bars in the neighborhood. Preliminary findings suggest that debates over renaming function as proxy conflicts about commercialization, displacement, and the governance of queer space. Some participants frame “Northalsted” as a meaningful expansion of representation beyond cisgender gay men. Others describe the change as performative and disconnected from material concerns such as affordability, racial exclusion, and the loss of queer density. Across positions, strong expressions of nostalgia, safety, and coming-of-age narratives indicate that “Boystown” operates as a condensed symbol of collective memory and identity. Rather than reducing the controversy to a culture war dispute, this project argues that the renaming reveals how symbolic politics, market forces, and emotional place attachment converge in the transformation of historically marginalized urban neighborhoods.
Faculty Sponsor
Juan Martinez
The Politics of Renaming in Chicago’s Northalsted
FA-152
This project examines the renaming of Chicago’s historically gay neighborhood from “Boystown” to “Northalsted” as a contested moment in the ongoing negotiation of queer space. Drawing on Sharon Zukin’s work on authenticity and commodification, Japonica Brown-Saracino’s scholarship on preservation and neighborhood change, and research on gayborhood formation and transformation, I situate the renaming within broader processes of gentrification, urban branding, and neoliberal governance. The central question guiding this study is how symbolic acts of inclusion intersect with material inequalities to shape belonging in historically queer neighborhoods. Methodologically, the project uses qualitative content analysis of Reddit discussions across LGBTQ+ and Chicago-based forums. Through iterative open and focused coding, I developed fifty open codes that were consolidated into key themes, including symbolic versus material inclusion, vernacular resistance to official naming, institutional legitimacy, place attachment, boundary policing, and political economy. These findings are designed to be triangulated with semi-structured interviews conducted with bartenders, managers, owners, and long-standing patrons at four institutional bars in the neighborhood. Preliminary findings suggest that debates over renaming function as proxy conflicts about commercialization, displacement, and the governance of queer space. Some participants frame “Northalsted” as a meaningful expansion of representation beyond cisgender gay men. Others describe the change as performative and disconnected from material concerns such as affordability, racial exclusion, and the loss of queer density. Across positions, strong expressions of nostalgia, safety, and coming-of-age narratives indicate that “Boystown” operates as a condensed symbol of collective memory and identity. Rather than reducing the controversy to a culture war dispute, this project argues that the renaming reveals how symbolic politics, market forces, and emotional place attachment converge in the transformation of historically marginalized urban neighborhoods.