Stonewall Inn
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 a relative 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 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 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 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 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 a facade of brick and stucco. 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 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 the LGBT rights movement.
Background and early history[edit]
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.[8][9] 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.[8][9] The other structure, 53 Christopher Street, was built in 1846; it 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.[8] The two structures were reclad in stucco, and the third story atop 51 Christopher Street was removed.[8][9] The ground floor continued to host a bakery until 1933, while the Ycre family lived on the second floor.[8]
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.[8] Bonnie's Stonewall might have been named after The Stone Wall, a lesbian autobiography by Mary Casal.[10][11] The historian David Carter wrote that, even in the 1930s, this may have been an attempt to subtly welcome queer women.[11][12] The bar was a secret speakeasy that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition in the United States;[8][13] as a consequence, it was raided in December 1930.[14] 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 the style of a hunting lodge.[8]
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".[15] The restaurant hosted various banquets and weddings,[8] as well as events including a 1935 dinner for the Greenwich Village Association[16] and a 1961 reunion party for performers involved with the play Summer and Smoke.[17] The eatery had become Bonnie's Stonewall Inn by the 1940s[11] and the Stonewall Inn Restaurant by the 1950s or 1960s.[9][11][12] The interior of the restaurant was destroyed by fire in the 1960s,[18][19] and the structures at 51 through 61 Christopher Street were sold in March 1965.[8][20] Sources disagree over whether the new owner was Burt and Lucille Handelsman,[20] or Joel Weiser.[8] The restaurant had definitely shuttered by 1966.[8][9] After the restaurant closed, the buildings were vacant;[19] the signs above the ground-story windows were removed, and the second story of the facade was patched.[8]
Drinks[edit]
The modern Stonewall Inn serves only drinks and not food; its primary beverages are vodka sodas.[199] The drinks that have been served at the bar have included Off the Wall, a pomegranate-and-lime-juice cocktail.[200] The bar's official beer is Brooklyn Brewery's Stonewall Inn IPA, a citrus, lemon, and grapefruit IPA that is 4.5% alcohol by volume.[201] 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.[202] 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.[202][203] Bud Light had been among the most popular beer brands sold at the bar when Stonewall stopped selling it.[202]
A Condé Nast Traveler review from 2009 described the beverages as "unfussy and mainstream".[199] Time Out and New York rank the bar's drinks as being moderately priced.[197][194] The Telegraph wrote in 2018: "All that said, Stonewall is a fine place to sip a vodka soda and meet new friends."[204]
Advocacy[edit]
After Lentz took over the bar, she organized several events in support of LGBT rights, such as a 2013 rally for the legalization of same-sex marriage outside the bar.[134] In 2017, Stonewall co-owners Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly established the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, a nonprofit LGBT–rights advocacy organization.[218] The organization has received proceeds from the sale of the Stonewall Inn IPA[199] and the sale of objects commemorating the Stonewall riots' 50th anniversary.[219] Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative has hosted events such as a 2020 concert co-hosted by German alcohol brand Jägermeister to raise money for nightlife workers.[154] Since 2023, the organization has presented the Stonewall Inn Brick Awards Gala, an event honoring LGBT community leaders.[218]
Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative also operates a program through which LGBT-friendly events could be designated as "safe spaces".[220][221] Developed in conjunction with six LGBT groups, by 2023, the program had been translated into multiple languages and was being implemented in other countries.[221]