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163-770: The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall ) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots , which led to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States . When the riots occurred, Stonewall was one of the relatively few gay bars in New York City. The original gay bar occupied two structures at 51–53 Christopher Street, which were built as horse stables in
326-525: A New York Times article from that year, described 53 Christopher Street as having wood-paneled walls, wood columns, and rhombus-shaped mirrors, giving the appearance of a "never-ending abstract forest". A commemorative plaque was installed on the facade in 1979 on the tenth anniversary of the riots. After serving as a bagel shop, 53 Christopher Street became a Chinese restaurant, known as the Szechuan Cottage Restaurant. Sources disagree on when
489-466: A beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger , was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages . The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars in the United States date back to at least the 1880s, but came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–1933, longer in some states). During that time,
652-603: A 1961 reunion party for performers involved with the play Summer and Smoke . The eatery had become Bonnie's Stonewall Inn by the 1940s and the Stonewall Inn Restaurant by the 1950s or 1960s. The interior of the restaurant was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, and the structures at 51 through 61 Christopher Street were sold in March 1965. Sources disagree over whether the new owner was Burt and Lucille Handelsman or Joel Weiser. The restaurant had definitely shuttered by 1966. After
815-531: A British slang dictionary published in 1823. The similar phrase "speak easy shop", denoting a place where unlicensed liquor sales were made, appeared in a British naval memoir written in 1844. The precise term "speakeasy" dates from no later than 1837 when an article in the Sydney Herald newspaper in Australia referred to 'sly grog shops, called in slang terms "speakeasy's" [sic] in this part – Boro Creek.' In
978-450: A Genovese mafioso who controlled various mob-operated bars, collected a portion of the bar's profits. The owners believed that a business catering to the LGBT community might turn a profit; in return, they demanded regular payoffs for protection. Stonewall's owners could not obtain a liquor license because state law in the 1960s did not allow bartenders to legally serve LGBT people. At the time,
1141-572: A bakery until 1933, while the Ycre family lived on the second floor. Meanwhile, Vincent Bonavia had opened Bonnie's Stone Wall (or Bonnie's Stonewall) at 91 Seventh Avenue South, near the Christopher Street buildings, in 1930. Bonnie's Stonewall might have been named after The Stone Wall , a lesbian autobiography by Mary Casal . The historian David Carter wrote that, even in the 1930s, this may have been an attempt to subtly welcome queer women. The bar
1304-482: A bartender described tourists as comprising most of the visitors. There was a gift shop behind the bar room. The neighboring structure, at 51 Christopher Street, was operating as a nail salon. The Duell family sold 51–53 Christopher Street and five other buildings in 2015 to a holding company associated with Alan Wasserman, which paid $ 57 million. After the Stonewall National Monument was established around
1467-634: A body blow. If you are merely looking for sex or a date, the Web is now the first stop for most gay men". June Thomas explained the decline by noting that there is less need for gay-specific venues like bars because gay people are less likely to encounter discrimination or be made unwelcome in wider society. Entrepreneur magazine in 2007 included them on a list of ten types of business that would be extinct by 2017 along with record stores, used bookstores and newspapers. Some commentators have argued there has been some recent decline in gay-specific venues mainly due to
1630-401: A brick windowsill, which in turn is flanked by arched entrances. The entrance to the left is a narrow semicircular arch . The entrance to the right is a segmental arch , with wooden double doors. On the second story, the stucco facade is scored horizontally, and there is a rectangular iron flower-box holder beneath each of the three windows. By the 21st century, a neon sign with the bar's name
1793-488: A busy road and was cheaper than comparable gay bars. The artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt recalled that Stonewall was one of the only bars in the city where couples could slow dance together, while the historian Martin Duberman said that the bar was frequented by a "non-vanilla mix of people: people in suits and ties, street hustlers, drag queens, a few dope pushers, a fair number of nonwhites". The New York Daily News called
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#17328379153891956-465: A capacity of 150 people; this dance floor has a stage, a disco ball, seats with leopard print upholstery, and velour curtains. A New York magazine article described the dance floor as having a "bar mitzvah vibe" because of its decoration. According to a 2019 account, there was also a basement performance space. 51 Christopher Street has been converted into a 3,700-square-foot (340 m) visitor center, containing interactive displays and exhibits about
2119-516: A centre for gay culture in the 19th century, making the city a queer capital during the early 20th century, when the Montmartre and Pigalle districts were meeting places of the LGBTQ+ community. Although Amsterdam , Berlin , and London had more meeting places and organizations than Paris, the latter was known for the "flamboyance" of LGBTQ+ quarters and "visibility" of LGBTQ+ celebrities. Paris retained
2282-472: A clothing store. The bar at number 53 sold souvenirs and was one of several remaining gay bars on the street. The bar buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1999 and further designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Due to repeated noise complaints, by the 2000s, patrons were required to enter through an adjacent building on Seventh Avenue South, rather than
2445-510: A combined 23 apartments. Despite the bar's significance to the LGBT community, David W. Dunlap of The New York Times wrote: "An architectural monument, Stonewall is not". Ginia Bellafante wrote for the same newspaper in 2015 that the buildings were architecturally undistinguished but received an "A for meaning". Directly south of the two structures is Christopher Park , a 0.19-acre (770 m; 8,300 sq ft) pocket park between Christopher, West 4th, and Grove streets. In tribute to
2608-452: A common feature in many gay bars, even men-only spaces. Some gay bars and clubs which have a predominantly male clientele, as well as some gay bathhouses and other sex clubs , may offer occasional women-only nights. A few gay bars attempt to restrict entry to only gay or lesbian people, but in practice this is difficult to enforce. Most famously, Melbourne 's Peel Hotel was granted an exemption from Australia's Equal Opportunities Act by
2771-423: A conversation, where they didn't feel like sexual freaks or somehow not part of the larger social fabric; from that came culture, politics, demands for equal rights." Gay bars traditionally preferred to remain discreet and virtually unidentifiable outside the gay community, relying exclusively on word of mouth promotion. More recently, gay clubs and events are often advertised by handing out eye-catching flyers on
2934-500: A dollar, more than in contemporary bars, even though they were watered-down drinks that were, in many cases, acquired illegally. The owners could earn up to $ 5,000 on Fridays and $ 6,500 on Saturdays, and, given the monthly rent of $ 300, recouped their $ 3,500 investment soon after opening. The cash registers were taken the first time the New York City Police Department (NYPD) raided the bar; thereafter, Stonewall's income
3097-465: A few bars paid the fee and others closed, most establishments went underground. By 1890, Pittsburgh had about 700 speakeasies but only 92 licensed liquor dealers. This led to national media attention, including a 1891 New York Times article noting: The commonest term in the police news of Pittsburg is the raid of a "speak-easy". [...] the expression became common in McKeesport and spread to Pittsburg, Here
3260-528: A few gay bars in the first quarter of the 20th century. The best known was The Empire [ nl ] , in Nes , which was first mentioned in 1911 and existed until the late 1930s. The oldest that still exists is Café 't Mandje , which was opened in 1927 by lesbian Bet van Beeren . It closed in 1982, but was reopened in 2008. After World War II , the Amsterdam city government acted rather pragmatic and tolerated
