The Silence = Death poster, featuring the pink triangle, is one of the most recognizable and evocative images in the fight against AIDS. Designed in 1986 by the Silence=Death Project, a New York City activist art collective later known as Gran Fury, the poster has appeared at countless AIDS demonstrations around the world. Program attendees will hear first-hand from one of its designers, activist Avram Finkelstein, in an intergenerational conversation with historian Dr. Jake Newsome, who will also provide an overview of the pink triangle’s transformation from a Nazi-era symbol to one of LGBTQ liberation. Amanda Davis from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will host and there will be time for Q&A from the audience.

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About the Speakers:

THE HISTORIAN: Dr. Jake Newsome is an award winning scholar of German and American LGBTQ+ history whose research and resources educate global audiences. He is the Founder and Director of the Pink Triangle Legacies Project, a grassroots initiative that honors the memory of the Nazis queer victims and carries on their legacy by fighting homophobia and transphobia today through education, empowerment, and advocacy. Jake is the author of Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust (Cornell University Press), which traces the transformation of the pink triangle from a Nazi concentration camp badge into a global symbol of LGBTQ+ pride. He lives with his husband and son in San Diego.

THE ACTIVIST: Avram Finkelstein is an artist, writer, and a founding member of the Silence=Death and Gran Fury collectives. His book After Silence: A History of AIDS Through its Images (University of California Press) was nominated for the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction, and an International Center of Photography 2018 Infinity Award in Critical Writing and Research. Avram’s work has shown at numerous museums and galleries, including the Cooper Hewitt and David Zwirner, and is in the permanent collection of MoMA, the Whitney, the New Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian, the Fogg Museum, the Getty Institute, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This free virtual program is part of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project’s “The Historian & The Activist: Cross-Cultural LGBTQ New York” series, made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

November is Puerto Rican Heritage Month! Celebrate the impact that the Puerto Rican LGBTQ community has made on New York City over the past 80 years, with a special focus on social life, activism, and the arts in the 1990s. Activist Charles Rice-González, co-founder of Gay Men of the Bronx (GMoB) and the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), and historian Andrés Santana-Miranda will take part in an intergenerational discussion reflecting on the lasting legacies of pioneers like Antonia Pantoja and Miguel Piñero as well as Puerto Rican LGBTQ life and culture from Loisaida to the South Bronx, and places in between. Amanda Davis from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will host and there will be time for Q&A from the audience.

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About the Speakers:
THE HISTORIAN: Andrés Santana-Miranda is Project Coordinator in the Historic Buildings and Sites Division at CENCOR, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of Puerto Rico’s cultural heritage. He also consults for the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, where his research efforts focus on historic places connected to the Latine and Spanish-speaking community. He has a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Puerto Rico and an MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University.

THE ACTIVIST: Charles Rice-González is a writer, long-time Bronx LGBTQ+ activist, co-founder of the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), and an Assistant Professor at Hostos Community College – CUNY. His debut novel, Chulito (Magnus 2011), has received awards and recognitions from the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Book Critics Circle. He is the chair of the board for the Bronx Council on the Arts and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Macondo Writers’ Workshop.

This free virtual program is part of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project’s “The Historian & The Activist: Cross-Cultural LGBTQ New York” series, made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Discover the remarkable legacies of trailblazing lesbian figures who have shaped American history and culture on this unique Green-Wood trolley tour. Join us as we journey through the Cemetery’s hallowed grounds, paying tribute to a diverse array of influential women—sculptors, painters, educators, writers, critics, activists, suffrage leaders, and medical pioneers.

This tour is led by Andrew Dolkart, Co-Director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and Columbia University Historic Preservation Professor, and Neela Wickremesinghe, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Director of Restoration and Preservation at Green-Wood. Don’t miss this opportunity to honor and explore the profound contributions of these pioneering women.

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For LGBT History Month, project manager Amanda Davis will be giving a virtual talk to the New York Public Library’s Soundview branch in the Bronx focusing on LGBT history in the borough.

This program is made possible by NYPL’s Innovation Lab, which pilots new staff ideas for reaching and engaging our communities.

To learn more and register, click here.

As part of the project’s outreach efforts, project manager Amanda Davis will be presenting at this program in Richmond, VA.

When researching previously hidden history, knowing where to start can be difficult. Join us for a workshop to learn strategies for conducting research related to Queer history.

Guest presenters Blake McDonald, grants and survey specialist at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and coordinator of DHR’s LGBTQ+ heritage initiative, and Amanda Davis, project manager with the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, will discuss their work documenting and uncovering queer history and queer spaces and share their approach to queer research, including resources and tips for overcoming obstacles. Library of Virginia staff members will also present information on collection resources available for learning more about Queer history. Participants will have time to ask questions concerning their own research and browse identified resources.

For more information, contact Mary Ann Mason at [email protected] or 804.692.3648.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Limited free parking is available underneath the Library at 800 East Broad Street.

To learn more and register, click here.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue is the most significant expression of Irish culture and celebration in New York City. But for 25 years, beginning in 1991, the fight for LGBTQ participation was met with “high levels of madness.” This intergenerational talk will feature historian Emma Quinn and activist Brendan Fay, who will discuss this decades-long campaign and the importance of Irish LGBTQ visibility in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the city. Amanda Davis from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will moderate and there will be time for Q&A from the audience.

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About the Speakers

THE HISTORIAN: Emma Quinn is Assistant Professor and Learning and Curricular Services Librarian at St. John’s University. She has an MA in Irish and Irish-American Studies from NYU and an MLIS from Long Island University. Her research interests lie in the history of gender and sexuality in the Irish Catholic diaspora, with a focus on New York, as well as inclusive and accessible pedagogy.

THE ACTIVIST: Brendan Fay is an immigrant from Ireland and long-time resident of Astoria, Queens, where he lives with his husband, Tom Moulton. He is a human rights activist and filmmaker whose employment as a Catholic high school teacher in Queens was terminated in 1991 for marching with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO) at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. For 25 years, the Irish LGBTQ group he founded, Lavender and Green Alliance – Muintir Aerach na hÉireann, fought alongside others for the right to march openly in the parade, a fight that ended successfully in 2016. During that time, Fay also founded the inclusive St. Pat’s for All Parade, in Queens, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025.

This free virtual program is part of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project’s “The Historian & The Activist: Cross-Cultural LGBTQ New York” series, made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is the first in a three-part series; subsequent programs will address contemporary cross-cultural LGBT identities within Puerto Rican and Jewish communities, and their connections to historic sites in NYC from the 1950s to 2000.

Join us for stroll of Greenwich Village as we explore the lesbian community’s connections to one of the world’s most famous neighborhoods. We’ll cover places that speak to the evolution of the lesbian bar, from the 1910s onward, and gathering spots run by women for women that popped up in the Village in the 1970s. Stops along the way include the former homes of notable lesbians who have helped shape American history and culture.

The tour will last approximately 1 1/2 hours. Meet under the Arch in Washington Square Park. Walking tour will take place rain or shine.

To register groups of 5 or more, please contact us at [email protected].

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

This is a FUNDRAISING tour; all money raised will support the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Select events are funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and New York City Tourism Foundation.

Pride is celebrated to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement. In its immediate aftermath, new activist groups emerged fighting for liberation and visibility. However, New York City has a long and vibrant LGBT history dating to the early 20th century. Join Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley, co-directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and Amanda Davis, project manager, for an LGBT walking tour of Greenwich Village. Starting at the Stonewall National Monument, learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture. The tour will also highlight the importance of these sites to a marginalized community that oftentimes had nowhere else to go to fully be themselves. Stops will include places connected to such groups as the Salsa Soul Sisters, Mattachine Society, and the Gay Liberation Front, and to the LGBT activists, artists, and business owners who found refuge in the Village since the late 19th century.

To register groups of 5 or more, please contact us at [email protected].

REGISTER HERE>

This is a FUNDRAISING tour; all money raised will support the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Tour starts at Christopher Park / Stonewall National Monument, Christopher Street at West 4th Street, in Greenwich Village. Walking tour will take place rain or shine.

Select events are funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and New York City Tourism Foundation.

Woodlawn Cemetery and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project celebrate Pride Month with a special trolley tour illuminating LGBT permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Join us as we share stories about love, loss, and relationships on our annual tour. We’ll visit the final resting places of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, illustrator Joseph Leyendecker, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury, and photographer George Platt Lynes. Patricia Cronin’s well-known sculpture “Memorial to a Marriage” is a highlight of this tour. The tour will be co-led by Jay Shockley, Project co-director; Amanda Davis, manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project; and Susan Olsen, Director of Historical Services at Woodlawn Cemetery.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Did you shop at the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop (at either location!)? We’re sounding a “call for memories” from former customers and supporters with an informal memory-sharing meetup and recording session outside the former location of what was the second location of the trailblazing bookstore. All are invited to meet Project manager Amanda Davis and our communications team outside 15 Christopher Street where we’ll record (lo-fi on iPhones) your recollections of this important community space. Swing by for 10 minutes, say hi, share your story!

In 1973, Craig Rodwell moved his Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, the first gay and lesbian bookstore on the East Coast (and the first of its kind in the nation to operate long term), from its original home on Mercer Street to a prominent location on Christopher Street, near the center of New York City’s gay life. The shop, which also served as a vital community center, occupied this site for over 35 years.

LGBTQ artists have played a major role in influencing American cultural life, yet their personal identities are typically not presented when visitors explore their historic studios and homes.

Efforts to correct these omissions are at the forefront of the movement to landmark and celebrate significant LGBTQ sites, including historic house museums. Many of these sites are now working to document and interpret the one-time residents to reflect their true lives, loves, friendships, and influences. The process from research, through official designation, to changes in public programs and interpretation is a complex journey and the reception in local communities can vary. In this Pride Month, three historic house museums in the art and design worlds—The Glass House, the Alice Austen House, and the Demuth Museum—are coming together to discuss this process and how telling the full story of their history has been received.

The event will be moderated by Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

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Speakers

Abby Baer, Executive Director, Demuth Museum
Victoria Munro, Executive Director, Alice Austen House
Kirsten Reoch, Executive Director, The Glass House

For discounted student tickets ($15), please enter promotional code GHPSTUDENT when making reservations. In partnership with Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Hosted by the New York Studio School.

Photo: Glass House, exterior.

Panel: LGBTQ+ Historic Sites: Featuring the Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza House

The State of New Jersey has a rich LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) history, yet the numerous historic sites associated with these places, events, and people are often not recognized or preserved. Throughout the country, the historic preservation profession is striving to weave more of these important threads into our cultural narrative. This session highlights the 2023 Jersey City local designation of the Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza House, the first LGBTQ designated site in New Jersey. Panelists will discuss Venus’ story, explore ballroom culture, and investigate the challenges and opportunities in identifying and commemorating LGBTQ site-based resources more widely.

Speakers

MODERATOR: Ken Lustbader | Project co-director, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

PRESENTERS: Daniella Carter| LGBTQ+ youth advocate, director and producer
Michael Roberson| public health practitioner, advocate, activist, artist and community leader

The NY Statewide Preservation Conference is returning to Rochester, and General Registration is now open (through April 5 or while space remains)! Featuring three days of exploration, conversation, and education. It is the only event of its kind in the state—a multi-day gathering for anyone involved in preservation and community revitalization.

Project manager Amanda Davis will participate on April 16th at 11:15am on a panel moderated by Dr. Jeff Iovannone.

