Village Pride Tour
overview
Greenwich Village has a long and diverse history that has made it an important epicenter of LGBT life in New York City.
In the pre-Stonewall years, amidst an atmosphere of fear and repression, gay bars and other social gathering spaces were crucial in creating a sense of community and brewing political agitation.
This curated theme highlights a few sites near Stonewall, all of which are included in a walking tour brochure that we produced in collaboration with the National Parks Conservation Association.
See the overall map of Greenwich Village for sites we have added so far.
Historic Sites in Village Pride Tour
New York City’s first ever Pride March was held on Sunday, June 28, 1970 (the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising), and, much to the organizers’ surprise, attracted thousands of... Learn More
From June 28 to July 3, 1969, LGBT patrons of the Stonewall Inn and members of the local community took the unusual action of fighting back during a routine police... Learn More
In July 1972, the Mattachine Society Inc. of New York, one of the city’s most influential early gay rights groups, mostly for men, moved its office downtown to Christopher Street,... Learn More
Located just across from the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park has been at the center of the LGBT rights movement since the historic 1969 uprising. The park was included within the... Learn More
This flagpole is named for the first officer to be killed during the Civil War, Union Army Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth. C.A. Tripp, in The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln (2005), posited... Learn More
The commercial space of this building held several lesbian bars from the 1970s to the 1990s, beginning with the Duchess in 1972. Pandora’s Box, the last lesbian bar to occupy... Learn More
Stewart’s Cafeteria, later the Life Cafeteria, was located in this Greenwich Village building in the 1930s and attracted a bohemian and gay and lesbian following. The large plate glass windows... Learn More
Gay rights activist Craig Rodwell established the East Coast’s first gay and lesbian bookstore (and the first one in the nation to operate long term), named in memory of Oscar... Learn More
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... Learn More
On April 21, 1966, a “Sip-In” was organized by members of the Mattachine Society, one of the country’s earliest gay rights organizations, to challenge the State Liquor Authority’s discriminatory policy... Learn More
In 1970, less than a year after Stonewall, the police raided the Snake Pit bar and detained many people at the local police station. After one person attempted to escape... Learn More
This rowhouse near the Jefferson Market police court (now the Jefferson Market Library) was the last residence and office of well-known Tammany politico Murray Hall, who today would be considered... Learn More
By at least 1955 through the 1960s, the Sea Colony was one of the most popular lesbian bars in Greenwich Village. A favorite of author and activist Joan Nestle, among... Learn More
After the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969, the first LGBT activist organization formed was the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), in July. GLF used Alternate U., a free counterculture school and... Learn More
For over a century, the Greenwich Village waterfront along the Hudson River, including the Christopher Street Pier at West 10th and West Streets, has been a destination for the LGBT... Learn More
