Mayfair Bar & Grill
overview
From at least the late 1950s to the late 1970s, Staten Island’s popular Mayfair Bar & Grill catered to gay patrons.
It was one of a few gay and lesbian bars located on the island in the latter half of the 20th century.
Mayfair Bar & Grill, January 1952. Source: "Images of America: St. George" (2009) by David Goldfarb and James G. Ferreri.
c. 1939 tax photo of 3 Hyatt Street. Photo by the NYC Department of Taxes. Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
History
By the mid-20th century, this corner building across the street from Staten Island Borough Hall was the location of a popular restaurant, known variously as the Mayfair Bar & Grill, the Mayfair Restaurant & Bar, or the Mayfair Tavern.
Based on an FBI report, the Mayfair catered to a gay crowd by the late 1950s. A 1969 guidebook created by the Mattachine Society described the restaurant as attracting a “sweater crowd” (a white-collar crowd). It also reveals that the Mayfair was “mixed” (meaning that both gay and straight people came here), though the space turned into a gay bar in the evening. During the day, it catered to people who worked in the area. According to James Hanlon, a Staten Island resident who went to the Mayfair as a college student in the early 1970s, lesbians did not typically patronize this bar and instead went to the Beach Haven in Midland Beach.
The Mayfair continued to draw gay patrons through at least the late 1970s, according to a listing in the 1978-1979 Guild Guide. Since that time, the building has been extensively altered.
A nearby municipal parking lot (no longer there) opposite Slosson Terrace used to be a popular gay male cruising area.
Entry by Amanda Davis, project manager (March 2017; last revised January 2022).
NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.
Building Information
- Architect or Builder: Unknown
- Year Built: 1935
Sources
Guild Guide, 1978-1979, Archives of Sexuality and Gender, The New York Public Library.
James Hanlon, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project site submission form, June 18, 2019.
New York City Gay Scene Guide, Mattachine Book Service, 1968 and 1969.
Philip Crawford, Jr., The Mafia and the Gays, self-published, 2015.
Staten Island 350th Anniversary Committee, Discovering Staten Island: A 350th Anniversary Commemorative History (Charleston: The History Press, 2011).
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