Panel: LGBTQ Heritage Conservation in New York State: Perspectives, Strategies, Challenges

Historic preservation and public history professionals working in LGBTQ heritage conservation throughout New York State and beyond will present examples of their respective work and discuss ways to advance LGBTQ preservation efforts in New York, challenges to the conservation of LGBTQ heritage, upstate/downstate connections, and the necessity and use of a statewide LGBTQ historic context statement.

Speakers
Dr. Jeff Iovannone | Preservation Planner, Landmark Society of Western New York
Dr. Samantha Rosenthal | Associate Professor of History, Roanoke College; Co-founder, Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project
Erin Tobin | Executive Director, Adirondack Architectural Heritage
Amanda Davis | Project Manager, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

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Since the early 20th century, Greenwich Village has been a sanctuary for writers, artists, academics, and activists alike. As the century progressed, the charming tree-lined streets bore witness to the collection of quintessential theaters, bookstores, cabarets, jazz clubs, and iconic monuments that have contributed to New York City and American culture.

Documenting these historic sites through illustrations has the ability to create an archival record of the past. Please join us to discuss the contemporary work of artist Lily Annabelle who has illustrated many of these important sites as part of an exhibition opening at Jefferson Market Library on April 3.

Speakers from Village Preservation and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will share with the community the Village’s past and present, with highlights on music, theater, literature, and LGBTQ histories.

Some highlighted sites include –

• The Public Theatre
• Café Wha?
• Three Lives & Co.
• Cherry Lane Theatre
• IFC
• Julius
• Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse
• Cubbyhole
• The Stonewall Inn
• Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop

About the Artist: Lily Annabelle is a West Village-based illustration artist. Prior to starting her art career in April 2023, Lily worked as a data analytics professional, holding a leadership position at a market research company. Despite being new to the art scene, Lily already started to gain ground in the city. Her illustrations are proudly treasured by over 50 famed New York establishments, among them are familiar names such as Bergdorf Goodman, Smith & Wollensky, and Comedy Cellar. Currently, Lily is preparing to publish her first book.

Use of library space for this program does not indicate endorsement by The New York Public Library.

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The Roxy, Splash, Disco 2000, MEAT, Pyramid, Limelight … take a visual tour through the dizzying rise and demise of these legendary queer NYC clubs and parties with journalist and historian David Kennerley as he discusses his new book, GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s. Revisit dozens of bars, dance clubs, sex clubs, and other nightlife venues that provided a refuge during the AIDS crisis through eye-popping flyers from Kennerley’s collection.

The event will be hosted by Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, who will highlight nightlife spots from the pre- and post-Stonewall period.

About the Speaker

David Kennerley is a journalist and historian specializing in LGBTQ culture. For two decades, he has been an Arts & Entertainment reporter for Gay City News. Examples from his ephemera collection were shown in the “Letting Loose and Fighting Back” exhibition at the New-York Historical Society honoring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. He currently lives in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan and occasionally still goes clubbing. His latest publication is GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s. (buy here)

About the NYC LGBT Historic Site Project

The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is a nonprofit cultural initiative and educational resource that is making an invisible history visible by documenting extant historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community throughout New York City. For more, visit www.nyclgbtsites.org, or follow on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

This event is funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and New York City Tourism Foundation.

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With an introduction on transgender history and medical care by scholar Susan Stryker, this book talk and conversation features Alison Li, author of the newly-published biography, Wondrous Transformations: A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution.

Through the late 1940s, the use of hormone therapy and surgery as medical treatment options for trans individuals was not widely studied, available, or legal in the U.S. This approach changed through the work of Dr. Harry Benjamin, who in 1948, became one of the first physicians in the U.S. to work with transgender individuals, first providing treatment and care from his office at 728 Park Avenue until c. 1956 and, then, other locations. When he retired in 1976, Dr. Benjamin was recognized as the world’s preeminent expert on the subject and had seen upwards of 1,500 trans patients. This book talk will bring Dr. Benjamin’s influential work into focus.

The event will be hosted by Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, who will highlight historic places in New York City connected to trans history.

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Photo: Harry Benjamin, on his arrival in New York, February 1913. Credit: Bain News Service photograph collection/Library of Congress.

About the Speakers

ALISON LI is an historian of science and medicine based in Toronto. She is author of Wondrous Transformations: A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution. Alison’s work focusses on the history of hormone science and the culture in which it was shaped.

SUSAN STRYKER’s historical research, theoretical writings, media-making, activism, and academic field-building activities have helped shape the conversation on trans issues since the early 1990s. Learn more about her work.

About the NYC LGBT Historic Site Project
The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is a nonprofit cultural initiative and educational resource that is making an invisible history visible by documenting extant historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community throughout New York City. For more, visit www.nyclgbtsites.org, or follow on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

This event is funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, and the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Join us on a Sunday afternoon stroll of Greenwich Village as we explore the lesbian community’s connections to one of the world’s most famous neighborhoods. We’ll cover places that speak to the evolution of the lesbian bar, from the 1910s onward, and gathering spots run by women for women that popped up in the Village in the 1970s. Stops along the way include the former homes of notable lesbians who have helped shape American history and culture.

The tour will last approximately 1 1/2 hours. Meet at northwest corner of Washington Square Park (outside the gate), at Waverly Place and Washington Square West.

Tickets: $25/person.

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Funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, and the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Join us for an evening with Diana Rodriguez, founder of Pride Live, and Ken Lustbader of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. We’ll learn about Diana’s career in activism and fundraising, from her work with not-for-profits like the Clinton Foundation all the way to the founding of Pride Live. She’ll share the story of how the organization became involved with the Stonewall National Monument and what led to the partnership to create the First LGBTQ+ focused Visitor Center in the US National Park System. Ken will add to the story from his involvement as a historian for the project, and how he helps bring context and fact to the project. He will walk us through the history of the Stonewall building, detailing the lead up to the night of the rebellion in 1969 and the aftermath that created the Gay Liberation movement in New York, the first gay Pride March, and the history of the space since then.

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Woodlawn Cemetery and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project celebrate Pride Month with a special trolley tour illuminating LGBT permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Join us as we share stories about love, loss, and relationships on our annual tour. We’ll visit the final resting places of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, illustrator Joseph Leyendecker, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury, and photographer George Platt Lynes. Patricia Cronin’s well-known sculpture “Memorial to a Marriage” is a highlight of this tour. The tour will be co-led by Andrew Dolkart, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and Susan Olsen, Director of Historical Services at Woodlawn Cemetery.

This is the second of 2 Woodlawn Cemetery tours. The first at 12pm is now sold out.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Woodlawn Cemetery and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project celebrate Pride Month with a special trolley tour illuminating LGBT permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Join us as we share stories about love, loss, and relationships on our annual tour. We’ll visit the final resting places of Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, illustrator Joseph Leyendecker, theatrical agent Elisabeth Marbury, and photographer George Platt Lynes. Patricia Cronin’s well-known sculpture “Memorial to a Marriage” is a highlight of this tour. The tour will be co-led by Andrew Dolkart, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and Susan Olsen, Director of Historical Services at Woodlawn Cemetery.

SOLD OUT. A second tour has been added at 2:00 PM — register here.

This in-person walking tour, led by experts at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, highlights historic places that help contextualize the landmark 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn. Starting at Christopher Park, across from Stonewall, learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the game-changing uprising. Stops along the tour will also highlight locations that have been especially impactful on the lives of LGBT people, including the starting point of the first-ever NYC Pride March (in 1970), popular gay and lesbian bars such as the Duchess and the Snake Pit, and places connected to the Mattachine Society (NYC’s first gay rights group), the Gay Activists Alliance, Radicalesbians, and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). The tour will end at Julius’, site of the historic 1966 “Sip-In.”

The tour will last approximately 1 ½ hours and will take place rain or shine.

Advance registration required — $30 general admission; $20 student, with proof of student ID.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, and the New York City Tourism Foundation.

This in-person walking tour, led by experts at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, highlights historic places associated with 20th century LGBT life and activism in and around Washington Square Park. We’ll visit the block of MacDougal Street, just south of Washington Square, that was once the cultural and social center of the Village’s bohemian set. We’ll also explore sites of activism and community, including the former homes of Larry Kramer, Edie Windsor, and Lorraine Hansberry, meeting places of the Salsa Soul Sisters and Gay Liberation Front, and performance spaces of the Spiderwoman Theater, co-founded by Muriel Miguel, and the Judson Poets Theater, one of the earliest Off-Off-Broadway theater groups. The tour will end in the West Village in the vicinity of Stonewall.

The tour will last approximately 1 ½ hours and will take place rain or shine.

Advance registration required — $30 general admission; $20 student, with proof of student ID.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, and the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Explore Pride beyond Stonewall and Greenwich Village! Guides from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will make their way uptown for a special Upper West Side in-person walking tour, from Central Park to Riverside Park. Beginning at the Abraham Lincoln statue in front of the New-York Historical Society, this walk will visit historic sites such as the residences of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin and the Cuban-born 1950s gay rights activist Tony Segura; the Ansonia, which once housed the legendary Continental Baths; and The Dakota, once home to composer Leonard Bernstein, among others, and a prime example of the neighborhood’s long-standing connection to the performing arts. The tour will end at the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Riverside Park, at 72nd Street.

The tour will last approximately 1 ½ hours and will take place rain or shine.

Advance registration required — $30 general admission; $20 student, with proof of student ID.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Funded, in part, by grants from Consolidated Edison, New York Community Trust, and the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Where did LGBT Hollywood stars like Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift get their start? Where were plays by Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Tony Kushner premiered? And where did Lorraine Hansberry make African American theater history with her landmark 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun? Join co-director Jay Shockley, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project’s resident theater guru, for a virtual tour of the Broadway Theater District, ahead of the 2023 Tony Awards!

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The theater constitutes one of the city’s primary creative and economic forces, and the LGBT community has had a significant and disproportionate impact on the Broadway stage. This included the contributions of major LGBT performers, playwrights, directors, composers, lyricists, librettists, choreographers, and set, costume and lighting designers who created many of Broadway’s most iconic shows. Despite the New York Legislature-enacted Wales Padlock Law (1927) that made it illegal for theaters to show plays that featured gay and lesbian characters through 1967, some productions managed to get around this restriction and some became stage classics.

This talk highlights a fascinating history of Broadway, and the theaters themselves, seen through the lens of the LGBT community, beginning in the early 20th century.

Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village became known as a gay meeting place and cruising area from the late 19th century through the 1960s. Following the Stonewall uprising of 1969, it became a space associated with LGBT activism. Join the Project and Jeffry Iovannone for a survey of historical events that took place in the Park, as well as significant locations — former residences, bars and spaces for community gathering — in the surrounding neighborhood.

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Green-Wood Cemetery and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project celebrate illuminating LGBTQ+ permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American history and culture. Along the way you will visit the graves of “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of the “Angel of the Waters” sculpture atop Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; and activists and founders of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin, among others.

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Join our NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project co-director Andrew Dolkart for a virtual walk, in-the-field, discussing LGBT historic sites in Greenwich Village for Municipal Arts Society‘s 2023 Janes Walk events. Our 20-minute Instagram Live tour will explore Greenwich Village — sites of rallies and gatherings as well as bars and gathering places, and former residences of notable individuals. Learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture.

Follow the Project on Instagram and watch the live broadcast at @nyclgbtsites.