3423-474: A focal point. Films were restricted from depicting alcohol on screen, but some still continued to do so because they felt it showed the way Americans lived, such as the scene in Our Dancing Daughters in which Joan Crawford dances on a table in a speakeasy. The poor quality bootleg liquor sold in some speakeasies was responsible for a shift away from 19th-century "classic" cocktails, that celebrated
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#17328379153893586-851: A gay bar in the 1950s. It now claims to be one of the oldest gay bars in Europe. The main Copenhagen gay district is the Latin Quarter . The very first gay bar in Europe and probably in the world was the Zanzibar in Cannes on the French Riviera. The Zanzibar was opened in 1885 and existed for 125 years, before it was closed in December 2010. Among its visitors were many artists, like actor Jean Marais and comedians Thierry Le Luron and Coluche . Paris became known as
3749-479: A gay bar is the nature of its clientele. While many gay bars target the gay and/or lesbian communities, some (usually older and firmly established) gay bars have become gay, as it were, through custom, over a long period of time. The serving of alcohol is the primary business of gay bars and pubs. Like non-gay establishments they serve as a meeting place and LGBTQ+ community focal point, in which conversation, relaxation, and meeting potential romantic and sexual partners
3912-510: A haunt for the wealthy, aristocratic and bohemian. Its creator Frida Strindberg née Uhl set it up as an avant-garde and artistic venture. The club provided a solid model for future nightclubs. After homosexuality was partially decriminalized in the UK in 1967, gay bar culture became more visible and gradually Soho became the centre of the London LGBTQ+ community, which was "firmly established" by
4075-512: A lawsuit against the local police chief in 1973, asserting malicious harassment. The Miami Beach establishment burned down shortly before 7:00 a.m. on March 2, 1974, following a suspected arson . Manny E. Duell, the operator of a holding company named 51 to 61 Christopher Corp., took over the buildings in March 1970. The owners submitted alteration plans to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and
4238-452: A long bar, jukebox, tables, and seating booths. The facade was nondescript, and the only external indication of the club's existence was a small sign proclaiming that it was a private, members-only club. When it opened, Stonewall "was a small gay bar just like any other", as the LGBT newspaper Gay News would later describe it. Its manager was Ed Murphy (also known as the Skull), an ex-convict who
4401-400: A partition in 51 Christopher Street to create a dance floor, while another partition was installed in 53 Christopher Street. Alice Echols, in a 2010 book, cited the two dance floors as possibly having "helped to undermine the sort of sexual indirection and repression that characterized most gay bars". The bar's lack of a license made it vulnerable to police raids. The owners gave cash bribes to
4564-564: A place of refuge and support for gay men and the HIV-affected community impacted by the virus. Cure fundraising, testing, support group, and free condom events have been present at gay bars. Some commentators have suggested that gay bars are facing decline in the contemporary age due to the pervasiveness of technology. Andrew Sullivan argued in his 2005 essay "The End of Gay Culture" that gay bars are declining because "the Internet dealt them
4727-566: A poor sound system, and the toilets were regularly clogged, giving the Stonewall Inn a reputation for filthiness. The buildings, at the time, did not have a rear emergency exit, which not only precluded Stonewall from receiving a liquor license but also created a fire hazard. Additionally, the bar's employees were known to have engaged in blackmail. In the 1969 edition of the New York Mattachine Society 's guidebook to gay clubs around
4890-454: A private club's license for Stonewall, as they intended to serve LGBT people without obtaining a license from the NYSLA. After acquiring the buildings, the owners renovated the exterior, blacked out the windows for privacy, and reinforced the wooden front doors with steel plates in anticipation of police raids. The new operators added peepholes and several locks to the front doors, and they removed
5053-522: A rarity around the world. Many articles have been published discussing possible reasons as to why lesbian bars struggle to exist despite a growing lesbian population. Like most bars and pubs, gay bars range in size from the small, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story clubs with several distinct areas and more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub , club , or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs . The only defining characteristic of
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5216-540: A result the staff were unconcerned about being arrested. By June 1969, campaigning for that year's mayoral election had precipitated frequent raids in local bars, including one at the Stonewall Inn less than a week before the Stonewall riots. The raids targeted not only gay bars but also straight bars frequented by minorities, and several clubs in Greenwich Village closed because of these raids. According to Rodwell and
5379-692: A resurgence in the 2000s. In 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic , the theme again became popular, especially in New York City. From the beginning the speakeasy was relatively small with little or no entertainment involved, but through gradual growth it popularized and expanded to many different areas with new additions of entertainment and eventually made the speakeasy one of the biggest businesses during Prohibition. In many rural towns, small speakeasies and blind pigs were operated by local business owners. These family secrets were often kept even after Prohibition ended. In 2007 secret underground rooms thought to have been
5542-482: A series of businesses owned by Charlie Berns and Jack Kriendler. They started the business in Greenwich with a place called "The Redhead" and later moved onto the next operation "The Puncheon Club". The "21" Club was special because of its system to remain under the radar. It was a unique system that used a doorkeeper to send a warning to the bar that it was in danger and the bar would transform into an ordinary place through
5705-608: A shebeen in Soweto , for example, was used as a meeting place for black gay men who were part of the Gay Association of South Africa (GASA) but did not feel welcome in the GASA offices. With the establishment of the post-apartheid 1996 constitution that outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as race, South Africa's gay night life exploded, though many bars continued to be segregated by race, and fewer blacks than whites go to
5868-567: A speakeasy were found by renovators on the grounds of the Cyber Cafe West in Binghamton , New York. Speakeasies did not need to be big to operate. "It didn't take much more than a bottle and two chairs to make a speakeasy." One example for a speakeasy location was the "21" Club in New York. This is one of the more famous of the speakeasies and operated until 2020. The "21" Club was only part of
6031-404: A state tribunal, on the grounds that the exemption was needed to prevent "sexually-based insults and violence" aimed at the pub's patrons. As a result of the decision, the pub is legally able to advertise as a "gay only" establishment, and door staff can ask people whether they are gay before allowing them inside, and can turn away non-gay people. Speakeasy A speakeasy , also called
6194-427: A team of eight undercover officers, led by Pine, raided the bar. As was customary, the police began to check patrons' identification. The routine raid did not go as planned, as patrol wagons for the arrested patrons took longer to arrive than expected. A scuffle broke out when a butch lesbian in handcuffs was escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon several times. The police tried to restrain some of
6357-507: A tourist attraction and a symbol of the LGBT community after the riots, and various works of media about the bar have been created over the years. In part because of its impact on LGBT culture, the Stonewall Inn is the first LGBT cultural site designated as a National Historic Landmark and a New York City designated landmark . The bar is also part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to
6520-415: A vertical sign, though this has since been removed. There was also a stoop at 51 Christopher Street's entrance, which was removed when the building became a visitor center. When the Stonewall Inn was turned into an LGBT bar, the bar was split into two primary rooms, one in each building. The bar had almost no decoration and scant lighting, and what little decoration did exist was destroyed on the first day of
6683-456: A wall of what appears to be a billiard saloon. You pull out the drawer, drop in your change, shove the drawer back, call for what you want and then pull out the drawer again and there it is, "Straight" or "Spiked" just as you'd have it. Nobody is heard or seen, and the blind tiger, apparently without any keeper, works like a charm. The first American speakeasies emerged in the Pittsburgh -area in
