Wele to Cherry Grove! In the years before the Stonewall Uprisg, this seclud beach enclave on Fire Island was a rpe for gay men and women. Explore this fascatg and fotten history wh nearly 70 photographs om the 1950s, urty of the Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn.
Contents:
- CHERRY GROVE, WHERE GAY NEW YORKERS BEME ‘THEIR REAL SELV’
- SAFE/HAVEN: GAY LIFE 1950S CHERRY GROVE
- HOT GAY SUMMER: IN 1950S, CHERRY GROVE ON FIRE ISLAND OFFERED SANCTUARY, CREATIVE AND SEXUAL FREEDOM. 14 PHOTOS OM SHOW OPENG TODAY NYC
- GAY RORT FOR MEN
- CHERRY GROVEFIRE ISLANDMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY BEACHCHERRY GROVE
- THE VERY GAY HISTORY OF FIRE ISLAND
CHERRY GROVE, WHERE GAY NEW YORKERS BEME ‘THEIR REAL SELV’
In the 1950s, the Fire Island hamlet was a refuge for gay men and lbians. Dozens of enlarged photos om the era are now on view outsi the New-York Historil Society. * gay cherry grove *
Art & Dign|Cherry Grove, Where Gay New Yorkers Beme ‘Their Real Selv’ ADVERTISEMENTCherry Grove, Where Gay New Yorkers Beme ‘Their Real Selv’In the 1950s, the Fire Island hamlet was a refuge for gay men and lbians.
Muny took shape among New Yorkers on a remote Fire Island hamlet known as Cherry, visors spent summer weekends sunbathg and partyg, formg one of the untry’s first gay beach towns when beg openly gay uld rult ostracism or imprisonment. The imag “Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove” e om the Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn, a volunteer anizatn formed 2011, about 40 years after the muny archivist Harold Seeley began assemblg Historil Society; Glenn Grove Archiv CollectnSome of the photographs show the quotidian ease and enjoyment that me wh exprsg outlawed sexualy a safe space: In one, a pair of men kiss at a hoe party; another, two women s close together on the beach. Still, gay men and lbians flocked there each summer, cludg the wrers Tennsee Williams, Patricia Highsmh and Tman Capote.
The photographer Richard Avedon and his wife were also the photographers behd the imag rema mostly unknown, many were likely the gay whe men who first began to filtrate the island the late 1940s and 1950s, followed by lbians. Acceptance — and the joy characteristic of the place — foretold the flourishg of gay and lbian life New York Cy and beyond, she said. ” Kravz/Cherry Grove Archiv CollectnA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn C, Page 13 of the New York edn wh the headle: Gay New Yorkers Beg, the 1950s.
SAFE/HAVEN: GAY LIFE 1950S CHERRY GROVE
A 2021 exhibn om the New-York Historil Society took an timate look at one of the first gay beach towns the Uned Stat. * gay cherry grove *
One such muny was Cherry Grove, which is the subject of an exhibn at the New-York Historil Society tled Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove. As a trans woman, I fely felt like I was not prent Cherry Grove at that time, but gay men and women were there, rvg out space that I get to hab today.
HOT GAY SUMMER: IN 1950S, CHERRY GROVE ON FIRE ISLAND OFFERED SANCTUARY, CREATIVE AND SEXUAL FREEDOM. 14 PHOTOS OM SHOW OPENG TODAY NYC
* gay cherry grove *
Soon the “theater people” would start to formulate a strong muny where people were able to be openly gay; they uld cross-drs and play wh genr mak the photos so wonrful is that they are very rare. Simply havg photos veloped that reflected homosexualy uld get you arrted. We have a lot of lost history that was thrown away, so the photos om the archiv add so much to our knowledge of what gay life was like.
The people are iendly, and we have always been on the ont of LGBTQ+ rights and fightg for eedom to be out and the 1950s, there was no nng water and no electricy, but gay men and women were happy to be roughg bee they were ee to be themselv. If you were gay the cy, you went to the dark and dgy bars, which were n by the Mafia, and at any time uld be raid by the police and you uld be Cherry Grove, the police would leave on the last ferry to the maland at midnight, allowg same-sex dancg and open exprsns of affectn to occur the lol bars and rtrants. Each year, thoands of people e together to drs up and celebrate Inpennce Day the gayt way possible … wh hundreds of drag queens on a ferry returng to the P to keep the tradn gog.
When muny members Cherry Grove would pass away, their straight fay members would clean out their ho to sell bee they did not want to live a “gay town.
GAY RORT FOR MEN
Durg the 1950s, Cherry Grove provid gay dividuals a much-need pe om the homophobia and the legal and social persecutn that many experienced * gay cherry grove *
The fay members often threw out any evince of their gay uncl or s. When we saw the photos om Seeley's llectn, we saw that was addg somethg to the lexin of gay life.
Whenever people show somethg a documentary or a book, most of the photos of gay life start at Stonewall and go on om there.
CHERRY GROVEFIRE ISLANDMENUHOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSGAY BEACHCHERRY GROVE
Cherry Grove - gay beach is loted wh the historic gay area of Fire Island. Cherry P was the base of Ameri's first gay muny. * gay cherry grove *
We feel lucky that the NYHS saw the value gay history, bee not everyone the Stonewall Mm, most of the patrons are queer.
THE VERY GAY HISTORY OF FIRE ISLAND
Photo cred: Hot Hoe, 1958Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn, Gift of Harold SeeleyIn the summer of 2021, the New-York Historil Society prented "Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove, " an timate look at one of the first gay beach towns the Uned Stat. The outdoor exhibn explored mid-20th-century gay life Fire Island's remote hamlet of Cherry Grove, loted on the barrier island south of Long Island, through some 70 enlarged photographs and addnal ephemera om the holdgs of the Cherry Grove Archiv Collectn--which works to llect and archive the muny's rich and lorful history. "Cherry Grove on Fire Island beme a weekend and summer statn for gay men and women the pre-Stonewall era of the 1950s and 1960s, " said Dr.