Our virtual tour anticipates ending at the NYC AIDS Memorial, pictured.

Trans lesbian activist and writer Leslie Feinberg is the subject of a new digital exhibition by friend of the Project, Jeff Iovannone. “Leslie Feinberg’s Buffalo,” organized via Cornell University’s Department of City and Regional Planning, documents and spatially maps historic sites represented in Feinberg’s award-winning novel, Stone Butch Blues, originally published in Ithaca, New York by Firebrand Books in 1993. Join Project co-director, Ken Lustbader, and Jeff Iovannone *live* on Instagram on Monday, April 24th, at 12:30PM EST as they discuss Feinberg’s legacy in Ithaca as well as New York City, and the important work of documenting place-based history.

More on the exhibition: Though often not read as such, Stone Butch Blues is a particularly spatial and geographic work. Feinberg based many of the novel’s locations, events, and characters on her own lived experiences coming of age in the factories and bars of Buffalo, New York. Stone Butch Blues can, therefore, be read as a map of Buffalo’s queer history, and Leslie Feinberg’s Buffalo makes apparent a geography hidden just beneath the surface of Feinberg’s text. The exhibition was made possible with funding from the Kermit C. & Janice I. Parsons Scholarship from Cornell University’s Department of City and Regional Planning.

Did you shop at Womanbooks? We’re sounding a “call for memories” from former customers and supporters with an informal memory-sharing meetup and recording session outside the former location of what was the second feminist bookstore in New York City. All are invited to meet Project manager Amanda Davis and our communications team outside 201 West 92nd Street where we’ll record (lo-fi on iPhones) your recollections of this important community space. Swing by for 10 minutes, say hi, share your story!

Open from 1975 to 1987, Womanbooks sold books written, published, and printed by women, many of which could not be found in mainstream bookstores, including many titles on lesbianism and female sexuality. The bookstore doubled as a women’s center where women could gather regardless of sexuality, race, or political affiliation.

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Project manager Amanda Davis will join Greenwich Historical Society to detail the ongoing efforts behind the Project’s research and documentation. She will also highlight historic places in New York City that have ties to past Connecticut residents, such as author Maurice Sendak and actress Katharine Hepburn, and share stories about how LGBTQ activism and life in the city impacted people in the Tri-State area and beyond.

This event is being held as part of Greenwich Historical Society’s “Shine a Light” series.

New York City has long been a refuge for LGBTQ people who, in turn, have helped shape the history and culture of the city, region, and nation through countless historic places. Yet, until recently, these contributions went largely unknown and uncelebrated. Since 2015, the award-winning NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project has worked to flip the narrative by documenting historic places connected to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in New York City. The Project’s goal is to broaden public understanding of LGBTQ history beyond the Stonewall uprising of 1969, and to advocate for its inclusion in the collective telling of American history. Its interactive website includes over 400 sites, from the 17th century to the year 2000, and over 30 curated themes. The team further disseminates this history through community engagement, social media, and public programs. The Project’s research and advocacy have also resulted in the listing of eleven sites on the National Register of Historic Places and the designation of nine sites as New York City Landmarks for their significance to LGBTQ history.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Vito Russo was a prominent and beloved figure in New York City’s LGBT community, beginning with his popular Friday night “Firehouse Flicks” at the Gay Activists Alliance headquarters in Soho in the early 1970s. As a co-founder of GLAAD and ACT UP in the 1980s, Russo helped push for better media representation for LGBT individuals and brought attention to the AIDS crisis at a time of government inaction and widespread public apathy. He is best remembered as an activist and for his 1980s book, The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (1981; rev. 1987), a pioneering achievement that directly influenced the creation of LGBT media studies.

Join us for a book talk with Michael Schiavi, biographer of Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo (2011). Schiavi will discuss his book and Russo’s legacy 33 years after his death from AIDS-related complications. Ken Lustbader, co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, will also highlight historic places on the Project’s website where Russo helped shape the course of LGBT history, including his long-time residence in Chelsea.

Celebrate the reopening of La MaMa Experimental Theater Company’s 74 East 4th Street building with a ribbon cutting event. Free; all are welcome to attend! Can’t be in NYC? La MaMa will be taking over the Project’s Instagram @nyclgbtsites to live broadcast this exciting community event. Tune in just before 11AM and share your congratulations from anywhere in the world!

Iconic theatre-artist André De Shields will be the special guest for our ribbon cutting at 74 East 4th Street, his artistic home starting in the ’70s. He will be joined onstage by Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Laurie Cumbo and NYC Councilmember Carlina Rivera, and others. Immediately following the ceremony, La MaMa invites you to come inside to see performances and installations as you explore and experience the renovated spaces. Ceremony will begin promptly at 11AM; gather a few minutes early with hot chocolate (and bells!). This event is rain or shine, and guests are encouraged to dress for the weather.

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club was founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart and moved to 74 East 4th Street in the East Village in 1969. Today it is widely considered the oldest surviving, most influential, and most prolific of all the Off-Off-Broadway stages. It has had associations with many LGBT playwrights, directors, and performers. (read more)

FREE to all; please consider a suggested donation $5 or more.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Outdoor public spaces are historically tied to the LGBTQ+ community and have been important places for community gathering, cruising and sex, mobilization, and celebration. These locations – parks, streetscapes, and beaches, to name a few – are where the queer community have appropriated spaces for survival and existence as well as for queer activism. However, in many cities throughout the country, these queer spaces, queer stories, and queer memories have largely gone undocumented and unappreciated. This presentation will explore the often unrecognized and untold stories and histories of LGBTQ+ people within the public spaces and landscapes we see everyday. Included will be a focus on New York City public spaces.

Join Project co-director Ken Lustbader with and Max Dickson, landscape designer and planner at OLIN, as they discuss the history of queer public spaces, share local and national case studies including New York City spaces such as Riis Beach and the Stonewall National Monument at Christopher Park, and explore the role of preservationists and designers in increasing the overall visibility of culturally significant LGBTQ+ landscapes.

This live virtual presentation will be co-sponsored by landscape architecture and urban planning studio, OLIN. OLIN works internationally on projects ranging in size from large-scale master planning to mid-sized institutions to small urban interventions. OLIN’s celebrated projects in New York City include Bryant Park, Battery Park City, and the newly opened Pier 26 at Hudson River Park. Since 2020, Max has led a research and advocacy initiative, “PrideScapes”, through OLIN’s internal research group, OLIN Labs. Labs seeks to grow the impact of the landscape architectural profession through original research, thought leadership, and by building platforms for purpose-driven collaboration and activism.

Photo: A group of women at the beach in Riis Park, 1960s. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

The Caffe Cino operated from 1958 to 1968 and was owned by Joe Cino, an openly gay man. The cafe theater venue is recognized as the birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway and was a pioneer in the development of gay theater, at a time when depicting homosexuality on stage was still illegal. In 2017, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project successfully nominated the Caffe Cino space to the National Register of Historic Places for its significance to LGBT history.

We invite you to celebrate the Caffe Cino with us as we unveil a plaque at 31 Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village, its former home, on what would have been Joe Cino’s 91st birthday. The plaque recognizes the Cino’s listing on the National Register. We’ll be joined by Bombay Bistro, the current tenant of the space, Magie Dominic, a Cino alum whose archives were invaluable in writing the National Register nomination, as well as a number of special guests.

You can read more about the Caffe Cino on our project page. We hope to see you there!

Amanda Davis, project manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, will introduce attendees to the multilayered LGBTQ histories embedded in New York City’s built environment, with a special focus on sites located in the borough of Queens. She will also discuss how her organization works both to preserve these sites and present them to the public.

This live virtual presentation will be moderated by Aithne Bialo-Padin, Lecturer in the Department of History at Queensborough Community College / CUNY.

Project manager Amanda Davis will take part in this virtual event hosted by the College of Staten Island. From the College’s event description:

Please join us to celebrate the life, work, and accomplishments of Audre Lorde – Black poet, writer, radical feminist, Womanist, lesbian, and human rights activist – on the 30th anniversary of her death and the 50th of her moving to Staten Island with her partner Frances Clayton and two children. Audre Lorde lived in the Stapleton Heights neighborhood for 17 years, teaching at Hunter College and producing some of her most important work. Faculty members from the College of Staten Island and community partners and friends will make brief presentations about the many dimensions of Lorde’s life, work, and legacy. In addition, students from the College will read and reflect on the significance of Lorde’s poetry in their lives today. In addition, clips of Audre Lorde reading and speaking will be presented. The event will conclude with questions, comments, and reflections from audience members. Please note: Advance registration is required for this event; register at tinyurl.com/csialcelebration

This event is co-sponsored by the College of Staten Island School of Education, Department of the Library, Department of English, Office of Student Life – LGBTQ Resource Center/Pluralism & Diversity, Bertha Harris Women’s Center, and the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program. We are especially grateful for the participation of the Alice Austen House Museum, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and the Staten Island African American Heritage Tour.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, gay and lesbian bars and clubs were subject to various oppressive forms of social control by the police, religiously-affiliated individuals and groups — such as the 19th-century New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, that dictated morality and raided bars and clubs — and eventually the State Liquor Authority (SLA) in 1934. After the end of Prohibition, almost all LGBT bars and gathering spaces came to be controlled by the Mafia. In this talk, co-director Jay Shockley will highlight locations that were routinely raided by the police and the acts of civil disobedience activists organized in response, such as the Sea Colony, a 1950s-60s lesbian bar; Julius’, now known for the Mattachine Society’s 1966 “Sip-In”; and more.

REGISTER HERE>

This event is presented with the support of the New York Community Trust and Con Edison.

Photo: The Sea Colony, first floor of 52, 50, and 48 Eighth Avenue (left to right), 1964. Photo by John Barrington Bayley. Courtesy of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

On September 13th (7:30pm-8:30pm) Project co-directors Jay Shockley and Ken Lustbader, and project manager Amanda Davis, will join friends and collaborators at History UnErased for a virtual interactive multimedia soirée and discussion!

History UnErased is an education nonprofit founded in 2015 by veteran classroom teachers to provide K-12 schools with curriculum and training to teach LGBTQ-inclusive history as it intersects with race, gender, and nationality within the mainstream curriculum.

In 2017, the Project was contacted by History UnErased about using its interactive map content as a curriculum tool to further the Project’s goal of bringing LGBTQ historic places to life to reveal a broader story of American history and culture. The Project subsequently presented its work to public school teachers at an NYC Department of Education conference, and began site visits at area schools to bring LGBTQ-centered history around arts and culture, education, science, and more, into the classroom.

Register now to learn more about this history, and to meet people doing vital work toward a mission shared by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project: Making an invisible history visible.

And don’t forget to come prepared with your favorite sips and snacks!

What are spaces of freedom, community, and expression? Do they form naturally, or can we create them? How can we designate, document, and defend these spaces now and in the future?

Join MAS as we explore these ideas with a virtual conversation about the People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park. The People’s Beach has long been a beloved space for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. A recently announced city plan threatens to knock down a long-abandoned medical center that helped cultivate this stretch of beach as a safe haven. What would that mean for the beach and its role as a protected place for queer culture, queer history, and queer community?

The conversation will engage artists, historians, journalists, and activists in a discussion on the importance of the space, and how we can document, celebrate, and protect community spaces at Jacob Riis Park, and beyond.

