East Side Story

“FOR ALL THE talk of the gay civil-rights struggle being the same as the one for racial equality, gays sure do ”pioneer” a lot of neighborhoods and, ultimately, displace a lot of people. East Side Story dissects that dilemma with aplomb, surveying the distance between gays and Hispanics (and gay Hispanics, and gay whites, and straight Hispanics, and evil queens on all sides) in a gentrifying section of East L.A.

Diego is a barely closeted waiter in a homophobic, racially defensive neighborhood. His new neighbors, Wes and Jonathan, are a prim little pair of gringo interlopers whose house (or, as Jonathan calls it, their ”investment”) has ticked off the locals. But when Wes decides he wants to stay in the neighborhood rather than resell — in part because of puppy-eyed Diego — his already improbable relationship with Jonathan hits the skids. Before the whole beautiful disaster shakes out, Diego will learn how the gentrification he’s ushering into the area helps him as a homo even while it hurts him as Latino.”

Stumble it! | |