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6846-587: Is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender or queer ( LGBTQ+ ) clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities. Gay bars once served as the centre of gay culture and were one of the few places people with same-sex orientations and gender-variant identities could openly socialize. Other names used to describe these establishments include boy bar , girl bar , gay club , gay pub , queer bar , lesbian bar , drag bar , and dyke bar , depending on
7009-471: Is also a side room with red lighting. Inside is the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor , which was established in 2019 to honor notable LGBT individuals. The modern bar has contained a variety of pride flags; banknotes collected from foreign visitors; pictures and newspaper clippings about the riots; and a sign indicating that the bar had been raided. The second story of the revived bar includes a room with
7172-553: Is not unusual for gay bars to sponsor teams in local sports/game leagues, and many otherwise traditional gay pubs are well known for hosting post-game parties—often filling with local gay athletes and their fans on specific nights or when major professional sporting events are broadcast on TV. Some of the longest established gay bars are unofficial hosts of elaborate local 'Royal Court' drag pageants and drag-related social groups. Gay bars and nightclubs are sometimes segregated by sex. In some establishments, people who are perceived to be of
7335-675: Is the Half-and-Half, which in 2004 had been open over ten years. The first lesbian bar in China (also in Beijing) was Maple Bar, opened in 2000 by pop singer Qiao Qiao . The On/Off was a popular bar for both gay men and lesbians. The increase in China's gay and lesbian bars in recent years is linked to China's opening up to global capitalism and its consequent economic and social restructuring. The bar Centralhjørnet in Copenhagen opened in 1917 and became
7498-471: Is the primary focus of the clientele. Historically and continuing in many communities, gay bars have been valued by patrons as the only place closeted gay men and lesbians can be open and demonstrative about their sexuality without fear of discovery. Gerard Koskovich of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society explains that "[Gay bars] were a public place where gay people could meet and start to have
7661-446: Is unknown to what extent women patronized the bar, though several observers interviewed by David Carter described the bar as being almost exclusively male. These observers also said that almost all of the lesbians at Stonewall were butch lesbians . Due to differing terminologies used in the late 1960s, it is also unknown to what extent transvestites visited the bar, but Carter writes that the number of transsexual and transvestite customers
7824-456: The LGBT rights movement . The Stonewall Inn buildings at 51–53 Christopher Street, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, were constructed as double-height horse stables . The older of the two buildings is 51 Christopher Street, which was built in 1843 by A. Voorhis and expanded to three stories in 1898. The other structure, 53 Christopher Street, was built in 1846; it
7987-456: The Liberty Bell ." Around 2007, the bar was taken over by the businessmen Bill Morgan, Tony DeCicco, and Kurt Kelly, along with the bar's first lesbian investor, Stacy Lentz . Morgan told the LGBT newspaper PinkNews that "When we went looking for investors to save the Stonewall people came out of the woodwork. Gay and straight." An NPR reporter stated that the co-owners sought to renovate
8150-521: The New York City Council overwhelmingly approved the plan that April. The new street signs were installed at the beginning of that June. The bar at number 51 closed in 1989, upon which the sign on the building's facade was disassembled. By the early 1990s, the building at 51 Christopher Street had become a men's clothing store. A gay bar named New Jimmy's opened at the Stonewall site in May 1990, serving
8313-472: The New York City Department of Buildings in late 1970, as they sought to convert 51 to 53 Christopher Street into a restaurant and non-alcoholic bar. The new venue would have retained most of the 1967 bar's interior decorations, but the architects planned to replace the damaged doors and windows. By 1973, the original gay bar had been divided into two storefronts at the ground level and apartments on
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#17328379153898476-522: The New York State Liquor Authority (NYSLA) regarded any LGBT person in a bar as engaging in disorderly conduct. Frequent raids against gay bars forced most to close, except for those operated by mobsters. Furthermore, gay people who were arrested risked losing their jobs, homes, and families. By contrast, members of private clubs could bring their own alcoholic beverages under New York state law. Accordingly, Lauria and his co-owners acquired
8639-512: The Schöneberg district around Nollendorfplatz there were many cafes, bars and clubs, which also attracted gay people who had to flee their own country in fear of prosecution, like for example Christopher Isherwood . The gay club Eldorado in the Motzstraße was internationally known for its transvestite shows. There was also a relatively high number of places for lesbians. Within a few weeks after
8802-460: The legal drinking age were frequently admitted. In keeping with private club regulations, patrons were required to sign a logbook upon entry; the logbook also served to screen out straight patrons. The visitor logbook frequently contained pseudonyms such as Donald Duck , Elizabeth Taylor , and Judy Garland . If a visitor wished to leave the bar and return the same night, the bouncers would stamp their hand with individual ink. Any customer who passed
8965-476: The "wrong" sex (for example, a man attempting to enter a women's club) may be unwelcome or even barred from entry. This may be more common in specialty bars, such as gay male leather fetish or BDSM bars, or bars or clubs which have a strict dress code . It is also common in bars and clubs where sex on the premises is a primary focus of the establishment. On the other hand, gay bars are usually welcoming of transgender and cross-dressed people, and drag shows are
9128-460: The 17th century record the existence of bars and clubs that catered to, or at least tolerated, openly gay clientele in several major European cities. The White Swan (created by James Cook and Yardley, full name unknown) on Vere Street , in London , England, was raided in 1810 during the so-called Vere Street Coterie . The raid led to the executions of John Hepburn and Thomas White for sodomy . The site
9291-458: The 1840s. The original Stonewall Inn was founded in 1930 as a speakeasy on Seventh Avenue South. It relocated in 1934 to Christopher Street, where it operated as a restaurant until 1966. Four mafiosos associated with the Genovese crime family bought the restaurant and reopened it as a gay bar in early 1967. The Stonewall Inn was a popular hangout for gay men, particularly for youth and those on
9454-514: The 18th century, molly houses were clandestine clubs where gay men could meet, drink, dance and have sex with each other. One of the most famous was Mother Clap's Molly House. The first gay bar in Britain in the modern sense was The Cave of the Golden Calf , established as a night club in London . It opened in an underground location at 9 Heddon Street, just off Regent Street , in 1912 and became
9617-456: The 1980s made Munich "one of the four gayest metropolises in the world" along with San Francisco, New York City and Amsterdam. In particular, the area around Müllerstraße and Hans-Sachs-Straße was characterized by numerous gay bars and nightclubs. One of them was the travesty nightclub Old Mrs. Henderson , where Freddie Mercury , who lived in Munich from 1979 to 1985, filmed the music video for
9780-443: The 1980s, police raids on white gay clubs lessened as the apartheid government forces found itself dealing with more and more resistance from the black population. In the black townships, some of the shebeens , unlicensed bars established in people's homes and garages, catered to LGBTQ clients. During the struggle against apartheid, some of these shebeens were important meeting places for black gay and lesbian resistance fighters. Lee's,
9943-612: The Carlton Hotel in downtown Johannesburg in the late 1940s, catering exclusively to men of wealth. In the 1960s, other urban bars began to open that drew more middle and working class white men; lesbians were excluded. The language of Gayle had its roots in the Cape Coloured and Afrikaans -speaking underground gay bar culture. In 1968, when the government threatened to pass repressive anti-gay legislation, queer culture went even further underground, which meant clubs and bars were often