PANELISTS
Ceyenne Doroshow, GLITS
Jahlove Serrano, GLITS
Ken Lustbader, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
Annie Iezzi, Freelance Journalist
Katie Honan, THE CITY
Chris Berntsen, Photographer

MODERATOR
Spencer Williams, MAS

Join NYC LGBT Historic Sites project manager Amanda Davis at Jefferson Market Library on Thursday, July 14, part of a week of in-person festivities organized by the New York Public Library: The Jefferson Market Jubilee.

Amanda will appear with author Hugh Ryan for a discussion on the Women’s House of Detention, the former occupant of today’s Jefferson Market Garden and subject of Ryan’s latest book: The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.

Pride is celebrated to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement. In its immediate aftermath, new activist groups emerged fighting for liberation and visibility. However, New York City has a long and vibrant LGBT history dating to the early 20th century. Join Andrew Dolkart and Ken Lustbader, Co-Directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, for an LGBT walking tour of Greenwich Village. Starting under the arch at Washington Square Park, learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture. The tour will also highlight the importance of these sites to a marginalized community that oftentimes had nowhere else to go to fully be themselves. Stops will include places connected to such groups as the Salsa Soul Sisters, Mattachine Society, and the Gay Liberation Front, and to the LGBT activists, artists, and business owners who found refuge in the Village since the late 19th century.

REGISTER HERE>

This is a FUNDRAISING tour; all money raised will support the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Tour starts at the Arch in Washington Square Park, in Greenwich Village. Walking tour will take place rain or shine.

This event is presented with the support of the New York Community Trust and Con Edison.

Featured photo: Salsa Soul Sisters at the 1985 Gay Pride March. Photo by Suzanne Poli.

Pride is celebrated to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement. In its immediate aftermath, new activist groups emerged fighting for liberation and visibility. However, New York City has a long and vibrant LGBT history dating to the early 20th century. Join Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley, Co-Directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, on a walking tour of pre- and post-Stonewall historic sites associated with early LGBT activism that influenced American culture and politics.

REGISTER HERE>

Starting at the Christopher Park, across from Stonewall, learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the 1969 uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar. Stops along the tour will highlight such events as the formation of the first Pride march in 1970 and the birth of the STAR, the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.

This is a FUNDRAISING tour; all money raised will support the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Tour starts at the Stonewall National Monument at Christopher Park, across from the Stonewall Inn. Walking tour will take place rain or shine.

This event is presented with the support of the New York Community Trust and Con Edison.

Featured photo: Participants of the Stonewall uprising in front of the Stonewall bar, June 29, 1969. Gift of The Estate of Fred W. McDarrah.

We’re connecting the work of LGBTQ artists in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the physical sites where they lived and worked this month in a five-part special Pride 2022 collaboration! Every week, we’ll join in conversation with our colleagues at the Met to celebrate the work and legacy of an artist who’s featured on our website, www.nyclgbtsites.org.

Watch along on Instagram: @nyclgbtsites and @metmuseum.

Weds 6/29 at 12PM *LIVE*
Richmond Barthé, whose sculptural work, “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho,” stands at Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Houses, along with smaller pieces in the Met Museum’s collection.

Learn more about the artist and work before the live talk: Richmond Barthé & “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho”.

Mark your calendar for the full schedule of talks.

Weds 6/1 at 11AM *LIVE*
Keith Haring, as discussed through his East Harlem mural, “Crack is Wack” and his 1983 “Untitled,” not normally on view!

Fri 6/10 at 12:30PM *LIVE*
Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on the artists’ residences and studios at 181-189 Second Avenue, and “David Wojnarowicz with a Snake,” by Peter Hujar (1981), not normally on view!

Weds 6/15 at 10AM
Debut of the Project and the Met in conversation about the work of pioneering female photographer Berenice Abbott, who resided in Greenwich Village and whose portraiture and cityscapes are in the museum’s Drawings and Photographs collection.

Weds 6/22 at 12PM *LIVE*
Martin Wong, as discussed through his former Ridge Street residence as well as the Lower East Side handball court that is captured in his work within the Met Museum’s collection, “Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero)” (1982–84).

All of these virtual programs will be captioned for full accessibility and posted to Instagram subsequent to the live broadcast. We thank you in advance for your patience as we process and prepare these videos.

We’re connecting the work of LGBTQ artists in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the physical sites where they lived and worked this month in a five-part special Pride 2022 collaboration! Every week, we’ll join in conversation with our colleagues at the Met to celebrate the work and legacy of an artist who’s featured on our website, www.nyclgbtsites.org.

Watch along on Instagram: @nyclgbtsites and @metmuseum.

Weds 6/22 at 12PM *LIVE*
Martin Wong, as discussed through his former Ridge Street residence as well as the Lower East Side handball court that is captured in his work within the Met Museum’s collection, “Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero)” (1982–84).

Learn more about the artist and work before the live talk: Martin Wong Residence & Studio.

Mark your calendar for the full schedule of talks.

Weds 6/1 at 11AM *LIVE*
Keith Haring, as discussed through his East Harlem mural, “Crack is Wack” and his 1983 “Untitled,” not normally on view!

Fri 6/10 at 12:30PM *LIVE*
Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on the artists’ residences and studios at 181-189 Second Avenue, and “David Wojnarowicz with a Snake,” by Peter Hujar (1981), not normally on view!

Weds 6/15 at 10AM
Debut of the Project and the Met in conversation about the work of pioneering female photographer Berenice Abbott, who resided in Greenwich Village and whose portraiture and cityscapes are in the museum’s Drawings and Photographs collection.

Weds 6/29 at 12PM *LIVE*
Richmond Barthé, whose sculptural work, “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho,” stands at Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Houses, along with smaller pieces in the Met Museum’s collection.

All of these virtual programs will be captioned for full accessibility and posted to Instagram subsequent to the live broadcast. We thank you in advance for your patience as we process and prepare these videos.

We’re connecting the work of LGBTQ artists in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the physical sites where they lived and worked this month in a five-part special Pride 2022 collaboration! Every week, we’ll join in conversation with our colleagues at the Met to celebrate the work and legacy of an artist who’s featured on our website, www.nyclgbtsites.org.

Watch along on Instagram: @nyclgbtsites and @metmuseum.

Weds 6/15 at 10AM
Debut of the Project and the Met in conversation about the work of pioneering female photographer Berenice Abbott, who resided in Greenwich Village and whose portraiture and cityscapes are in the museum’s Drawings and Photographs collection.

Learn more about the artist and work before the live talk: Berenice Abbott & Elizabeth McCausland Residence & Studio.

Mark your calendar for the full schedule of talks.

Weds 6/1 at 11AM *LIVE*
Keith Haring, as discussed through his East Harlem mural, “Crack is Wack” and his 1983 “Untitled,” not normally on view!

Fri 6/10 at 12:30PM *LIVE*
Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on the artists’ residences and studios at 181-189 Second Avenue, and “David Wojnarowicz with a Snake,” by Peter Hujar (1981), not normally on view!

Weds 6/22 at 12PM *LIVE*
Martin Wong, as discussed through his former Ridge Street residence as well as the Lower East Side handball court that is captured in his work within the Met Museum’s collection, “Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero)” (1982–84).

Weds 6/29 at 12PM *LIVE*
Richmond Barthé, whose sculptural work, “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho,” stands at Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Houses, along with smaller pieces in the Met Museum’s collection.

All of these virtual programs will be captioned for full accessibility and posted to Instagram subsequent to the live broadcast. We thank you in advance for your patience as we process and prepare these videos.

We’re connecting the work of LGBTQ artists in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the physical sites where they lived and worked this month in a five-part special Pride 2022 collaboration! Every week, we’ll join in conversation with our colleagues at the Met to celebrate the work and legacy of an artist who’s featured on our website, www.nyclgbtsites.org.

Watch along on Instagram: @nyclgbtsites and @metmuseum.

Fri 6/10 at 12:30PM *LIVE*
Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on the artists’ residences and studios at 181-189 Second Avenue, and “David Wojnarowicz with a Snake,” by Peter Hujar (1981), not normally on view!

Learn more about the artist and work before the live talk: Peter Hujar Residence & Studio / David Wojnarowicz Residence & Studio.

Mark your calendar for the full schedule of talks.

Weds 6/1 at 11AM *LIVE*
Keith Haring, as discussed through his East Harlem mural, “Crack is Wack” and his 1983 “Untitled,” not normally on view!

Weds 6/15 at 10AM
Debut of the Project and the Met in conversation about the work of pioneering female photographer Berenice Abbott, who resided in Greenwich Village and whose portraiture and cityscapes are in the museum’s Drawings and Photographs collection.

Weds 6/22 at 12PM *LIVE*
Martin Wong, as discussed through his former Ridge Street residence as well as the Lower East Side handball court that is captured in his work within the Met Museum’s collection, “Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero)” (1982–84).

Weds 6/29 at 12PM *LIVE*
Richmond Barthé, whose sculptural work, “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho,” stands at Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Houses, along with smaller pieces in the Met Museum’s collection.

All of these virtual programs will be captioned for full accessibility and posted to Instagram subsequent to the live broadcast. We thank you in advance for your patience as we process and prepare these videos.

We’re connecting the work of LGBTQ artists in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the physical sites where they lived and worked this month in a five-part special Pride 2022 collaboration! Every week, we’ll join in conversation with our colleagues at the Met to celebrate the work and legacy of an artist who’s featured on our website, www.nyclgbtsites.org.

Watch along on Instagram: @nyclgbtsites and @metmuseum.

Weds 6/1 at 11AM *LIVE*
Keith Haring, as discussed through his East Harlem mural, “Crack is Wack” and his 1983 “Untitled,” not normally on view!

Learn more about the artist and work before the live talk: Keith Haring & “Crack is Wack” Playground.

Mark your calendar for the full schedule of talks.

Fri 6/10 at 12:30PM *LIVE*
Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz, focusing on the artists’ residences and studios at 181-189 Second Avenue, and “David Wojnarowicz with a Snake,” by Peter Hujar (1981), not normally on view!

Weds 6/15 at 10AM
Debut of the Project and the Met in conversation about the work of pioneering female photographer Berenice Abbott, who resided in Greenwich Village and whose portraiture and cityscapes are in the museum’s Drawings and Photographs collection.

Weds 6/22 at 12PM *LIVE*
Martin Wong, as discussed through his former Ridge Street residence as well as the Lower East Side handball court that is captured in his work within the Met Museum’s collection, “Attorney Street (Handball Court with Autobiographical Poem by Piñero)” (1982–84).

Weds 6/29 at 12PM *LIVE*
Richmond Barthé, whose sculptural work, “Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho,” stands at Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Houses, along with smaller pieces in the Met Museum’s collection.

All of these virtual programs will be captioned for full accessibility and posted to Instagram subsequent to the live broadcast. We thank you in advance for your patience as we process and prepare these videos.

LED BY ANDREW DOLKART, NYC LGBT HISTORIC SITES PROJECT CO-DIRECTOR

Join our co-director Andrew Dolkart for a virtual walk, in-the-field, discussing LGBT historic sites in Greenwich Village for Municipal Arts Society‘s 2022 Janes Walk events. Our 20-minute Instagram Live tour will center on Washington Square Park, itself the site of rallies and gatherings and, around it, former residences of notable individuals. Learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture.

ACCESSIBILITY
This walk will be virtual, hosted on Instagram Stories Live, and we will activate close captioning as well as monitor chat with questions and those in need of assistance.

Click here to follow @NYCLGBTSites on Instagram so you can follow along live on May 6.

REGISTER HERE

The Project joins Green-Wood Cemetery to celebrate the illuminating LGBTQ+ permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American history and culture. Along the way you will visit the graves of “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of the Angel of the Waters sculpture atop Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; and activists and founders of the Hetrick Martin Institute, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin, among others.

This trolley tour is led by Andrew Dolkart, Co-Director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and Neela Wickremesinghe, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Director of Restoration and Preservation at Green-Wood.

Price: $30, and $25 for Green-Wood members

GET TICKETS

Join us to plant rainbow flags at the Woodlawn Cemetery graves of vaudeville stars, suffragists, Harlem Renaissance figures, artists, writers and other LGBT individuals who are buried at the cemetery. The tour will be led by project co-directors, including Columbia University professor Andrew Dolkart and former Landmarks Commission historian Jay Shockley.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, in collaboration with Village Preservation, at the unveiling of a plaque at Julius’ that honors the bar’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The event will take place on Thursday, April 21, at 6:00 p.m., which falls on the  56th anniversary of the “Sip-In” at Julius’.

On April 21, 1966, members of the Mattachine Society, a pioneering gay rights organization, challenged a regulation that prohibited bars from serving LGBT people by staging a “Sip-In” at Julius’, a bar with a large gay clientele.

With reporters and a photographer in tow, the activists announced that they were homosexuals, asked to be served, and were refused. This early gay rights action and the attendant publicity helped to raise awareness of widespread anti-LGBT discrimination and harassment.

Julius’ was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project in 2016.

The event will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. on April 21st and take place outdoors, rain or shine.

Julius’ is located at 159 West 10^th Street at Waverly Place in Manhattan.

Registration required.

Click to register.

In celebration of the LGBT community’s impact on music and in tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim, Project manager Amanda Davis will take you on a tour of LGBT historic sites connected to music in New York City. A sampling includes the residences of jazz and blues artists in Harlem, venues as grand as Lincoln Center and as intimate as a Greenwich Village coffeehouse, and other places associated with a wide range of tunes, such as classical, cabaret, folk, and popular music.

Click to register.

Photo: Stephen Sondheim (seated at piano) and Leonard Bernstein (standing far right) with the cast of West Side Story at the Winter Garden Theater, 1957. Courtesy of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Commercial and fashion photographer George Platt Lynes (1907-1955) achieved fame after photographing notable writers, including Jean Cocteau, Gertrude Stein, Colette, and Andre Gide, and the George Balanchine/Lincoln Kirstein ballet companies which became the New York City Ballet. Privately, he produced a substantial collection of male nude and homoerotic photographs, many of which were acquired by the Kinsey Institute.

In this program sponsored by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, biographer Allen Ellenzweig will discuss his new book, George Platt Lynes: The Daring Eye, which takes a closer look at the celebrated photographer and the gay and lesbian artistic network of which he was part. Through this lens, the book reconsiders the so-called “closet” assumed to be ubiquitous in pre-Stonewall gay life. Ellenzweig will also highlight historic queer places in New York City that shaped Lynes’ life and work as an early 20th century artist.

About the Author
Allen Ellenzweig is a cultural critic and commentator who has published in numerous arts and general interest periodicals, including The Village Voice and Art in America, as well as the online journals Tablet, The Forward, and Poetry Magazine. His landmark history, The Homoerotic Photograph: Male Images from Durieu/Delacroix to Mapplethorpe, was published in 1992. He is a regular contributor to the Gay & Lesbian Review/Worldwide and teaches in the Writing Program of Rutgers University. His biography, George Platt Lynes: The Daring Eye, is scheduled for publication in November 2021.

Click to register.

This talk, in partnership with Lower East Side Preservation Institute (LESPI), will focus on the Lower East Side, including today’s East Village and Lower East Side below Houston Street, as an area that provides a wonderful snapshot of the city’s LGBT history as a whole. Featured sites will range from those connected to immigration in the 1890s to the AIDS epidemic a century later. Pivotal to the neighborhood’s LGBT history was its affordability for much of the 20th century, attracting numerous diverse artists and activists who both lived and worked there.

Click here to register.

Green-Wood celebrates LGBT History Month with a special trolley tour illuminating permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American history and culture. You will visit the graves of important

LGBTQIA+ figures including “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of the Angel of the Waters sculpture atop Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; activists and founders of the Hetrick Martin Institute, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin, among others. This trolley tour is led by Andrew Dolkart, Co-Directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, and Neela Wickremesinghe, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Director of Restoration and Preservation at Green-Wood.

Click here to register.

Women in 20th century Greenwich Village pushed the norms of society by living as their authentic selves. Join Project manager Amanda Davis for a virtual presentation exploring the lives of women such as: Eve Adams, operator of the popular gay and lesbian tearoom in Greenwich Village, who was convicted of obscenity and disorderly conduct and deported; Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, who also wrote under a pseudonym for a lesbian newsletter; photographer Berenice Abbott and her partner, influential art critic Elizabeth McCausland; and groups such as the Radicalesbians and Salsa Soul Sisters.

The second in our three-part series, “From Progressive Reformers to Lesbian Gathering Spots: Explorations of Same-Sex Relationships & Spaces in New York City,” presented with the support of Humanities New York, Con Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

Join Project Manager Amanda Davis and special guests, activists Ellen Broidy and Karla Jay, in an intergenerational conversation with preservationist Emily Kahn. Lesbian rights activists in New York City worked to gain a voice, equal rights, and recognition within the Gay Liberation and Women’s Liberation movements. Hear from pioneering activists Ellen Broidy and Karla Jay and learn more about the historic sites — residences, bookshops, restaurants, archives, and other communal women-only spaces  — associated with lesbian activism and community in the 1970s.

The first in our three-part series, “From Progressive Reformers to Lesbian Gathering Spots: Explorations of Same-Sex Relationships & Spaces in New York City,” presented with the support of Humanities New York, Con Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

From at least the mid-19th century to the 1920s, the earliest generations of coupled women and their social circles have left an indelible mark on New York City. Often rejecting traditional gender roles, they lived in same-sex relationships and forged careers in politics, social reform, and the arts. Project Co-Director Andrew Dolkart will be joined by special guest Katie Vogel from the Henry Street Settlement, who will discuss the new nomination for founder Lillian Wald’s residence at the Henry Street Settlement to the National Register of Historic Places, acknowledging the significance of Wald’s homosocial world and the influence of lesbians in the settlement house movement.

The third in our three-part series, “From Progressive Reformers to Lesbian Gathering Spots: Explorations of Same-Sex Relationships & Spaces in New York City,” presented with the support of Humanities New York, Con Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

co-presented with Village Preservation and The Village Trip

This is an in-person event. Advance registration required; and meetup location will be provided upon RSVP.

Join the experts at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project for a walking tour of Greenwich Village. Learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people from the 1890s through the post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture. Stops will include places connected to groups including the Salsa Soul Sisters, Mattachine Society, the Gay Liberation Front, and STAR (the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), and the individual LGBT activists, artists, and business owners who found refuge in the Village since the late 19th century.

Advance registration via Village Preservation is required.

View the Event Livestream Page

Karen Karbiener, president and founding member of the Walt Whitman Initiative, is a Whitman scholar and teaches at New York University. Winner of the Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress and a Fulbright recipient, she has published widely on Whitman (most recently working with Brian Selznick on Live Oak, with Moss, a new illustrated edition of Whitman’s secret same-sex love poems).  As a cultural activist in her hometown, Karen has been working on the campaign to preserve 99 Ryerson Street since 2017, and gave testimony at the hearing to landmark 227 Duffield Place, Brooklyn, last year.

Ken Lustbader is a co-founder and co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, an award-winning cultural heritage initiative that is documenting and memorializing LGBT place-based history in New York City. For almost 30 years, he has been national leader in issues related to LGBT history, documentation, and historic preservation. Between 2007 and 2015, he served as Historic Preservation Program Officer at the J.M. Kaplan Fund where he was responsible for US and international grant initiatives. Prior to that he was lead consultant for the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, which resulted in the conservation of in situ elements of the World Trade Center that are now integral components of the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. Between 1994 and 2002, he was the Director of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Program.

Jay Shockley is a co-founder and co-director of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. He retired in 2015 as senior historian at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission where since 1979 he researched and wrote over 100 designation reports covering all aspects of the city’s history. In 1993, he helped pioneer the concept of recognizing LGBT place-based history by incorporating it into the Commission’s reports. He co-authored the Stonewall nomination, which resulted in the first-ever National Register (1999) and National Historic Landmark (2000) listings for an LGBT site.

Brad Vogel is a poet, attorney, preservationist, and sail freight agent. An advocate for designating Whitman’s Leaves of Grass House a city landmark, he serves on the board of the Walt Whitman Initiative. Brad is the author of the poetry collection Broad Meadow Bird and was a finalist for the 2020 Erskine J. Poetry Prize. Brad brings poetry to life in original events including the annual Dawn Reading in canoes for the Brooklyn Book Festival, and NYC Poets Afloat (a microresidency and reading series aboard vessels in NY Harbor). He captains the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club.

Join Preservation Buffalo Niagara and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project as we explore some of the landmarks of the gay liberation movement in both NYC and WNY. By comparing the sites, we’ll be able to gain new insights into similarities and differences between each city’s activities in the movement as well as work to establish a more comprehensive narrative of LGBTQ history in New York State.  The presentation will also feature a special message from Daniel Mackay, Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation at State of New York Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.

Panelists include:

• Ken Lustbader, Co-Director NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
• Jay Shockley, Co-Director NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
• Jeffry J. Iovannone, PhD, Gay Places with Dr. Jeff, Preservation Buffalo Niagara

Moderated by Christiana Limniatis, Director of Preservation Services, Preservation Buffalo Niagara

Advanced registration required (CLICK HERE).

** FREE **

In his forthcoming book, The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams, author Jonathan Ned Katz uncovers the life of Polish-Jewish lesbian émigré Eve Adams, operator of the popular gay and lesbian tearoom in Greenwich Village, who was convicted of obscenity and disorderly conduct and deported. Katz will discuss her remarkable life and eventual death at Auschwitz, using FBI reports and Adams’ own letters.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• Check-in will begin at 6:25PM EST; the program will begin at 6:30PM EST.
• Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• To enter the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted.

Historic places related to LGBTQ history have often been overlooked. The stories we share and the places we save should properly reflect this rich history. In this webinar we will hear from preservationists who are working to fill in these gaps.

Panelists include:
Amanda Davis | Project Manager, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
Jeffrey A. “Free” Harris | Historic Preservation Consultant
Jeffry J. Iovannone, PhD | Founder & Editor-In-Chief, QUEER HISTORY FOR THE PEOPLE

Moderated by: Larry Francer | Associate Director, Landmark Society of Western New York

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED

** FREE **

ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) first brought widespread attention to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The group’s first-ever demonstration took place on March 24, 1987, at the busy intersection of Wall Street and Broadway to protest the high cost of the only approved AIDS drug at the time. On the anniversary of this important action, we’ll join Eric Marcus, host of the Making Gay History podcast, in conversation with Eric Sawyer, ACT UP co-founder, and social justice and HIV activist, and Ann Northrop, long-time ACT UP member, LGBTQ activist, and co-host of the long-running TV news show, Gay USA. Together, we’ll reflect on this defining action in the Financial District, and the many others that followed.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• Check-in will begin at 6:25PM EST; the program will begin at 6:30PM EST.
• Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• To enter the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted.

