The Castro District in San Francisco as a Contemporary Utopia: “Somewhere over the rainbow”

Abstract

In search of a utopia in a real place, in which groups marginalized by society recreate a space, this article offers an analysis of the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco. This neighborhood inhabited by sexual minorities is an example not only of a utopian counter-space, but also of a resident identity based on an urban space, of an international LGBTQ+ community. First, a micro-history of Castro and the imaginary construction of the neighborhood through images, narratives, words, everything visual and discursive will show, the infrapolitics, the invisible structure of this resistance. In a second phase, the promises and conditions of the neighborhood will be examined in order to discuss the accessibility and credibility of this utopia. Based on Foucault’s concept of heterotopias, the principle of "a system of opening and closing" of this utopian space will be questioned through testimonies of the current inhabitants during the San Francisco Pride of 2019. This analysis of the history, structure and semiology of the neighborhood and its relationship to the outside world will allow us to question the possibility of a utopia that is feasible or achieved in today’s world.