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#173283791538910106-504: The LGBTQ+ capital image after the end of World War II , but the center of the meeting place shifted to Saint-Germain-des-Prés . In the 1950s and 1960s the police and authorities tolerated homosexuals as long as the conduct was private and out of view, but gay bar raids occurred and there were occasions when the owners of the bars were involved in facilitating the raids. Lesbians rarely visited gay bars and instead socialized in circles of friends. Lesbians who did go to bars often originated from
10269-555: The NYPD dispersed the protests. Allen Ginsberg , a beat poet who witnessed the riots, said that "the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago". By the end of 1969, the Stonewall Inn had closed; sources disagree on whether it was shuttered in October or in December. Carter writes that the bar's downfall may have been because of its infamy, the fact that it had no liquor license, and resentment toward
10432-406: The NYPD's 6th Precinct (within which the bar was located) to stave off raids. A magazine article, published five months after the bar's opening, implied that the bar paid the police around $ 1,200 a month. Some observers such as the activist Craig Rodwell objected to the payoffs because of the corruption involved. In addition, despite these payoffs, Stonewall was raided once a month on average, and it
10595-477: The National Register of Historic Places along with the bar itself. On both buildings, the facade of the ground story is mostly made of brick, while the second floor is clad with stucco. The building at 53 Christopher Street is two stories high and divided vertically into three bays . At ground level, the center of number 53's facade contains a rectangular, 4-by-8-foot (1.2 by 2.4 m) storefront window with
10758-713: The Nazis took over government in 1933, fourteen of the best known gay establishments were closed. After homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969, many gay bars opened in West Berlin , resulting in a lively gay scene. In Munich , a number of gay and lesbian bars are documented as early as the Golden Twenties . Since the 1960s, the Rosa Viertel (pink quarter) developed in the Glockenbachviertel and around Gärtnerplatz , which in
10921-613: The Pimpernel), Inge Meysel and Hildegard Knef . The oldest continuously operating Japanese gay bar, New Sazae, opened in Tokyo in 1966. Most gay bars in Tokyo are located in the Shinjuku Ni-chōme district, which is home to about 300 bars. Each bar may only have room to seat about a dozen people; as a result, many bars are specialized according to interest. Because of a raid on a Mexico City drag ball in 1901, when 41 men were arrested,
11084-431: The Stonewall riots. Aside from black paint, the spaces had temporary wooden bars. According to a description of the bar from the 1960s, the decoration was so sparse that it looked "to have only recently been converted from a garage into a cabaret in about eight hours and at a cost of under fifty dollars". Originally, service spaces such as the coat room were placed at the front of the bar, likely to limit outsiders' views of
11247-569: The U.S., The New York Times attributes the term to saloon owner Kate Hester, who ran an unlicensed bar in the 1880s in McKeesport, supposedly telling her rowdy customers to "speak easy" to avoid attention from authorities, which has become a common American anecdote. Many years later, in Prohibition-era America, the "speakeasy" became a common name to describe a place to get an illicit drink. Different names for speakeasies were created. The terms "blind pig" and "blind tiger" originated in
11410-409: The United States in the 19th century. These terms were applied to establishments that sold alcoholic beverages illegally, and they are still in use today. The operator of an establishment (such as a saloon or bar) would charge customers to see an attraction (such as an animal) and then serve a "complimentary" alcoholic beverage, thus circumventing the law. In desperate cases it has to betake itself to
11573-488: The United States, the word emerged in the 1880s. The first known recorded use is in a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspaper article from March 21, 1889, which refers to "speak easy" as the term used in the Pittsburgh -area town of McKeesport, Pennsylvania for "a saloon that sells without a license". A later, June 30, 1889, Pittsburg Dispatch article explains the following: "Speak-easies" have always existed, no matter who first called them by that name. They have been "holes in
11736-516: The alert for bullying and attacks. In 2013, Moscow's largest gay bar, Central Station, had its walls sprayed with gunfire, had harmful gas released into a crowd of 500 patrons, and had its ceiling nearly brought down by a gang who wanted to crush the people inside. Nonetheless, gay nightlife is increasing in Moscow and St. Petersburg, offering drag shows and Russian music, with some bars also offering discreet gay-only taxi services. The first recorded use of
11899-429: The bar a "mecca" for the LGBT community in the neighborhood, and Newsday wrote that "Here the young men with the delicate wrists and the bobby pins in their hair come to dance the night away with one another". One contemporary patron described the bar as being accepting of "anyone who was in the margins of gay society", but that this gave the bar a "trashy, low, and tawdry" feel. Homeless youth and drag queens frequented
12062-473: The bar and national monument. The visitor center includes a "content story wall" with information about people involved in the riot, a 1960s jukebox similar to the one used in the original bar, and a theater-like space with golden shovels bearing the names of the visitor center's sponsors. There is also artwork, as well as information about the history of the building and the riots. The visitor center also includes restrooms and space for park rangers. The interior of
12225-619: The bar by 1969; it was one of the only places where they were socially accepted, and the admission fee meant that additional drinks did not require a tab . Other LGBT patrons shunned Stonewall because of its mob ownership and the drag queens' presence. As a private club, Stonewall was not legally allowed to accept money for drinks, and each customer was given two tickets that could be exchanged for drinks. Different-colored tickets were used each day to prevent patrons from saving up drink tickets. The Stonewall Inn's operators pressured customers to buy drinks almost as soon as they entered. Each drink cost
12388-400: The bar had reportedly been the source of a small outbreak of hepatitis . Despite the poor conditions, the Stonewall Inn's popularity endured. Stonewall was the only bar for gay men in New York City where dancing was allowed, and dancing was its main draw after it opened as a gay club. Of the two bar rooms , the main room to the east typically played mainstream rock. There was a jukebox behind
12551-619: The bar have included Off the Wall, a pomegranate-and-lime-juice cocktail. The bar's official beer is Brooklyn Brewery 's Stonewall Inn IPA, a lemon and grapefruit IPA that is 4.5% alcohol by volume . Co-owner Stacy Lentz said in 2021 that she mainly wanted to sell beer brands made by LGBT–friendly companies, including Brooklyn Brewery, Gay Beer, and Dyke Beer. The bar stopped selling Anheuser-Busch brands such as Bud Light in 2021 because of Anheuser-Busch 's donations to numerous politicians who had introduced anti-LGBT legislation. Bud Light had been among
12714-522: The bar in 2016, the LGBT–rights organization Pride Live tried to develop a visitor center for the monument. Pride Live began negotiating with the owner of 51 Christopher Street in 2019, as the storefront there had been vacated. One of the bar's longest-tenured staff members at the time—the bartender Tree Sequoia, who had been present during the riots—frequently told stories to visitors and was also Stonewall's international ambassador. One commentator described
12877-399: The bar in 2019 as displaying sponsorship banners above the entrance, while the vacant storefront at 53 Christopher Street contained posters decrying violence against LGBT people . The bar closed temporarily in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , and Stonewall's owners unsuccessfully applied for a loan. Though the bar was allowed to start selling cocktails that June, it
13040-424: The bar in the main room; patrons could pay to have a song played on the jukebox. In addition to dancing, the main room was a popular place for gay men to congregate and cruise , and there were a small number of tables with candles. There was typically a single waiter in the main room, which was often called the "white room" because of its music and clientele. The back room, to the west, mostly played soul music . It
13203-402: The bar on these nights. The bar's management usually knew about raids beforehand due to police tip-offs, and raids occurred early enough in the evening that business could commence after the police had finished. There were white floodlights inside the bar, which could be activated in case of a raid. Many bars kept extra liquor nearby so they could resume business as quickly as possible if alcohol