** FREE **

Join us to mark the 51st anniversary of The Loft and its Love Saves the Day private house party, inaugurated by David Mancuso on Valentine’s Day 1970. Mancuso’s invitation-only parties, held at his residential loft at 647 Broadway, created an egalitarian space focused on the experience of music and dance, and influenced New York City nightlife.

Tim Lawrence, professor of cultural studies and author of Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979, will share his expertise on The Loft and New York’s music scene that produced a growing number of private parties and public clubs, many LGBT-friendly or exclusively LGBT, throughout the decade.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Company Foundation.

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• Check-in will begin at 12:45PM EST; the program will begin at 1:00PM EST.
• Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• To enter the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted.

** FREE **

LGBT Jewish New Yorkers have made a profound impact on the American arts scene, LGBT activism, and religious life. Join us for this virtual tour of NYC sites that connect us with the legacies of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein, archivist and activist Joan Nestle, poet Allen Ginsberg, the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, and more. From the family residence of PFLAG co-founder Jeanne Manford in Queens, to international figure Magnus Hirschfeld’s stay at Manhattan’s Hotel New Yorker, we’ll visit hotels, private homes, houses of worship, and other locations that provide a visceral connection to LGBT Jewish history.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Co. Foundation

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• On the evening of the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted. Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• For event security, check in begins at 6:25PM and discussion starts promptly at 6:30PM.

** FREE **

Formed in the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) challenged the politics of civility with non-violent — but militant — resistance. GAA’s most famous tactic was the “zap,” a direct, public confrontation with a political figure, institution, or business regarding LGBT liberation, equality, and rights, designed to gain media attention.

Take a virtual tour guided by Project co-director Jay Shockley of the memorable and influential Zap sites throughout the city ranging from the April 1970 confrontation of Mayor Lindsay at the Metropolitan Museum, the 1971 engagement party at the New York City Marriage Bureau, and on through the end of 1972.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express and Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Co. Foundation

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

6:25PM — Zoom check-in and chat

6:30PM — Kick-off by Project co-director Ken Lustbader

6:35PM — Virtual tour of Manhattan’s “zap” sites and history, with Project co-director Jay Shockley

7:00PM — Q&A

7:15PM — Conversation & Community

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• On the evening of the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted. Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• For event security, check in begins at 6:25PM and discussion starts promptly at 6:30PM.

Lesbian bars are much more than spaces for drinking and socializing – their very existence has been and continues to be a political act.

** FREE **

NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project for #CheersQueers, a Zoom happy hour + lecture on the past, present and potential future of lesbian spaces in New York City. DID YOU KNOW there are only 3 operating lesbian bars in NYC? Cubbyhole, Henrietta Hudson, and Ginger’s Bar.

Gwendolyn Stegall, historic preservationist and former NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project intern, will discuss her ground-breaking research on how lesbian nightlife spaces have changed over time, as well as revisit a number of important events that happened in these bars. This discussion is especially timely as the survival of the lesbian bar is even further threatened now as businesses struggle to stay afloat. Join us for a drink, and cheers, queers!

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Co. Foundation

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

6:25PM — Zoom check-in and chat
6:30PM — Kick-off by Project co-director Ken Lustbader
6:35PM — Virtual tour of lesbian bars with Gwendolyn Stegall
7:00PM — Q&A
7:15PM — Conversation & Community

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• On the evening of the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted. Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• For event security, check in begins at 6:25PM and discussion starts promptly at 6:30PM.

“Never in history had so many gay and lesbian people come together in one place and for a common endeavor.” – Lillian Faderman, historian

** FREE **

On June 28, 1970, to mark the one-year anniversary of Stonewall, thousands joined the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, now known as the Pride March. At the time, it was the largest gathering of LGBT people in one place for a common purpose and greatly contributed to solidifying the significance of Stonewall in LGBT history.

Join us to honor the 50th Anniversary of this event and the individuals whose behind-the-scenes efforts made the event a reality — in particular Craig Rodwell, whose vision and determination set the tone for a new generation of activists and changed the course of history. Featuring Project co-directors Andrew Scott Dolkart, Jay Shockley and Ken Lustbader.

This event is made possible with generous support from American Express, Consolidated Edison, and NYC & Co. Foundation.

ADVANCE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE IS REQUIRED.

6:25PM — Zoom check-in and chat
6:30PM — Kick-off by Project co-director Ken Lustbader
6:35PM — Virtual presentation and celebration of the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day March, including its planning and those involved in organizing. Presented by Project co-directors Andrew Scott Dolkart, Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley
7:15PM — Q&A
7:30PM — Conversation & Community

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• You will receive an email from Eventbrite on the day of the event with Zoom link and password to attend this virtual event. We strongly recommend you allow yourself extra time prior to the scheduled check-in start time to ensure your Zoom account is setup and up-to-date, to avoid delay in gaining admission.
• On the evening of the event, click on the Zoom link in the Eventbrite email to check-in. At that time, you will be placed into the Waiting Room. Once our team has confirmed your registration with Eventbrite, you will be admitted. Please make sure the name/email used for registration via Eventbrite matches the display name on your Zoom. This is essential for a smooth check-in process and to avoid delays being admitted into the virtual event.
• For event security, check in begins at 6:25PM and discussion starts promptly at 6:30PM.

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project for #DamesAtHome, a *FREE* virtual celebration of the birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway and a haven for pioneering gay theater: the Caffe Cino. Held on the 54th anniversary of the premiere of “Dames at Sea,” the Cino’s most successful production ever, and the stage debut of Bernadette Peters.

Book and lyrics for “Dames at Sea” (1966) by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by James Wise, directed by Robert Dahdah. Other then-unknown gay playwrights and directors whose experimental, controversial, or campy works were staged at the Cino include: Doric Wilson, H.M. Koutoukas, Robert Heide, William M. Hoffman, Lanford Wilson, Tom Eyen, Jeff Weiss, Ronald Tavel, Jean-Claude van Itallie, David Starkweather, Charles Stanley, Paul Foster, and Robert Patrick, and for directors such as Marshall W. Mason, Tom O’Horgan, and Neil Flanagan.

REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE

Here’s what’s in store!

Project manager Amanda Davis will lead a virtually immersive Zoom tour through the history of the Caffe Cino, located at 31 Cornelia Street, in Greenwich Village, from 1958 to 1968.

6:15PM — Zoom check-in and chat

6:30PM — Kick-off by Project co-director Ken Lustbader

6:35PM — Virtual tour of the Caffe Cino with Amanda Davis

7:00PM — Q&A

7:15PM — Conversation & Community

In June 2019, during celebrations for #Stonewall50, the Cino was designated an NYC Individual Landmark by virtue of its significance in LGBT and theater history, thanks to the advocacy of the Project and other key allies. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

LEARN MORE: www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/caffe-cino

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and special guests on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, for a **FREE** virtual celebration of the 1966 Mattachine Society “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar.

Fix a cocktail, enjoy the music and retrace the steps of four Mattachine Society members whose defiant actions made history.

Settle in with a set from DJ Yestergay – Kyle Supley and words of welcome from Project co-director Ken Lustbader. Then, Project co-director and architectural historian Andrew Scott Dolkart will lead a virtually immersive Zoom tour of the four bars visited on April 21, 1966, by activists Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons and, at Julius’, Randy Wicker. Following the tour, stay for Q&A, community and more music!

REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE

Here’s what’s in store!

6:00PM — Happy Hour, chat and music with DJ Yestergay – Kyle Supley
6:25PM — Kick-off by Project co-director Ken Lustbader
6:30PM — Special guest Helen Buford, owner of Julius’ bar
6:35PM — Virtual tour of the 1966 “Sip-In” with Andrew Scott Dolkart
7:00PM — Q&A and cocktails
7:15PM — Music and chatting continues with DJ Yestergay – Kyle Supley

(left to right) Mattachine Society members John Timmons, Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, and Randy Wicker being refused service by the bartender at Julius’, April 21, 1966. Gift of The Estate of Fred W. McDarrah.

FREE Lecture for #LGBTHistoryMonth

What challenges have we met (and overcome!) in the process of identifying, documenting and interpreting LGBTQ place-based heritage? Project co-director Ken Lustbader joins with Gwen Shockey, John Reddick and Carrie Davis for a discussion about the significance and meaning of LGBTQ sites which — though often overlooked — remain integral to our public history and built environment. Hosted by The J.M. Kaplan Fund.

Reclaiming the Invisible: A Conversation About LGBTQ Heritage for #LGBTHistoryMonth
Tuesday, October 22nd at 6pm
The J.M. Kaplan Fund, 71 W 23rd Street, 9th Floor
FREE; RSVP to [email protected]

This conversation will also spotlight the University of Pennsylvania Press’ current issue of “Change Over Time,” which focuses on LGBTQ heritage.

Photo: The Empire State Building illuminated in celebration of NYC Pride.

From Washington Square to Stonewall: A Walk Through the LGBT History of Greenwich Village

Join OPEN Finance and the experts from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project for a walking tour of Greenwich Village. Learn about the LGBT presence in the Bohemian Village and hear about the places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture. The tour will also highlight the importance of these sites to a marginalized community that oftentimes had nowhere else to go to fully be themselves.

Stops will include places connected to such groups as the Salsa Soul Sisters, Mattachine Society, the Gay Liberation Front and to the LGBT activists, artists, and business owners who found refuge in the Village since the late 19th century.

Schedule:
12:45pm: Meet under the Arch in Washington Square Park
1:00pm: Guided tour of the West Village
2:30pm: Estimated time for tour ending at Julius’ bar on West 10th Street (appeared in various episodes of Pose Season 1)

Explore Pride beyond Stonewall! Guides from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will make their way uptown for a special walking tour that starts at the New-York Historical Society. Check out sites like writer James Baldwin’s residence, the Ansonia (which once housed the legendary Continental Baths), and The Dakota (once home to composer Leonard Bernstein, among others) and stroll by the places where LGBTQ history made its mark.

LOCATION

Begins at the Membership Desk inside the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (at West 76th Street).

PURCHASING TICKETS

By phone: Contact New-York Historical’s in-house call center at (212) 485-9268. Call center is open 9 am–5 pm daily.
Online: Click on the “Attend Event” button at the top of this page.
In person: Advance tickets may be purchased on site at New-York Historical’s Admissions desk during museum hours.

Advance purchase is required to guarantee participation. Program tickets include New-York Historical Society admission.

We’re excited to be a part of NYC Pride’s Human Rights Conference next week! Project co-director Jay Shockley will be speaking on Monday, June 24th, at 3pm in a session titled “From Stonewall to Pulse: A Discussion on the Future of LGBTQ+ Historic Sites,” featuring National Parks Conservation Association, National Center for Transgender Equality, onePULSE Foundation.

Details
NYC Pride’s Human Rights Conference is an exciting gathering of activists, artists, educators, journalists, policymakers, students, and others engaged in LGBTQIA+ human rights around the world. This two-day conference provides a unique opportunity for a global dialogue about human rights, ranging from performances to presentations, politics to policies, and activism to academics. 

Conference overview with panel details can be seen here.

Please join Urban Archive and NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project for a FREE digital historical scavenger hunt in Greenwich Village. As we mark the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, explore LGBT history with us! Prizes will be awarded to the top three teams.

Who? YOU, and up to 3 of your most adventurous and curious friends (max up to 4 people per team).

