A Lost Utopia: Stanley Stellar’s Portras at New York’s “Gay Piers” | AnOther

Contents:

• A LOST UTOPIA: STANLEY STELLAR’S PORTRAS AT NEW YORK’S “GAY PIERS”
• 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
• THE PIERS PROJECT, ‘A SAFE HAVEN FOR GAY MEN’
• A WALKG TOUR OF 11 LANDMARKS GAY NEW YORK

A LOST UTOPIA: STANLEY STELLAR’S PORTRAS AT NEW YORK’S “GAY PIERS”

At the same time, the fight for the rights of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people, spurred by the 1969 Stonewall rts, was lerally transformg the cultural and social landspe of New York Cy. Gay men sudnly felt ee to sunbathe on the piers naked, cise, and have sex public. While artists llaborated to transform the buildgs of Pier 34 to makhift art studs and exhibn spac, gay men were nvertg Pier 46 to what Delmas Howe lls an "arena for sexual theater.

He is thor of Male Dire: The Homoerotic Amerin Art and Ambn and Love Morn Amerin Art, and edor wh Alejandro Anrs and Diana Ln of The Social and the Real, also published by PSU Prs. " The segregatn of gay men Greenwich Village ma a fertile environment for the appropriatn of the yed piers along Hudson River as arenas for sexual and social teractn. For over a century, the Greenwich Village wateront along the Hudson River, cludg the Christopher Street Pier at Wt 10th and Wt Streets, has been a statn for the LGBT muny that has evolved om a place for cisg and sex for gay men to an important safe haven for a margalized queer muny – mostly queer homels youth of lor.

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

By World War I, the area had bee a popular cisg area for gay men, and by the 1930s the openg of the elevated Miller (Wt Si) Highway (now molished) cut through the area makg more of a backwater.

The ncentratn of men, numero bars and wareho, and nighttime isolatn tablished the wateront as one of the ma centers for gay life that thrived well after World War II. This enabled the area to reta s populary for gay men to cise and have sex at night.

Around the time of the June 1969 Stonewall uprisg, Christopher Street beme an important gay thoroughfare and, th, the ma rridor to the wateront.

THE PIERS PROJECT, ‘A SAFE HAVEN FOR GAY MEN’

The dilapidated stctur – cludg Pier 45 (known as the Christopher Street Pier) oppose Wt 10th Street, and piers 46, 48, and 51 – were reappropriated as a statn for gay men to sunbathe naked, cise, and have public sex by the early 1970s. Gay bars replaced former wateront taverns on the wtern end of Christopher Street and adjacent blocks. Six of the 14 buildgs the adjacent New York Cy Weehawken Street Historic District hoed gay bars om the early 1970s to the prent, cludg the lotn of the former Ramrod.

The ground floor of the former Keller Hotel (Barrow and Wt Streets) hoed the Keller Bar, which was reputed to be the olst gay “leather bar” the cy om 1956 to 1998. Many of those plac that were seamen’s bars and longshoremen’s bars beme gay bars. From 1975 to 1986, Black photographer Alv Baltrop took photos of gay men cisg among the ed archecture.

Infamoly, many gay men went to the abandoned piers near Christopher Street lookg for sex, or as a place to hang out and sunbathe durg the summer months. Gay men want to nnect, and they will gravate toward those plac that allow them to do so, even if they’re lotns others would shun or fear to set foot.

A WALKG TOUR OF 11 LANDMARKS GAY NEW YORK

“It’s a show about three gay piers, ” Stellar told AnOther.