13366-474: The bar reopened, other bars nearby saw increased business. The bar recorded few issues, other than sporadic violent incidents. One commentator for the Gay and Lesbian Review , said in 2009 that the modern bar's "crowd veers toward a random mix of tourists, city kids, and bridge-and-tunnel gays" but that its symbolism was still important. During the 2010s, the Stonewall Inn continued to attract regular customers, although
13529-417: The bar to approximate its 1969 appearance, although they did not necessarily wish to operate the bar as a museum. The Stonewall Inn reopened in March 2007. Lentz hung a costume in the window to honor the actress Judy Garland , a gay icon who had died a few days before the riots; the costume resembled the dress worn by Garland's character Dorothy in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz . Kelly said that, after
13692-444: The bar was often empty in the three years after it reopened. Pisano died of AIDS-related complications in early 1994, and Garguilo took over operation, as he wanted the bar to be open for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. According to Garguilo, so many people came to commemorate the riots' 25th anniversary that there was a line to take pictures of the bar. DeSimone and Pisano's business partner Bob Gurecki took over Stonewall in
13855-436: The bar was open or were not interested in the events hosted there. In the bar itself, there were no indications of the riots that had taken place there, except for framed newspaper articles on the walls. The Pink News attributed the bar's decline to long-running resentment between different groups of patrons, but neglect, gross mismanagement, and noise complaints from neighbors were also cited as reasons for its downfall. The bar
14018-401: The bar's facade the day afterward. The riot was covered in the city's major media outlets, including in radio and newspapers. Another demonstration took place on June 29; it attracted hundreds of protesters of all sexualities. Activity in Greenwich Village was sporadic over the next two days due to inclement weather, but another riot took place on July 2. The riots ultimately ended on July 3, when
14181-445: The bar. The structure at 51 Christopher Street became a visitor center for the Stonewall National Monument in the 2020s. The buildings themselves are architecturally undistinguished, with facades of brick and stucco , while the original bar's interior has been modified significantly over the years. The modern bar hosts various events and performances, and its owners also operate an LGBT advocacy organization. The Stonewall Inn became
14344-456: The biggest parts of American culture during this time. Several changes happened as speakeasies formed; one was with integration. People of all races, black or white, would gather together and even mingle. People would mix together and have few or no problems. Another change that occurred was more participation from women. Many businesses would set up their speakeasies to attract women to get more profits. Women also began to insert themselves into
14507-457: The business of speakeasies. Texas Guinan , a former screen and stage actress, opened many speakeasies during Prohibition such as the 300 Club and the El Fey. Guinan greeted customers with "Hey Suckers" and admitted she would be nothing without Prohibition. Her two biggest competitors were Helen Morgan and Belle Livingston. Speakeasies also affected culture during prohibition, and the speakeasy became
14670-537: The changeover occurred. The LPC writes that the Chinese restaurant was in operation by 1982, when the restaurant altered the building without the agency's permission, but a 1985 description of the site characterizes the bagel shop as still being located within the Stonewall site. A bar named Stonewall opened in 51 Christopher Street in 1987. New York City mayor Ed Koch proposed co-naming the stretch of Christopher Street outside Stonewall Inn as Stonewall Place in early 1989, and
14833-399: The city's growing outwardly LGBT community. The space was operated by Jimmy Pisano, a first-time bar owner who, according to his boyfriend Thomas Garguilo, was initially loath to name the bar "Stonewall" because of the sudden closure of the similarly named bar next door. Rather, Pisano initially named the bar after Jimmy Merry, who had taught him how to operate a bar. New Jimmy's occupied only
14996-410: The city, there was a notation advising would-be patrons against giving out any personally identifying information at the Stonewall Inn, especially to employees. The bar was not openly used for prostitution, but drug sales and other cash transactions did take place, and Carter wrote that "there is little doubt" that a prostitution ring operated out of the second story. Six months before the Stonewall riots,
15159-489: The columns that flanked the original entrance. The operators also placed 2×4 pieces of wood behind the windows so the police could not easily enter through the windows during a raid. The interior was painted black because that color was used in other gay bars and it would hide the interior's burn damage. The new owners retained the Stonewall Restaurant's old name so they did not have to replace the exterior sign (although
15322-444: The crowd and knocked a few people down, which incited bystanders even more. Eventually, the police were barricaded inside; the crowd was not cleared until 4:00 a.m. Almost everything in the Stonewall Inn was broken in the riots, and what little liquor remained was given away for free afterward. Stonewall's windows were covered with boards the night of the riots, and graffitied messages in support of LGBT rights and gay bars appeared on
15485-676: The early 1990s. Gay bars, cafes, restaurants and clubs are centred on Old Compton Street . Other cities in the UK also have districts or streets with a concentration of gay bars, like for example Stanley Street Quarter in Liverpool, the Merchant City in Glasgow, Canal Street in Manchester and the Birmingham Gay Village . There are many institutions in the United States that claim to be
15648-530: The early 2000s, the human rights of gays and lesbians in Taiwan improved significantly. The gay nightlife entertainment scene shifted from being a scene opened by gays and only having gay customers. Some non-gay-only nightclubs were considered gay nightclubs because they gathered a large number of gays. Representative stores are TeXound and 2F. Starting in 2007, gay bars began to move into the Ximen Red House, which
15811-457: The early morning hours of June 28, 1969. According to a Daily News article from the time, the NYPD had obtained a warrant to raid the bar because it was illegally serving liquor; later accounts said the raid was precipitated by an anonymous tip that the Mafia was trading stolen bonds . In any case, it was the first time the NYPD did not give the managers advance notice of a raid. Around 1:20 a.m.,
15974-408: The east, at 51 Christopher Street, opened in 2024 as the Stonewall National Monument's visitor center. Because the structures were developed separately, the roof of number 51 is slightly higher than that of number 53, and there is a party wall separating both buildings. The two buildings share a land lot with five other structures; as of 2022, these seven structures contained numerous storefronts and
16137-413: The exhibition of Greenland pigs and other curious animals, charging 25 cents for a sight of the pig and throwing in a gin cocktail gratuitously. [They] are in a mysterious place called a blind tiger , drinking the very bad whiskey for which Prohibition is indirectly responsible. "Blind tiger" also referred to illegal drinking establishments in which the seller's identity was concealed. A drawer runs into
16300-488: The existence of gay bars. In the 1960s their number grew rapidly and they clustered in and around a number of streets, although this was limited to bars, clubs and shops and they never became residential areas for gays, like the gay villages in the US. Since the late 1950s the main Amsterdam gay street was Kerkstraat , which was succeeded by Reguliersdwarsstraat in the early 1980s, when the first openly gay places opened here, like
16463-534: The famous cafe April in 1981, followed by dancing Havana in 1989. Other streets where there are still concentrations of gay bars are Zeedijk , Amstel and Warmoesstraat , the latter being the center of the Amsterdam leather scene , where the first leather bar already opened around 1955. The Queen's Head is a gay bar located at Zeedijk 20 in the centre of Amsterdam. Because of the high prevalence of homophobia in Russia, patrons of gay bars there often have had to be on
