Organized by Landmark West!, this program will highlight LGBT historic sites on the Upper West Side, such as the residences of composer Aaron Copland and writer James Baldwin, and the original location of the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

The talk will be lead by project directors Andrew Dolkart, Ken Lustbader, and Jay Shockley, and project manager Amanda Davis.

Project directors Andrew Dolkart and Ken Lustbader will be joined by project manager Amanda Davis to discuss the efforts to bring attention to what has been a largely invisible history. This presentation will include historic sites of the Lower East Side as well as those around the five boroughs.

Donald Albrecht, curator of “Gay Gotham” at the Museum of the City of New York, will introduce the evening.

With introductory remarks by historian George Chauncey (author of Gay New York) and a brief salute to special guest Dick Leitsch, pioneering Mattachine Society activist.

Despite common misconception, New York City’s LGBT community has a long and vibrant history that predates the 1969 Stonewall rebellion. Existing historic sites associated with arts and culture, important social centers such as bars and LGBT organization locations, residences of notable figures, and activism (to name a few) span as far back as the 18th century. Yet despite this history, these tangible reminders of the city’s LGBT community remain largely unknown and potentially endangered.

At this program, learn about our project and our ongoing survey of historic and cultural sites throughout the city’s five boroughs. Directors Andrew S. Dolkart, Ken Lustbader, and Jay Shockley and project manager Amanda Davis will also discuss the interactive online map of sites that the public will be able to use in order to learn more about LGBT place-based history when it launches later this year. The map will also utilize the resources of the New York Public Library’s extensive LGBT collections.

Since 1983, the LGBT Community Center has been a focal point for LGBT activities, activism, and education in the New York metropolitan area. As part of its “Second Tuesday” lecture series, we will discuss our survey efforts to date as well as our recent nomination of Julius’ bar to the National Register of Historic Places.

Despite the LGBT community being active as shapers of American culture and as the professional keepers of that heritage, there is a glaring irony in the near-total absence of historic sites of significance to and about the LGBT community. Of the over 90,000 sites listed on the National Register (NR), only seven are listed with LGBT connections. In New York City and New York State, no survey currently exists of sites associated with significant LGBT history. The lack of documentation has prevented effective advocacy, leaving potentially significant sites unappreciated and threatened, and preservation officials at a loss for criteria to evaluate sites for LGBT historic context and significance.

This session will discuss issues, strategies, and directions for documenting LGBT place-based history. Statewide panelists will discuss national LGBT documentation projects, new approaches for NR listings, and highlight the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Conference sponsored by The Landmark Society of Western New York, in collaboration with Historic Albany Foundation, the Preservation League of New York State, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Fifty years ago a person could be refused service in a bar simply for being gay, and his or her mere presence there could result in the bar’s closure by the State Liquor Authority. On April 21, 1966, Dick Leitsch and other members of the Mattachine Society, an early LGBT rights organization, staged the now famous Sip-In at Julius’ bar in the Village to challenge this “legal” discrimination. After they announced to the bartender that they were homosexuals and wished to be served, they were refused service. The event generated publicity and was one of the earliest pre-Stonewall public actions for LGBT rights. Scholars of LGBT history consider the Sip-In at Julius’ a key event leading to the growth of legitimate LGBT bars and the development of the bar as the central social space for urban LGBT New Yorkers.

At this 50th anniversary event, which also honors special guest Dick Leitsch, we will be part of a panel discussion with Tom Bernardin, self-described historian of Julius’. We will cover the history of the Sip-In, our recent efforts to have the site nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, and the historical significance of LGBT Greenwich Village.

This event is being hosted by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

Related Links

Julius’ Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places

Join us as we discuss our project as well as our successful effort to nominate the Stonewall Inn to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and our recent nomination of Julius’ bar.

Lecture organized by QSAPP (Queer Students of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation).