NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

LGBT Washington Square Park & Environs

This experience is sponsored, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and a Humanities New York Action Grant. Washington Square Park and the surrounding area had an openly LGBT presence beginning in the early 20th century. This experience provides a snapshot on some of the extant sites associated with 20th century LGBT life in this neighborhood. Visit the block of MacDougal Street just south of Washington Square that was once the cultural and social center of Greenwich Village’s bohemian set. Through the 1960s, the South Village was the location of many LGBT bars and commercial establishments with numerous LGBT writers and artists making the Village their home. See some of the area churches that fostered LGBT rights activism in the 1960s. This tour represents a selection of extant sites associated with LGBT history that are located within a small geographic area. As such, it does not represent the entire long LGBT history of New York City, nor does it entirely reflect the diversity of today’s LGBT community. This collection is limited to the research we have included on the project website so far. For more information or to suggest a site, please visit our website at www.nyclgbtsites.org.