NYC honors historic gay bar with landmark status

One of the earliest sites of gay rights activism is officially New York City’s newest landmark.

One of the earliest sites of gay rights activism is officially New York City’s newest landmark. 

Julius’ bar, in the heart of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, received the official designation Tuesday, following a vote by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Located at 159 West 10th St., just a short walk from fellow historic gay bar Stonewall Inn, Julius’ has been open since the 1860s. It started attracting gay patrons in the mid-20th century, and, according to the conservation nonprofit group Village Preservation, it’s the city’s oldest existing gay bar. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 for its significance in the gay rights movement. 

Brendan Byrnes and Stephen Cabral clink their drinks at Julius' in New York on March 19, 2021. They got married at Julius' in 2015.Julius Constantine Motal / NBC NewsVillage Preservation called Tuesday’s news the culmination of a decadelong campaign to recognize one of the first planned actions of civil disobedience in the fight for LGBTQ rights, three years prior to the iconic 1969 Stonewall uprising.

In the mid-1960s, gay rights activists frustrated by New York state’s ban on serving alcohol to gay customers came up with the idea of a “sip-in,” inspired at the time by widely publicized lunch counter “sit-in” protests for civil rights. They hoped the publicity from a similar type of demonstration would help galvanize gay rights supporters and potentially lead to greater acceptance and decriminalization of the community.   

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/nyc-honors-historic-gay-bar-landmark-status-rcna60379

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