What do you need? At least 1 team member with an iPhone (iOS 10.0+ — sorry, Urban Archive isn’t yet available on Android). Download the Urban Archive app here.

Anything else? Wear comfortable walking shoes!

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

One of Three Limited Opportunities to

Support the Project and Learn about LGBT History

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the history-making Stonewall uprising. In honor of #Stonewall50, we’re walking the Village and sharing the history of the people, places and events that have shaped LGBT — and American — history. Join us; your ticket purchase directly supports the Project’s work.

This 1 ½ hour-long walking tour of Greenwich Village is led by the expert team from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, the first initiative to uncover the city’s hidden LGBT past. This walk will remind you why we march in celebration of Pride! Starting at Christopher Park, walk and learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the 1969 Stonewall uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar.

The Project’s website is creating a place-based record of LGBT history in NYC. Your contribution will directly benefit the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project to research and document more historic spaces in New York City and includes one complimentary drink at Julius’ Bar at the end of the tour. The walk will take place rain or shine.

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

One of Three Limited Opportunities to
Support the Project and Learn about LGBT History

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the history-making Stonewall uprising. In honor of #Stonewall50, we’re walking the Village and sharing the history of the people, places and events that have shaped LGBT — and American — history. Join us; your ticket purchase directly supports the Project’s work.

This 1 ½ hour-long walking tour of Greenwich Village is led by the expert team from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, the first initiative to uncover the city’s hidden LGBT past. This walk will remind you why we march in celebration of Pride! Starting in Washington Square Park, walk and learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the 1969 Stonewall uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar.

The Project’s website is creating a place-based record of LGBT history in NYC. Your contribution will directly benefit the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project to research and document more historic spaces in New York City and includes one complimentary drink at Julius’ Bar at the end of the tour. The walk will take place rain or shine.

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

One of Three Limited Opportunities to
Support the Project and Learn about LGBT History

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the history-making Stonewall uprising. In honor of #Stonewall50, we’re walking the Village and sharing the history of the people, places and events that have shaped LGBT — and American — history. Join us; your ticket purchase directly supports the Project’s work.

This 1 ½ hour-long walking tour of Greenwich Village is led by the expert team from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, the first initiative to uncover the city’s hidden LGBT past. This walk will remind you why we march in celebration of Pride! Starting at Christopher Park, walk and learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the 1969 Stonewall uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar.

The Project’s website is creating a place-based record of LGBT history in NYC. Your contribution will directly benefit the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project to research and document more historic spaces in New York City and includes one complimentary drink at Julius’ Bar at the end of the tour. The walk will take place rain or shine.

Photo: Participants of the Stonewall uprising in front of the bar, June 29, 1969. Gift of The Estate of Fred W. McDarrah.

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

Explore Pride beyond Stonewall and Greenwich Village! Guides from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project will make their way uptown for a special Upper West Side walking tour. Beginning at Lincoln Center’s Revson Fountain, this walk will visit LGBT historic  sites like writer James Baldwin’s residence, the Ansonia (which once housed the legendary Continental Baths), the Dakota Apartments (once home to composer Leonard Bernstein, among others), and stroll by the places where LGBTQ history made its mark, ending in Central Park.

Proceeds for this tour support the efforts of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Tour will last approximately 1 ½ hours and will take place rain or shine.

Amanda Davis, Project manager, and Kath LaFrank, of the New York State Historic Preservation Office, are delighted to participate in the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Conference as panelists for “The Meaning of it All: How to write an impactful significance statement for State and National Register Nominations.” In November 2017, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project successfully nominated the Caffe Cino to the National Register of Historic Places, following its listing on the New York State Register in September. Davis and LaFrank will discuss the Caffe Cino as a case study.

The history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people has been bulldozed – literally and figuratively – and given almost no due. But in recent years there has been a flood of recognition of the importance of LGBTQ sites and the history connected to them.

This panel, hosted by Village Preservation, will explore the evolution of recognition of LGBTQ history in historic preservation in New York City, and how such efforts further the cause of understanding and support for LGBTQ people. Featuring Amanda Davis, Project Manager at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project; Victoria Munro, Executive Director of the Alice Austin House; John Reddick, Architectural historian, and Columbia University Community Scholar; and Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation.

Speakers will look at the groundbreaking efforts in 1999 to get Stonewall listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places – the first site ever so recognized for connection to LGBTQ history – to a wide range of successful and failed attempts to protect LGBTQ landmarks in New York City.

All members of the public are welcome to join us for DDC Talks, a discussion of LGBT historic sites with the NCY Department of Design and Construction (DDC). No RSVP necessary.

Project co-directors and staff will provide an overview of historically-significant public spaces such as parks and City-owned properties that predate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, as well as the challenges related to official recognition and preservation of City sites relating to the community.

This course is registered with the AIA Continuing Education program. AIA members in attendance will receive two hours of CES credit. Other licensed professionals ay also receive credit in accordance with the applicable requirements of their particular licensing boards.

EVENT DETAILS

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project as they reveal the hidden history of the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Starting at the New-York Historical Society and ending in Central Park, journey through the neighborhood to uncover the history of sites you never knew through the lives, residences, and nightlife venues of LGBTQ leaders, activists, and thinkers.

Space is limited.

This program is presented in partnership with the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

LOCATION

New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024 & Central Park

PURCHASING TICKETS

By phone: Contact New-York Historical’s in-house call center at (212) 485-9268. Call center is open 9 am–5 pm daily.
Online: Click on the orange “Buy Tickets” button at the top of this page.
In person: Advance tickets may be purchased on site at New-York Historical’s Admissions desk during museum hours.

Advance purchase is required to guarantee participation. Program tickets include Museum Admission. Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

The LGBTQ+ community has a long and vibrant history that predates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a key turning point in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement in the United States. Project co-directors Jay Shockley and Ken Lustbader will share the history of sites in Brooklyn associated with LGBTQ+ culture and history from the 19th century to the year 2000. Using contemporary and archival images, attendees will gain a richer understanding of Brooklyn’s LGBTQ+ heritage, including such sites as Walt Whitman’s residence, Green-Wood Cemetery, Starlite Lounge, the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and Transy House.

Open to the public.

This event is part of the BKLYN LGBTQ+ History Series.  To help celebrate WorldPride NYC and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, Brooklyn Community Pride Center is hosting a three-month series of book readings, talks, discussions, movie screenings, and other events to highlight the history of the LGBTQ+ community, especially as it happened in Brooklyn.

STONEWALL 50: DEFINING LGBTQ SITE PRESERVATION

A symposium on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots co-presented by Columbia GSAPP, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and QSAPP

April 6, 2019
Columbia University, Avery Hall, Wood Auditorium
1:00pm-5:00pm
The day will begin with a walking tour of Greenwich Village,
meeting at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street at 10:00am
FREE and open to the public (advance RSVP required)

A key principle of historic preservation is the power of places; a conviction that extant places matter and that they can inform current generations about the lives of people and events of the past.

For over one hundred years, professional preservationists and local citizens around the world have advocated for the preservation of architectural monuments and places where famous people lived or where momentous events occurred.

In recent years, the focus of preservation has expanded to include more diverse buildings, people, and stories. But the preservation of sites of importance to the LGBTQ communities has lagged until recently. It was not until 1999 that the first LGBTQ site, Stonewall, was listed on the National Register. In North America and parts of Europe activists have been engaged in identification and interpretation or reinterpretation of LGBTQ sites, but this has been a slow process and in many parts of the world, where LGBTQ rights are suppressed, such examination would still be an impossibility. This symposium examines the progress and challenges of preserving sites of significance to LGBTQ communities and, by extension, to the heritage of cities and nations around the world.

The symposium, located at Earl Hall on Columbia’s Morningside Heights Campus from 1:00-5:00 PM is preceded by walking tours hosted by NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project beginning at Christopher Park (adjacent to Stonewall Inn) at 10:00 AM and is followed by the dedication of Earl Hall’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places by Ann Kansfield (CC ‘98) and a celebratory reception at 5:30 PM. RSVP is available for each of portion of the event here.

Symposium Schedule

• Introduction by Andrew Dolkart (MSHP ‘77), Professor of Historic Preservation, Columbia GSAPP, Co-Director, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
• Recognizing LGBTQ Sites in the United States
  Moderated by Amanda Davis (MSHP ’06), NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
  Cate Fosl, Director, Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, University of Louisville
  Nick Large, GLBT Historical Society, Board of Directors, San Francisco
  Shayne Watson, Architectural Historian & Preservation Planner, Watson Heritage Consulting, San Francisco
• LGBTQ Site Preservation: An International Perspective
  Moderated by Ken Lustbader (MSHP ’93), Co-Director, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
  Ankit Bhuptani, Gay & Lesbian Vaishnava Association, Mumbai
  Matt Cook, Professor of Modern History, University of London
  Michael Ighodaro, Assistant Professor of Global LGBTI Studies, The New School, New York
• Reinterpreting the House Museum
  Moderated by Jay Shockley (MSHP NG ’80), Co-Director, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project
  Susan Ferentinos, Public History Researcher, Bloomington
  Barbara Lau, Executive Director, Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, Durham
  Ken Turino, Manager of Community Engagement and Exhibitions, Historic New England

Free and open to the public with RSVP

Co-Organized by NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, QSAPP and the Office of the University Chaplain as part of the Stonewall 50 Consortium.

Image: The sign reading “Queer Symposium” on the lap of Alma Mater created by QSAPP students on February 208th, 2019 references an image on the cover of the first edition of Pride of Lions: The Newspaper of the Gay People at Columbia in April 1972. Where a sign read “Gay Dance” and pointed to Earl Hall, the location of meetings and dances of the first ever university sanctioned LGBT student group, the Student Homophile League, founded in 1966, which still exists as the Columbia Queer Alliance.

The Project joins with The Green-Wood Cemetery to celebrate Pride Month with a special trolley tour illuminating permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American history and culture. Visit the graves of important LGBT figures including “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; activists and founders of the Hetrick Martin Institute, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin, among others. This trolley tour is led by Andrew Dolkart and Ken Lustbader, co-directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

Advance registration must be made through The Green-Wood Cemetery.

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

The historic uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village gay bar, took place fifty years ago this June and is considered a key turning point in the LGBT rights movement. However, long before the summer of 1969, LGBT people were leaving their mark on New York City and America. At this talk, Amanda Davis, project manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, will discuss the importance of place in connecting and providing refuge for a marginalized LGBT community. She will also highlight the Project’s collaboration with the house museum staff of the Alice Austen House, the pioneering early 20th century photographer’s residence, to reinterpret its historical narrative and acknowledge the life of Austen’s same-sex partner.

Amanda Davis has overseen the LGBT Historic Sites Project’s documentation initiatives since its founding in 2015. In 2018, she was named to the National Trust’s inaugural “40 Under 40: People Saving Places” list, in recognition of her efforts to help tell America’s full history. She holds a BA in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and an MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University.

$10 | Free for Martin House Members

Reservations required. Reserve your space today.

DESIGN ALOUD is a series of conversations, screenings, and performances exploring the power of contemporary design in harmony with nature. This series is generously sponsored by Bob Skerker.

Promotional support for this event provided, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and the NYC & Company Foundation.

