Then&Now: An Overlooked Christopher Street Gay Scene - WESTVIEW NEWS

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The bt gay bars, dance clubs, gay-rated hotels, gay snas and gay cise clubs New York.

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THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE

One of New York Cy's olst gay bars loted Greenwich Village at rner of Christopher St & Gay St. Happy Hour, karaoke, drag shows, dancg & more! * gay bars christopher st nyc *

New York's Lost Gay BarsWe've known for many years that too many of our cherished gay bars and clubs are shutterg, fallg victim to risg rents and the ubiquy of apps like Grdr and Scff. 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.

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By Brian J Pape, AIA The June 1969 rebelln agast police harassment by the patrons of the Stonewall Inn, at the eastern end of Christopher Street, helped to lnch a natnal gay rights movement and make Christopher Street the social and cultural center of New York’s lbian and gay muny. Today, almost all of the * gay bars christopher st nyc *

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.

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.

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Drk and dance the night away at the bt gay bars NYC, offerg everythg om drag shows to chill nights and happy hours. * gay bars christopher st nyc *

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.

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The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, took place on June 28, 1969, New York Cy, after police raid the Stonewall Inn, a lol gay club. The raid sparked a rt among bar patrons and neighborhood rints as police hled employe and patrons out of the bar, leadg to six days of protts and vlent clash. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement. * gay bars christopher st nyc *

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.

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.

New York Gay Bars. Fd the bt gay bars Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, USA. Reviews, photos, gay map, rmatn. * gay bars christopher st nyc *

" 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. 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. 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.

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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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY BARS CHRISTOPHER ST NYC

12 Lost Gay Bars of New York Cy .

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