The History of Greenwich Village’s Gay Street - CySignal

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET
• WHAT’S A NAME? GAY STREET
• MOVG TO LGBT NEW YORK CY, NEW YORK? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!
• GAY GREENWICH VILLAGE
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY GREENWICH VILLAGE WALKG TOUR
• LOT OF MOLISHED LANDMARK ON GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE LISTS FOR $4.5M
• DEMOLN UNRWAY AT 14 GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN
• GAY VILLAGE GREENWICH
• DEMO PERMS FILED FOR 14 GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET

It is bee of this associatn, that people like to assume ’s named after Sydney Howard Gay, the edor of The Natnal Anti-Slavery Standard and a key figure the Unrground Railroad. In the late 19th century, when Greenwich Village was the hub of New York Cy’s Ain-Amerin muny, many of the rints on Gay Street were POC and also micians. Gay Street is one of the most charmg and picturque streets Greenwich Village, an in of the historic neighborhood’s anachronistic character.

And while the street certaly has strong nnectns to gay liberatn and the Ain-Amerin stggle for eedom, the history behd the name is a ltle murkier, and a ltle more plited to unravel, than one might expect. In the later 19th century, when the Village was the center of New York’s Ain-Amerin muny, many of the rints of Gay Street were black, and many of them were also micians. Historic Bromley map of Manhattan showg Gay Street lower right (urty of David Jarrett — historic maps available on Village Prervatn’s webse; see “Maps” unr Rourc).

But long before Ruth McKenna ma Gay Street famo, the street and s Greenwich Village surroundgs had already e to be associated wh the word “gay.

WHAT’S A NAME? GAY STREET

However, by the late 19th and pecially the early 20th century, the nnotatns of the word gay me to be creasgly associated wh a liftyle unfettered by the nventns of the day.

It was not until the mid-20th century that e of the term “gay” me to more monly mean specifilly those attracted to the same sex, and was not until the late 20th century that this fn me to eclipse other and associatns. Of urse, durg this same time perd, Greenwich Village also evolved om beg one of the premier lol for those who were “gay”– as unfettered by ntemporary nventns — to, more specifilly, a mec for those who were “gay” — as attracted to the same sex. So where this arc of the evolutn of the meang of the word gay, and of Greenwich Village’s inty, did the name “Gay Street” emerge?

Acrdg to “The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan’s Street Nam and Their Origs” by Henry Mosw, the name Gay Street first appears officially the New York Cy Common Council mut on April 23, 1827 — when Greenwich Village was first beg settled as a suburb of New York by merchants fleeg the yellow fever epimics downtown. But Gay was born 1814, and th would have been only thirteen years old when the first published reference to “Gay Street” appeared. Acrdg to Mosw, newspapers om the late 18th century do show at least one man wh the surname Gay who lived not far away on the Bowery, who may have been the street’s namake.

MOVG TO LGBT NEW YORK CY, NEW YORK? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!

So spe of the street’s rich nnectns to LGBT and Ain-Amerin history, “Gay Street’s” associatns wh those groups may be nothg more than a cince.

GAY GREENWICH VILLAGE

Over the urse of the early 20th century, was a safe haven for New York's LGBTQ muny and home to events—cludg the Stonewall Inn protts—that would bee flash pots for the mastreamg of the gay rights movement all across the remas to this day an important symbol of LGBTQ life New York (photographs of the sign at s tersectn wh Gay Street are tourist souvenir shop stapl), even though 's now more populated wh luxury shops and extravagant gyms than the nightlife hotspots that was once famo for. At this time gay bars were still not openly operatg, but the way the thory wrote s l meant they would later bee the unexpected llateral damage of the legislatn.

While the thory did not directly ce gay bars any of s extensive regulatns, police will go on to terpret a le agast nng a "disorrly" tablishment to mean venu equented by gay people.

