Loryland: That fabled queendom in Northwest Dallas, centered — more or less — around the intersection of Marsh Lane and Royal Lane, ruled over for years by Realtor Lory Masters. If you were LGBTQ, and you wanted to live in that upscale enclave, you went to Lory Masters to help you find your home. I mean, everyone knew that was Lory’s neighborhood!
“Loryland,” of course, was a kind of LGBTQ “inside” joke, one born out of the fact that Lory Masters didn’t just live in that Northwest Dallas neighborhood, she was the master (Get it? Hehe) at finding the perfect home for LGBTQ people looking to live there, too.
But today, as I was looking up an address on Google Maps, there it was! Right at the intersection of Marsh and Royal, in all caps — “LORYLAND.” It caught me by surprise. I grinned, and then I laughed. Then I shared it with my coworkers.
Is this really a reference to our Loryland? Is there some other reason for it to be there, in all caps, on the Google Maps? I don’t know. But I do know that it should be about our Loryland, because our Lory is a legend who deserves her own queendom on the Google Maps, no doubt.
AND BY THE WAY, in case you didn’t already know, Queen Lory celebrates a birthday on Thursday, Oct. 15. Let the queendom of Loryland — and all the rest of us — rejoice! Happy birthday Lory Masters! And thanks for all you have done for our community.
UPDATE: Lory Masters says yes, indeed, that really is OUR Loryland on the Google Maps! And that is at it should be.
— Tammye Nash
YAAASSSS!!!
As a proud resident of Loryland, I congratulate Google for recognizing the obvious. And if anyone doubts the gay street cred of this neighborhood, the block that I call home has seven gay residents (that we know of). Happy birthday to Lory, and thanks for helping to establish our little corner of heaven.
Loryland is NOT official never was never will be. It was just thrust upon us in the area without any public debate on it. I knew Lory Masters in the 90’s and she was great and remember her darting around smoking in her convertible it’s not about that, it’s about the fact that someone just decided to put it there. It’s actually called Westhollow as evidenced by westhollowsociety.org. But they didn’t ask us either but they came first and had actual meetings about it and public hearings.
I grew up in that neighborhood. Proud to have it called Loryland!!
As a resident for more than a few years, I have never heard of the name Westhollow, or the Westhollow Society. None of the neighbors I have spoken with have heard of Westhollow. Apparently, this is a named dreamed up by some real estate estate people about 5 years ago who were trying to “rebrand” the neighborhood. Apparently, their efforts did not catch on. Loryland, on the other hand, has earned its unofficial status by being used by a number of the local residents (some of whom also use the term “gayborhood” in deference to a long-established dinner organization that serves local residents.