14 Historic LGBTQ+ Sites in NYC You Didn’t Know Existed

As the birthplace of Pride and other trailblazing queer liberation movements, New York City has remained an important locale in the LGBTQIA+ movement since its founding in the 17th century. From its historical bars to its decades-old organizations and resource hubs, New York City is a safe haven for those who don’t identify with heteronormative society.

In addition to celebrating freedom and authentic expression during Pride Month (by dancing the night away at the best LGBTQIA+ bars or embarking on a queer archival walking tour of the Lower East Side), take some time to explore some of the most sacred spaces and destinations associated with underrepresented narratives of the queer community. Here are 16 LGBTQIA+ historic sites in NYC.

West Village
Although it’s currently a private residence—which was put on the market in 2021 for $4.99 million—passersby can still admire this beautiful (and extremely narrow) townhouse on Bedford Street that was once the home of bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. From 1923 to 1925, many of her beautiful prose, which made her a central literary figure in the feminist and liberation of womxn movement, were written within these walls and on the idyllic backyard patio.

Greenwich Village
James Beard, one of the most significant and innovative figures in American culinary history, called this Greenwich Village townhouse home from 1973 to 1985. An openly gay man who came out in his 1981 revised memoir titled Delights and Prejudices, Beard originally ran his cooking school on the ground floor of the building and kept his personal residences on the floors above. When he passed in 1985, the brownstone was transformed and now houses the James Beard Foundation, which showcases emerging and established chefs over intimate meals in the greenhouse, back patio, and dining room.

West Village
Julius’ has lived many lives. In 1826, it first opened as a grocery store, before turning into a popular watering hole for sports figures in 1864, and then finally transforming into a hub for the queer community in 1930. Famously, there was the 1966 “Sip-In,” where several customers challenged the Liquor Authority regulations which banned known or suspected queer people from drinking on the basis of disorderly conduct. You can count on Julius’ being one of the busiest and most popular gay bars in the city.

West Village
Since first opening its doors in 1983, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (commonly called “The Center”) has been a safe space for the queer community. With a goal to improve the lives of all who walk through their doors, The Center helps with insurance enrollment and job applications; provides online guides on LGBTQIA+-friendly small businesses, events, and hotels during travel; and connects members with recovery, wellness, family, and youth organizations. Open seven days a week, there’s always a packed activities calendar (full list here) to peruse which includes sobriety support sessions, yoga classes, motorcycle clubs, motivational talks, youth groups, and more.

West Village
This memorial and public park honors the more than 100,000 New Yorkers who have died of AIDS since the early 1980s, as well as the frontline workers and activists who fought discrimination, provided care for the ill, and lobbied for medical research. Located on a triangular stretch of Manhattan in the West Village—that was once a part of St. Vincent’s Hospital, where many AIDS patients sought medical treatment early on in the epidemic—the outdoor memorial features an 18-foot white, triangular steel structure which shields fountains and benches. Providing a pensive spot for contemplation, this area serves as a reminder of those we’ve lost and that the fight to find a cure is not over.

Greenwich Village
Arguably the most famous gay bar in the world, The Stonewall Inn is the historic site where queer activists fought back against discriminatory police raids over a six-night period in June 1969. The bar was first opened in 1967 by Mafioso Fat Tony Lauria as a private gay club—gay bars often operated as private clubs to avoid restrictions from the New York State Liquor Authority policy, which prohibited queer people from being served alcohol. Currently, the bar welcomes crowds of patrons for late nights filled with dancing, games of pool, comedy shows, drag shows, and musical performances seven nights a week until 4 am.

Bowery
This theater is considered one of the top spaces for womxn and transgender artists to perform. Originally meant to be open for just 11 days during a women’s theater festival in 1980, the WOW Cafe Theatre is now open year-round and is part of the Fourth Arts Block organization—a non-profit which promotes diversity and inclusivity, as well as affordable programs and free training for emerging artists. Many famous guests and performers—like actor and writer Peggy Shaw and director and playwright Lois Weaver—have graced the premises here.

Astoria
One of the oldest queer bars in Queens, this establishment once catered specifically to lesbians, but later shifted its focus to the LBGTQIA+ community as a whole. Guests can enjoy delightfully inexpensive 16-ounce “cock-tails'' for $9 each before grabbing the karaoke mic, playing drag bingo, watching a live drag performance, or settling in for a screening of Drag Race.

Rockaway Beach
At the eastern end of Jacob Riis Park, near the abandoned Neponsit Hospital, is a stretch of beach that has been a longtime destination and safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community. A queer haven since the 1940s, Jacob Riis Beach is a popular sunbathing spot (tops are optional) during NYC’s warmer months, but also hosts activism rallies, voter registration drives, and Pride Month celebrations.

Jackson Heights
Marked by a street sign, this corner is a solemn memorial dedicated to Julio Rivera, a gay Puerto Rican New Yorker who was murdered in a hate crime in 1990. In the aftermath of Rivera’s tragic death, a queer rights movement was sparked in then-mostly-conservative Queens and resulted in the formation of the Queens Pride Parade.

Park Slope
The Lesbian Herstory Archives was founded in the 1970s, when a group of women associated with the Gay Academic Union came to the realization that lesbian history needed to be preserved. The volunteer-run archival system now gathers and records lesbian narratives and activities for future generations. Originally located on the Upper West Side, the organization relocated to its current Park Slope brick-and-mortar in 1993 and was deemed a New York City Landmark in 2022.

Rosebank
This picturesque, historic Dutch farmhouse on Staten Island was home to one of America’s earliest and most prolific women in photography, Alice Austen, and her partner Gertrude Tate in the early 19th century. Now a National Historic Landmark, the more-than-300-year-old home operates as a museum for Austen’s work, which consists of 8,000 beautifully intimate photographs of her private life and street life throughout Staten Island and Manhattan.

Stapleton Heights
Famously the home of Black lesbian writer and activist Audre Lorde, where she resided from 1972 to 1987 with her partner and two children, this house on Staten Island was officially deemed a NYC Landmark in June of 2019. Here, she worked on various books and poems and also co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press with fellow writer and famed Black lesbian feminist Barbara Smith.

Schuylerville
In The Bronx neighborhood of Schuylerville sits the childhood home of the trailblazing transgender woman Christine Jorgensen. After the gender reassignment medical procedure she received in Denmark made headlines across the US in 1953, Jorgensen became one of the most famous people of her time and sparked activism across the country to advocate for transgender rights. She went on to have a successful performance career into the late 1960s and passed away in 1989.

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