]In celebration of “Stonewall 50” — a year-long commemoration of the landmark 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn — join co-director Ken Lustbader and project manager Amanda Davis for a walking tour of Greenwich Village. Learn about key places and people of the pre- and post-Stonewall LGBT civil rights movement and their lasting impact on American culture. The tour will also highlight the importance of these sites to a marginalized community that oftentimes had nowhere else to go to fully be themselves. Stops will include places connected to such groups as the Mattachine Society, Gay Liberation Front, and Salsa Soul Sisters, and to LGBT activists, artists, and business owners who found refuge in the Village.

Hosted in partnership with the Municipal Art Society.

Photos: George Segal’s sculpture “Gay Liberation” in Christopher Park, 2016. 

The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is delighted to be hosted by the New York School of Interior Design for a discussion of LGBT historic sites of the design communities. From the 17th century to the year 2000, sites – such as former residences of LGBT notables, bars and clubs, educational and cultural institutions, works of public art and architecture, activism locations, and performing arts venues – illustrate the richness of the city’s LGBT history and the community’s influence on American culture.

Photos: Elsie de Wolfe, often credited as America’s first professional interior designer, in ball costume, 1905. Photo by Byron Co. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.

On Friday, February 14th, we’ll be joining the Making Gay History podcast at the New York Public Library for “Queer Quiz Show,” an LGBTQ history trivia program.

See below for full details on the event, or click here for full information and tickets.

After 30 years of efforts, how do preservationists win greater recognition for New York City’s cultural landmarks?

Join the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, Historic Districts Council and the New York Preservation Archive Project on October 1 at a historic Riverside Church for our Cultural Landmarks Symposium.

Green-Wood celebrates LGBT History month with a special trolley tour illuminating permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You will visit the graves of important LGBT figures including “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; activists and founders of the Hetrick Martin Institute, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin, among others. This trolley tour is led by Andrew Dolkart and Ken Lustbader, Co-Directors of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

$20 for members of Green-Wood and BHS / $25 for non-members

Green-Wood trolley tours are fully accessible and ADA compliant. In order to accommodate a wheelchair or other mobility device on the trolley, advance arrangements must be made. Please call (718) 210-3080, ext. 1. Please note that portions of the tour take place outside the trolley and may require exiting the vehicle on multiple occasions. Please contact the Historic Fund for more information.

Check-in will take place by the Gothic Arch at our Main Entrance at 5th Avenue and 25th Street. Trolley tours are run rain or shine, with the exception of dangerous conditions as determined by Green-Wood. Click here for our inclement weather policy.

Co-sponsored by

Caffe Cino, May 1965. Photo by James D. Gossage. Courtesy of the New York Public Library, Billy Rose Theatre Division. Ahead of the first anniversary of Caffe Cino’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places, join Caffe Cino historian and veteran Magie Dominic, as well as Amanda Davis, Project Manager at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and author of the National Register nomination, to celebrate and learn about this groundbreaking, pre-Stonewall café theater.

Caffe Cino, located at 31 Cornelia Street from 1958 to 1968, was the creation of Joe Cino, an openly gay Italian-American producer who is credited with starting the “Off-Off-Broadway” theater movement. Caffe Cino was the first important venue to regularly stage Off-Off-Broadway productions, was critical in the development of gay theater, and served as a place of support for gay playwrights during a time when depicting LGBT experiences on stage was illegal.

Co-sponsored by

In honor of NYC Pride, we are excited to collaborate Moxy Hotels on an LGBT-themed walking tour of Greenwich Village.

Honor the people and events that have shaped LGBT history here in NYC, and who have impacted American history and culture. Our expert team will join tour goers at Christopher Park to start an exclusive tour of pre- and post-Stonewall history in Greenwich Village.

Walk with us and learn about the long-standing oppressive practices that led to the 1969 Stonewall uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar. This 1 ½ hour-long walking tour of Greenwich Village will remind you why we march in celebration of Pride! The tour will take place rain or shine.

Want to join in? Visit Moxy Hotels to secure a place on the tour.

Take advantage of this first-ever public walking tour by the expert team from the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, the first initiative to uncover the city’s hidden LGBT past. Honor the people and events that have shaped LGBT history while directly supporting the Project’s work. This 1 ½ hour-long walking tour of Greenwich Village will remind you why we march in celebration of Pride! Starting at Christopher Park, walk and learn about the long-standing oppressive practices which led to the 1969 Stonewall uprising and, before that, the 1966 “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar. The Project’s website is creating a place-based record of LGBT history in NYC. Your contribution will directly benefit the ongoing work of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project to research and document more historic spaces in New York City and includes one complimentary drink at Julius’ Bar at the end of the tour. The walk will take place rain or shine.

In partnership with Urban Archive

Gather together your team and answer clues to advance along this LGBT history scavenger hunt! This curated scavenger hunt will celebrate Pride while testing your LGBT history knowledge. Where was the starting location of the first Pride March? Where did civil rights activist and literary icon James Baldwin reside? Know the answers? Take part in the hunt! Involves about five miles of walking, teams should consist of 2 to 4 people, and at least one team member will need an iPhone with the Urban Archive app (download it for free!). Hunt takes place rain or shine.

Hosted by the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America.

The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, founded in 2015, is the first cultural heritage initiative to document historic LGBT spaces in the city’s five boroughs. The panelists will focus on sites from the 1840s to the 1920s. Special attention will be given to the project’s work in amending the National Register of Historic Places nomination of the Alice Austen House in Staten Island. Other sites include Walt Whitman’s Brooklyn residence and the Henry Street Settlement, co-founded by progressive reformer Lillian Wald, as well as early bar and social spaces in downtown Manhattan.

Hear Project co-directors Andrew Dolkart, Ken Lustbader and Jay Shockley and Project manager Amanda Davis speak on the creation of the LGBT Historic Sites Project as well as sites in the Victorian era and their impact on LGBT history.

Have you ever wondered…

• Where is the oldest house in New York City?
• How long has that neon sign been there?
• Why does that building have a lighthouse on the roof?

Since the spring of 2017 Urban Archive has been trying to answer these questions! Join them for a nerdy night of NYC trivia, hosted by Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours! With drinks specials provided by Housing Works.

Urban Archive is a free mobile app that maps thousands of historical images from the city’s many and wonderful libraries, museums, historical societies, and preservation organizations — so you, the knowledgeable Real New Yorker can explore NYC history, right where it happened. When it’s too cold to explore on foot, we move the fun indoors, for every New Yorker’s favorite activity… proving how well we know our city.

Once your team is built, don’t forget to have at least one person on your team download the Urban Archive app from the App Store!

Hosted by Urban Archive NYC in partnership with Turnstile Tours and 6sqft. Cosponsored by the Historic Districts Council, New York Preservation Archive Project, and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. (Photo courtesy of Museum of the City of New York)

Join the Project and artist Gwen Shockey for an evening in celebration of lesbian nightlife and community. Through photography and oral histories, Shockey’s new solo show at Amos Eno Gallery, Addresses, rediscovers sites which have long lived exclusively in the memories of women who founded and flourished in these safe spaces. Panel participants will discuss the history of bars, cafes and clubs dedicated to a lesbian clientele, past and present, and speak more broadly upon the importance of identifying and drawing awareness to this invisible history.

Special guests
Flavia Rando,  coordinator for the Lesbian Herstory Archives and founder of the LHA Lesbian Studies Institute
Stacy Lentz, LGBT activist and co-owner of The Stonewall Inn

Thursday, November 16
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Amos Eno Gallery, 56 Bogart Street, Brooklyn, NY

Invitation with RSVP to followMisster at The Woods, Brooklyn, NY.  Photo by Gwen Shockey.

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn celebrates LGBT History month with a special trolley tour illuminating permanent residents who have made a lasting impact on American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. You will visit the graves of important LGBT figures including “It’s Raining Men” co-writer, Paul Jabara; sculptor of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain, Emma Stebbins; activists, Drs. Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin; and Broadway lyricist, Fred Ebb, among others. Tour goers will mark each grave with a rainbow flag.

The tour will be led by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project team. We will be joined by Green-Wood’s Manager of Preservation and Restoration, Neela Wickremesinghe, who will share the ways these sites are preserved through restoration and preservation efforts.

We hope you’ll join us!

Event Partners

Related Links

Green-Wood Cemetery LGBT History

The NYC LGBT Historic Project team will be discussing their process of surveying LGBT historic sites throughout the city’s five boroughs. The evening will also include recent successes in recognizing LGBT sites as landmarks as well as next steps for the project. A reception will follow.

Moderated by Ryan Day and Lauren Johnson ’16 M.Arch, Co-Founders, QSPACE

This free event is open to the public and was organized by Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation (GSAPP).

Event Partners

Related Links

Columbia’s LGBT History

We’re excited to partner with our friends at the Neighborhood Preservation Center for an exciting new program sponsored by WeWork!

At this event, learn about the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and our newly launched interactive map that documents LGBT place-based history and conveys its impact on American culture. We’ll be on hand to discuss the website’s many features, including the map’s initial 100 LGBT historic sites and ten curated tours, from sites that highlight the city’s pre-20th century LGBT history to those related to LGBT activism before Stonewall.

Program attendees are highly encouraged to suggest NYC sites that matter to them, either at the event itself or through the project’s online suggestion form.

Find out more about the project and our goals to make an invisible history visible in our intro video below.

Multimedia

Hosted by Vimeo

Event Partners

This year’s American Planning Association (APA) annual conference will be held in New York City! Our co-director Jay Shockley will be speaking at the Tuesday May 9th morning session, “Preserving Community History and Identity: National and Local Perspectives,” at the Javits Center, Room FD Hall 1E14 (JCC). At the session, Jay will be discussing landmark designations at the city and national levels as well as our project. He will be joined by Abdulla Al Shehhi; Richard Dorrier, AICP; Joshua Laird, National Park Service; and Michael Levine, AICP.

All that follows is from the APA website:

The Stonewall National Monument in New York City was designated as an historic and notable American symbol for LGBTQ equality in June 2016. This session discusses the history and issues with this designation process and its relevance to other sites and communities across the U.S.

You’ll learn about:

• Issues with new park designations (Federal, state & local) that celebrate our community identity and history
• Overcoming challenges associated with establishing LGBTQ site, parks, memorials and monuments
• Planning for new sites to educate the public about LGBTQ rights and contributions to American society

Following the 2016 National Register designation of the Stonewall National Monument, where the LGBTQ community’s uprising sparked the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement in the U.S., the Gays and Lesbians in Planning Division (GALIP) and Federal Planning Division (FPD) are co-hosting a session to discuss the relevance and means of preserving other spaces important to the LGBTQ community. This discussion will bring together representatives of the National Park Service, LGBTQ cultural historians and historic preservation specialists to discuss different ways in which spaces important to the LGBTQ community – or any community – can be preserved and protected. Together with notable professionals whose roles are critical to state and local landmark processes, the audience will examine the relevance of historic preservation in a planning context – from a local perspective and a national perspective. The audience will also be introduced to innovative ways of collecting and maintaining historical information about places of importance to community identity and history.

Join us at this free workshop as we talk about our project and our ongoing efforts to make LGBT historic places visible in New York City.

From the Impact Hub website: Join Impact Hub NYC from noon-1pm every weekday between Jan 23rd and May 1st for free workshops in direct response to Trump’s first 100 days plan. “100 Days of Impact” is daily workshops run by the best organizations in NYC doing work on issues impacted by the policies of the new administration. The purpose is for attendees to learn about an issue that will be impacted, what is currently being done to fight back, and how individuals can take action and help make a difference. Learn more about the program and our list of workshops.

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).