16626-586: The first iteration of the gay bar, the NYPD did not raid the revived Stonewall Inn, and gay officers sometimes even ordered drinks from the bar. New Jimmy's was renamed Stonewall in 1991. During the early 1990s, Stonewall gained a poor reputation among neighborhood residents after several incidents in which the police were called to remove drug dealers there. Stonewall also suffered from low patronage due to competition from other taverns; according to DeSimone, Stonewall frequently did not see more than 50 or 60 patrons even on its busiest nights. Garguilo similarly said that
16789-451: The foreign zones, which were traditionally more tolerant. One male bar patron said Korean bar culture was not as direct as in the United States, with customers indicating their interest in another customer by ordering him a drink through a waiter. The oldest lesbian bar in Seoul is Lesbos, which started in 1996. Under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, homosexuality
16952-408: The fringes of the gay community. Stonewall operated as a private club because it was not allowed to obtain a liquor license; police raided the bar frequently, in spite of bribes from the owners. The Stonewall riots of June 28 to July 3, 1969, took place following one such raid. The bar went out of business shortly after the riots, and the two buildings were divided and leased to various businesses over
17115-544: The growing LGBT community, in 1966, four mafiosos associated with the Genovese crime family paid $ 3,500 for the Stonewall Inn, turning the restaurant into a gay bar. The team of owners were led by "Fat Tony" Lauria; he paid $ 2,000 for the restaurant, and three other mobsters named Zookie Zarfas, Tony the Sniff, and Joey paid $ 500 each. It was one of several gay bars operated by the Genovese syndicate in New York City. Matty Ianniello ,
17278-548: The inauguration ceremonies, and the New York City Subway 's Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station was renamed the Christopher Street–Stonewall station on the same day. The first Stonewall Inn occupied a pair of repurposed horse stables at 51 and 53 Christopher Street, on the northern side of the street. The modern-day bar occupies only the structure at 53 Christopher Street. The neighboring building to
17441-409: The interior. Visitors entered straight into a tiny vestibule. There was an office or coat check to the left of the main entrance, immediately behind the front window of 53 Christopher Street. A wishing well was found just inside the doorway. The main bar room was to the right, within 51 Christopher Street, through a doorway and down a single step. The main room had a long bar with narrow stools, and there
17604-546: The late 1880s. To manage the sale of "intoxicating liquors," the Allegheny County Liquor Law was passed in 1872. This law introduced alcohol licenses, set closing times, banned sales to minors, and generally aimed to control the unruly environment. Pittsburgh barkeeps mostly complied with these regulations until 1888, when the Brooks High-License Act increased the annual license fee from $ 50 to $ 500. While
17767-475: The mafiosos who operated the bar. Pine claimed that he had been ordered to raid the bar because it was blackmailing wealthy patrons, but Carter could not find evidence to corroborate this claim. A Newsday article from 1970 described Stonewall as "still a battered, broken place, with a For Rent sign on it now". Another Stonewall opened at 211 22nd Street in Miami Beach , Florida, in 1972. Two patrons there filed
17930-480: The main Christopher Street entrance. The city government charged the club's owners with several safety violations during this decade. According to one member of Manhattan Community Board 2, the owners were reportedly closing curtains (which was disallowed because the club held a New York state liquor license) and allowing sexually explicit shows inside. By early 2006, Stonewall's beverage suppliers were suing its operators. The LGBT community generally either did not know
18093-402: The mid-1990s. At the end of 1996, Ben Duell, who owned the building, refused to renew DeSimone's lease unless the latter agreed to expand the bar into the vacant second story. The space at 53 Christopher Street was renovated into a multi-floor nightclub at a cost of $ 200,000. it included a 95-seat bar room on the second floor. DeSimone needed a permit to operate a dance club within the bar, as it
18256-407: The modern effects of gentrification . But despite the decline, gay bars still exist in relatively strong numbers and thrive in most major cities where male homosexuality is not heavily condemned. They also asserted many gay men (especially men new to gay nightlife) still find some value in gay-specific venues and being in the company of other gay men. Unlike gay bars, lesbian bars have become
18419-404: The most popular beer brands sold at the bar when Stonewall stopped selling it. A Condé Nast Traveler review from 2009 described the beverages as "unfussy and mainstream". Time Out and New York rank the bar's drinks as being moderately priced. The Telegraph wrote in 2018: "All that said, Stonewall is a fine place to sip a vodka soda and meet new friends." Gay bar A gay bar
18582-587: The newspaper men accepted the term as filling a long-felt want. It now passes current all over the country as a descriptive of a resort where strong drink is sold without license. Speakeasies were numerous and popular during the Prohibition years (1920-1933). Some were operated by people who were part of organized crime . Even though police and agents of the Bureau of Prohibition would often raid them and arrest their owners and patrons, they were so profitable that they continued to flourish. The speakeasy soon became one of
18745-499: The niche communities that they serve. With the advent of the Internet and an increasing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people across the Western world, the relevance of gay bars in the LGBTQ+ community has somewhat diminished. In areas without a gay bar, certain establishments may hold a gay night instead. Gathering places favoured by homosexuals have operated for centuries. Reports from as early as
18908-477: The novelist Edmund White , the new captain of the NYPD's 6th Precinct had ordered the raids in Greenwich Village. In a 1987 retrospective, Robert Amsel wrote in the LGBT magazine The Advocate that many LGBT people were in favor of the raids because they did not want the bars to be operated by the mafia; according to Amsel, these critics did not see that "without the mafia's money, there might not have been any gay bars to legitimize". The Stonewall riots started in
19071-526: The number 41 has come to symbolize male homosexuality in Mexican popular culture , figuring frequently in jokes and in casual teasing. The raid on the "Dance of the 41" was followed by a less-publicized raid of a lesbian bar on 4 December 1901 in Santa Maria. Despite the international depression of the 1930s and along with the social revolution overseen by Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940), the growth of Mexico City
19234-431: The oldest gay bar in the country. Since Prohibition ended in 1933, there are a number of notable gay bars that have opened. In alphabetical order: Gay bars have been heavily impacted by the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS with both potential risk and crucial community support and education. San Francisco had over 100 gay bars when the epidemic first hit in the early 1980s; by 2011 there were only about 30 remaining. During
19397-657: The oldest lesbian bar in Singapore. Today, many gay bars are located on the Neil Road stretch, from Taboo and Tantric, to Backstage Bar, May Wong's Café, DYMK and Play. Mega-clubs like Zouk and Avalon are also a big draw for the gay crowd. The history of gay and lesbian bars in South Africa reflects the racial divisions that began in the Apartheid era and continue, to some extent, in the 21st century. The first white gay bar opened in
19560-454: The only places to meet. These bars were often the targets of police raids. The decade of the 1970s was when urban gay clubs took root. The most popular gay club of Johannesburg was The Dungeon, which attracted females as well as males, and lasted until the 1990s. The 1979 police assault on the New Mandy's Club, in which patrons fought back, has been referred to as South Africa's Stonewall . In
19723-752: The owners paid bribes . A fairly visible presence was developed in large cities such as Guadalajara , Acapulco , Veracruz and Mexico City. Today, Mexico City is home to numerous gay bars, many of them located in the Zona Rosa , particularly on Amberes street, while a broad and varied gay nightlife also flourishes in Guadalajara, Acapulco, in Cancun attracting global tourists, Puerto Vallarta which attracts many Americans and Canadians, and Tijuana with its cross-border crowd. However, there are at least several gay bars in most major cities. In Amsterdam , there were already
19886-479: The raw taste of the liquor (such as the gin cocktail, made with Genever (sweet) gin), to new cocktails aimed at masking the taste of rough moonshine . These masking drinks were termed "pansies" at the time (although some, such as the Brandy Alexander , would now be termed "classic"). The quality of the alcohol sold in speakeasies ranged from very poor to very good, depending on the owner's source. Cheap liquor
