Paying the Rent

An article in today’s LA Times announces the demise of yet another arts district (http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-arts-district-20140730-story.html#page=1). In this particular 52-block area east of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, warehouses are being converted into condominiums, trendy new restaurants are opening, and cafes are sprouting up on almost every block. It’s the same sad story of which SOHO in NYC is perhaps the prototype. Artists move into derelict neighborhoods because the rents are cheap and within a decade or so the curse of gentrification comes down upon them. Happily, however, this will probably never happen in San Miguel de Allende. The entire city might be considered an “arts district,” and although we have a full roster of trendy cafes and restaurants already in place, with new ones replacing the failed ones at a dizzying pace, it’s highly unlikely that rents will ever be an issue for most of the artists here. Rents in general are increasing little by little, like anywhere else, and at this time are averaging about $300-400 USD per month for a modest 2-3 bedroom house with a terrace and studio space, but I doubt they will ever reach the astronomical heights of major US cities. Of course there are lavish houses for the bourgeois artists who come here looking for creative resurrection or renewal, but thankfully we still have a community on a bohemian scale. I only hope that greed doesn’t gain a foothold in the future.   

Photo by Patricia Garcia Arreola