A need for as many drafts as possible after Pearl Harbor meant that when gay people enlisted the army, they weren't turned away. Durg this time, the FBI matas a list of gay Amerins, who will subsequently be targeted by police for an array of illegal activi, cludg habatn and kissg the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, many queer people of lor had been leadg a (relatively) open life the north Manhattan neighborhood—as celebrated gay artist Bce Nugent put : "Nobody was the closet.

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

Drag queens beg to flock to the Village om all over the cy, pg plac where drsg female clothg public rults eher arrt, or beatg om homophobic vigilant. In the face of laws barrg gay men om beg seen public together, gay men and drag queens beg to cise the wateront and steal away wh anonymo lovers to the squalid flopho dotted along the P.

Proprietors of gay-iendly bars are routely harassed; gay patrons are refed a bid to spotlight this discrimatn, on April 21, 1966 the gay rights group the Mattache Society cis to hold a Sip-. Activists hatch a plan to go around bars the Village, and tt out whether they will still receive service after revealg to bartenrs that they are gay—all ont of the half dozen reporters they have ved along for the ri. The former 1920s speakeasy—which is still around today—is actually an gno gay bar, but the manager is hoots wh the activists and ref them service ont of the reporters.

GAY GREENWICH VILLAGE WALKG TOUR

Amid the chaos and uncertaty happeng on Christopher Street, 's a moment that's e to be known as the trigger for the morn mastreamg of the gay rights movement. In the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, gay activists and rints of the neighborhood beg batg how to harns the thst of the rts to an assertive fight for eedom.

LOT OF MOLISHED LANDMARK ON GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE LISTS FOR $4.5M

On June 28, a few hundred gay men and lbians march om Christopher Street up Sixth Ave and to Central Park bearg handma banners wh slogans like "Gay Pri" and "Gay is Good. In 1970, for a brief perd of time, 's a gay dis lled Haven that circumvents the jurisdictn of the State Liquor Authory by operatg as a "juice bar.

DEMOLN UNRWAY AT 14 GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

" After Stonewall, relatns between the police and gay muny are still tense, and Augt, police raid the club on the grounds that they're searchg for dgs. The Osr Wil Bookshop, found by leadg gay activist Craig Rodwell as the first store New York to exclively sell tl by gay and lbian thors, mov to Christopher Street.

First opened at 291 Mercer Street 1967, mov to the rner of Christopher and Gay Streets (the etymology of Gay Street's name, cintally, is a total cince) held on Christopher Street for the victims of the Orlando shootg. Cmpley opens fire outsi a li at the rner of Washgton and 10th Streets, woundg two people before movg on to Ramrod, a gay club on Wt Street between 10th and Christopher.

GAY VILLAGE GREENWICH

Reports beg to spread of gay men the Uned Stat beg sick wh what is at first thought to be rare forms of ncer and immune diseas. By 1982 the term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is formally troduced by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn for the disease that is sweepg through the untry, and cimatg the Village's gay populatn.

The health partment shuts down the Mecraft, a gay S&M club that has been open sce 1976, on the grounds that s activi uld spread AIDS. Durg this time, gay and queer tablishments revert once aga to the old tactics of operatg as psdo private members clubs to avoid closure. Bailey Hoe, the untry's first hog plex for HIV/AIDS sufferers, opens on the wtern end of Christopher Street, a four-story buildg that had once hoed a gay dis.

DEMO PERMS FILED FOR 14 GAY STREET GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

Johnson's body is found floatg the Hudson River off the Christopher Street piers at the begng of July, a few days after the Gay Pri Para. The majory of the neighborhood's gay rints are gone; many have died, and others have moved away, unable pe wh livg among sickns and dyg. The AIDS epimic, but also the crack crisis New York at this time the mographic of the Village to shift om predomantly whe gay men to black and hispanic.

Shops shutter, crime rat rise, and the once throbbg heartbeat of gay New York is slowed down to a thready Stonewall Inn the day after the mass shootg Orlando. Perhaps 's bee of pure enomics—as artists n no longer afford to live there, or maybe LGBTQ people feel safe livg all over the cy now, but Christopher Street and s Village is more gay spir now than actual makp.