20049-433: The restaurant closed, the buildings were vacant; the signs above the ground-story windows were removed, and the second story of the facade was patched. Greenwich Village had become an LGBT neighborhood as early as the 1930s. The neighborhood's LGBT community was originally concentrated around Greenwich Avenue and Washington Square Park , but, by the 1960s, had started to move westward along Christopher Street. To cater to
20212-404: The right is a segmental arch, with a fanlight above wooden double doors. The bay furthest to the right has a stucco facade at ground level, with a rectangular door leading to the second floor. On the second story, the stucco facade is scored horizontally, and there is a curved iron flower-box holder beneath each of the four windows. At the time of the 1969 riots, the second floor of number 51 had
20375-419: The riots, and the station itself was renamed after Stonewall National Monument in 2024. A crosswalk at Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue South to the west, the closest intersection to the Stonewall Inn, has been painted in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag since 2017. To the east, Christopher Street intersects Grove Street, Waverly Place (twice), and Gay Street . Parts of these roads are protected on
20538-465: The riots, the park has contained the Gay Liberation statue by George Segal since 1992. It also displayed a sculpture named A Love Letter to Marsha (a temporary tribute to the transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson , who was present during the riots) during 2021. The New York City Subway 's Christopher Street–Stonewall is next to the park. The station's artwork includes a triptych that depicts
20701-553: The sale, manufacture, and transportation ( bootlegging ) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States, due to the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution . Speakeasies largely disappeared after Prohibition ended in 1933. The speakeasy-style trend began in 2000 with the opening of the bar Milk & Honey . The phrase "speak softly shop", meaning a "smuggler's house", appeared in
20864-410: The screening process paid an admission fee of $ 3 on weekends and $ 1 on weekdays. Patrons were predominantly in their teens or early twenties, though men in their late twenties and early thirties congregated around the main room's bar. Most patrons were young gay men of various races and occupations, though Stonewall did also accept women (regardless of sexuality), transsexuals , and transvestites . It
21027-444: The second story. The Gay Activists Alliance planned to install a plaque on the buildings, as it did not have enough money to buy the structures for preservation purposes. There were numerous attempts to install a commemorative plaque or a statue on or near the bar buildings, but these efforts received criticisms for failing to sufficiently acknowledge nonwhite or transgender people. LPC documents show that, in 1975, Duell leased out
21190-492: The song Living on My Own at his 39th birthday party. Other gay venues include Pompon Rouge , Mandy's Club , Pimpernel nightclub, the bar Mylord , the Ochsengarten , which was "Germany's first bar for leather men ", as well as the gay hotel-pub Deutsche Eiche . Regulars in many of these bars and nightclubs include, for example, Freddie Mercury, Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Walter Sedlmayr (who met his later murderer in
21353-400: The space at 53 Christopher Street and was unrelated to the original bar. Dominic DeSimone was hired to renovate the space; he wanted to restore the bar to its 1960s-era condition, but critics such as David Carter expressed concerns that the new operators wanted to exploit the bar's name for commercial purposes. A commemorative plaque was also installed outside the bar's entrance. In a contrast to
21516-595: The street, in gay or gay-friendly shops and venues, and at other clubs and events. Similar to flyers for predominantly heterosexual venues, these flyers frequently feature provocative images and theme party announcements. While traditional gay pub-like bars are nearly identical to bars catering to the general public, gay dance venues often feature elaborate lighting design and video projection, fog machines and raised dancing platforms. Hired dancers (called go-go girls or go-go boys ) may also feature in decorative cages or on podiums. Gay sports bars are relatively unusual, but it
21679-540: The style of a hunting lodge. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) wrote that, despite a lack of documentation on Stonewall's early history, "sources suggest that it was among the most notorious of the tearooms operating in the Village in the early 1930s". The restaurant hosted various banquets and weddings, as well as events including a 1935 dinner for the Greenwich Village Association and
21842-606: The term "gay bar" is in the diaries of homosexual British comedian Kenneth Williams : "16 January 1947. Went round to the gay bar which wasn't in the least gay." At the time Williams was serving in the British Army in Singapore . In the 1970s, straight nightclubs began to open their doors to gay clients on designated nights of the week. In the 1980s, a lesbian bar named Crocodile Rock opened in Far East Plaza, which remains to this day
22005-463: The two storefronts there as distinct spaces. Thereafter, the buildings were used by a variety of businesses, and subsequent renovations removed all of the original gay bar's decorations. Documents indicate that the owners of 51 Christopher Street filed plans to widen that building's entrance in August 1975. The structure at 53 Christopher had become a bagel shop known as Bagels And by 1976. Mimi Sheraton , in
22168-566: The urban bars. The 2005 inaugural gay shebeen tour was advertised as a gay pub crawl that would provide an opportunity for South Africans and foreigners to "experience true African gay Shebeen culture". In Seoul, most gay bars were originally congregated near the Itaewon area of Seoul , near the U.S. military base. But in recent years, more clubs have located in the Sinchon area, indicating that "safe spaces" for Korean LGBTQ+ people have extended beyond
22331-410: The visitor center at 51 Christopher Street, function as separate entities. 53 Christopher Street largely retains its original layout, but the finishes have been completely replaced. The ground floor's interior decorations include a mirror occupying one wall, as well as wood paneling along the other walls. A 2009 article on the bar characterized it as a nondescript space with stools and a pool table. There
22494-449: The visitor center is decorated in white, and the doorway to the existing bar at 53 Christopher Street has been bricked up. One observer for the magazine Fast Company said the visitor center "makes Stonewall a sanitary, consumable story", while The New York Times art critic Holland Cotter wrote of the visitor center's "informational softness". The modern Stonewall Inn serves only drinks and not food. The drinks that have been served at
22657-448: The visitor center there commenced in June 2022. MBB Architects designed the visitor center, and Local Projects was responsible for designing the exhibits. The visitor center opened on June 28, 2024, as the United States' first official national visitor center for LGBTQ culture. Numerous politicians and celebrities, including the singer Elton John and U.S. President Joe Biden , participated in
22820-416: The wall" and various other things descriptive of their leading peculiarities, but it is only within very recent times, and in the city of Pittsburgh, that they have been dubbed "speak-easies". Speakeasies were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors". Although failing to account for earlier usage outside
22983-409: The word "restaurant" was officially dropped from the name, that word was not painted over on the sign). At the time of the conversion, LGBT bars and straight bars had similar facades, though LGBT bars tended to have an intentionally rundown appearance so straight patrons would be discouraged from going to these bars. Stonewall opened as a gay bar on March 18, 1967. It had two dance floors in addition to
23146-614: The working class. Chez Moune , opened in 1936, and New Moon were 20th-century lesbian cabarets located in Place Pigalle , which converted to mixed music clubs in the 21st century. Since the 1980s, the Le Marais district is the center of the gay scene in Paris. In Berlin , there was gay and lesbian night life already around 1900, which throughout the 1920s became very open and vibrant, especially when compared to other capitals. Especially in
23309-524: The worst years of the epidemic (before affordable and effective treatment), millions of gay men around the world died; consequently fewer persons owned or patronized gay bars. A 2009 study revealed a correlation between gay bar attendance and certain high-risk sexual behaviors. Specifically, the research indicated that individuals who frequented gay bars were more likely to engage in insertive unprotected anal intercourse, including with partners whose HIV status differed from their own. Gay bars have always been
