Must see in New York
Top-rated stories told and curated by local experts
Stonewall LGBT Village Pride Tour
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.
Upper West Side LGBT Pride
This experience is sponsored, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and a Humanities New York Action Grant.
The Upper West Side historically attracted an LGBT presence due to various factors, including once-affordable housing, its proximity to parks and Lincoln Center, and subway access. This experience provides a small selection of sites that include writer James Baldwin’s residence; the Ansonia, which once housed the legendary Continental Baths; the Dakota, once home to composer Leonard Bernstein, among others; and the long-time home of lesbian activist Joan Nestle, who, along with others founded and ran the Lesbian Herstory Archives here before its move to Brooklyn.
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.
LGBT NYC: A Sampling of Trans Sites
This experience is sponsored, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and a Humanities New York Action Grant.
New York City has been home to a number of influential transgender activists who helped advance trans and gay equality, even as they had to fight for their own inclusion within the broader LGBT rights movement. This collection features a citywide overview spanning the 20th century including residences, Christopher Park, the Christopher Street Pier, and community centers that honor the legacies of pioneering trans activists such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson and groups such as the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and the Fabulous Independent Radicals for Community Empowerment (FIERCE).
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.
LGBT Jackson Heights, Queens and Further Afield
This experience is sponsored, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and a Humanities New York Action Grant.
Jackson Heights has been home to LGBT residents since the 1920s, when a population boom included a significant number of Broadway theater artists who were attracted to the convenient subway commute from Times Square to the quiet, newly-built residential enclave. After the opening of LaGuardia Airport, gay travelers and flight attendants waited out layovers by visiting a small entertainment district on 37th Avenue. Beginning in the 1970s, Latino immigrants arrived in Jackson Heights in large numbers and, gradually, gay bars in the area catered predominantly to LGBT Latinos. Until the activism spurred on by the gay-biased murder of Julio Rivera in July 1990, however, the LGBT community of the neighborhood — and Queens in general — was largely invisible. This curated collection includes sites associated with the Queens Pride Parade, Latino nightlife, and important LGBT meeting spaces.
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.
LGBT Harlem: In the Life
This experience is sponsored, in part, by the generous support of American Express, Con Edison, and a Humanities New York Action Grant.
This collection focuses on extant LGBT sites in Harlem, a neighborhood that has been home to a significant portion of the black LGBT community since the 1920s. Included are a number of sites associated with one the 20th century’s most significant cultural movements, the Harlem Renaissance, which produced an outpouring of celebrated works by African-American artists and writers from roughly 1919 to 1935. Unfortunately, many of Harlem’s LGBT historic and cultural sites have been demolished.
This tour represents a selection of 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.
Local things to do in New York
Top Experiences for every interest
Map
History
Old City Hall Subway Station
New York's most beautiful subway station.
Museum of the City of New York
History
African Burial Ground Monument
The anchor of all African Burial grounds in New York City.
National Park Service
Parks & Nature
African Burial Ground National Monument
In this sacred space, discover how free and enslaved Africans contributed to the physical and spiritual development of Lower Manhattan during the 17th and 18th centuries.
National Park Service
Food & Drinks
Pearl Street
Legend has it was paved in oyster shells...or was it?
Museum of the City of New York
Top New York channels
Experiences curated by official city guide partners
Travel Like a Local
Discover adventures based on your interests
Plan your next getaway
Top stories told by local insiders