23472-401: The years. In 1990, Jimmy Pisano opened a new bar at 53 Christopher Street, which was initially named New Jimmy's before becoming Stonewall. After Pisano's death in 1994, his boyfriend Thomas Garguilo took over the bar, followed by Dominic DeSimone and Bob Gurecki. The Stonewall Inn closed in 2006, and it reopened in March 2007 after Bill Morgan, Tony DeCicco, Kurt Kelly, and Stacy Lentz acquired
23635-441: Was a dance floor at the rear. Swinging doors led from the main room, up one step, to the back room at 53 Christopher Street. The back room contained a bar at its rear. Toward the rear of the bar were the men's and women's restrooms, which had doors from both the main and back rooms. The interior of the original Stonewall Inn was divided into two spaces and redesigned after the original bar closed. The bar at 53 Christopher Street, and
23798-407: Was a secret speakeasy that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition in the United States ; as a consequence, it was raided in December 1930. Bonavia relocated to 51–53 Christopher Street in 1934, after Prohibition was repealed. The architect Harry Yarish installed a large vertical sign on the facade and a doorway with columns around the entrance to 53 Christopher Street. The interior was designed in
23961-717: Was accompanied by the opening of gay bars and gay bathhouses . During the Second World War , ten to fifteen gay bars operated in Mexico City, with dancing permitted in at least two, El África and El Triunfo. Relative freedom from official harassment continued until 1959 when Mayor Ernesto Uruchurtu closed every gay bar following a grisly triple-murder. But by the late 1960s several Mexican cities had gay bars and, later, U.S.-style dance clubs . These places, however, were sometimes clandestine but tolerated by local authorities, which often meant that they were allowed to exist so long as
24124-462: Was called the black room or the Puerto Rican room, as it was frequented by black and Hispanic customers, as well as youth. The back room was even more dimly lit than the main room, and it had numerous waiters, all of whom cajoled guests to buy drinks. The south end of the back room, near Christopher Street, was occupied by "the most marginal of the Stonewall's customers". Around 1968, the owners removed
24287-426: Was forced to close again later in 2006 after losing its liquor license, and the storefront at number 53 was available for rent by that August. Stonewall's furnishings, such as bar stools, were placed on sale. At that point, Stonewall's monthly rent was $ 20,000, making it unlikely that it would reopen as a bar. Kurt Kelly, a local businessman who later helped take over the bar, said: "This is gay history. It's like abusing
24450-406: Was generally used because it was more profitable. In other cases, brand names were used to specify the liquor customers wanted. However, sometimes when brand names were used, some speakeasies cheated; they lied to their customers by giving them poor quality liquor instead of the higher-quality liquor the customer ordered. Prices were four to five dollars a bottle. Speakeasy-themed cocktail bars made
24613-635: Was illegal. However, in 1962, Spain's first gay bar, Tony's, opened in Torremolinos and a clandestine gay bar scene also emerged in the 1960s and early 1970s in Barcelona . In Taiwan, Gay bar culture was first brought to Taiwan by the US military stationed in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the first gay bar "Take" appeared in Taipei. At the same time, lesbians often held activities in American military bars and gay bars. It
24776-560: Was in danger of closing permanently, so Kelly and Lentz launched two crowdfunding campaigns on GoFundMe ; They raised at least $ 300,000 for the bar in one month, and the Gill Foundation provided another $ 250,000 in matching funds. Stonewall reopened in July 2020 with a limited capacity. The building at 51 Christopher Street was placed for sale in June 2021, but, after Pride Live and the owner of 51 Christopher Street came to an agreement, work on
24939-492: Was known for sitting motionless around the bar and watching patrons. Visitors were greeted by bouncers who inspected them through the peepholes in the door. The bouncers accepted almost any LGBT individual who wanted to enter, but they screened out straight patrons and undercover police officers. Admission was granted to would-be patrons who "looked gay" or who had visited the club before, as well as new patrons who were accompanied by someone that could vouch for them. People under
25102-405: Was less than 100 feet from a residential building, but the local Manhattan Community Board 2 unanimously voted against giving him a dance-club permit in early 1997. Despite not having a dance permit, DeSimone decided to open a dance floor on the second story in June 1997, prompting complaints from residents of the nearby condominium building at 45 Christopher Street . By 1999, number 51 was still
25265-474: Was not insignificant. Many homeless young men slept across the street in Christopher Park and would often try to enter so customers would buy them drinks. The Stonewall Inn was a popular hangout for gay men. The bar was called "one of the most active spots in town currently; very crowded on weekends" in a 1968 guidebook, and it was New York City's only gay bar that allowed open dancing. It was also located on
25428-515: Was not operating well at that time. Relying on the gay customer base, this place gradually gathered a lot of popularity and became the first openly gay business district in Taiwan. Nowadays, Ximen Red House Bar Street is a must-visit attraction for gays from all over the world when visiting Taiwan. Currently, the representative gay bars include Abrazo Bistro, Bacio Taipei, Belle's, Commander D, Fairy Taipei, G-Star, Ganymede, Hunt and Locker Room. There are also many small gay bars in Ximen Red House. In
25591-462: Was not until 1985 that the first lesbian bar "Forgettable Valley" appeared. After the mid-1980s, Gay bars and T-bars sprouted up like mushrooms after a rain. In addition to Taipei, they also began to appear in Taichung and Kaohsiung. The style has also become diversified from simply drinking and chatting. For example, Funky in the 1990s divided its business hours into singing hours and dancing hours. In
25754-416: Was ordinarily placed in the window, while pride flags were hung on the facade. The building at 51 Christopher Street is two stories high (previously three), with a one-story rear annex, and is four bays wide. At ground level, the left half of number 51's facade contains a rectangular, 4-by-8-foot (1.2 by 2.4 m) storefront window with a brick windowsill, similar to the window at number 53. Immediately to
25917-446: Was originally used by Mark Spencer before becoming a bakery operated by Baptiste Ycre in 1914. The then-owner of the buildings, Henry J. Harper, hired the architect William Bayard in 1930 to combine and redesign the structures in the Arts & Crafts style. The two structures were reclad in stucco , and the third story atop 51 Christopher Street was removed. The ground floor continued to host
26080-453: Was raided even more frequently before elections or when local residents complained. Seymour Pine , a police inspector who later led the raid that caused the Stonewall riots , said his team frequently raided gay bars because LGBT people did not fight back when they were arrested. Pine recalled that limousines carrying wealthy patrons would come to the bar on Saturdays, so he tried to avoid raiding
26243-416: Was seized. During a typical raid, the lights were turned on, and customers were lined up and their identification cards checked. Those without identification were often arrested, along with the bar's staff. Also liable to be arrested were people who did not wear at least three pieces of gender-conforming clothing, such as men in full drag. Anyone who was detained in a raid was often released within hours, and as
26406-538: Was stored in cigar boxes. The activist Craig Rodwell described Stonewall as "one of the [...] more financially lucrative of the Mafia's gay bars in Manhattan". The spaces were poorly lit, giving it the impression of a dive bar . At the rear of the bar, the men's restroom had its own attendant, and the women's restroom had a red lightbulb. The main room's bar lacked running water, forcing barkeeps to run dirty glasses through rubber tubs and immediately reuse them. The bar had
26569-686: Was the scene of alleged gay marriages carried out by the Reverend John Church . It is not clear which place is the first gay bar in the modern sense. In Cannes , France, such a bar had already opened in 1885, and there were many more in Berlin around 1900. In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands gay bars were established throughout the first quarter of the 20th century. The oldest gay bar in Beijing
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