Timeline of Midtown Gay History, 1900-1960
1903 The first recorded police raid on a gay bathhouse occurs at the Ariston (W. 55th Street at Broadway); 78 men are caught, 26 are arrested, 12 are brought to trial on sodomy charges, and 7 receive prison sentences of between 4 and 20 years.
1910s–'40s The tony Astor Hotel bar (1515 Broadway, between 44th and 45th Streets) becomes well known around the city and the world as a civilized meeting place by gay men.
1930s 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues becomes a rough and tumble gay strip, with sailors and hustlers cruising mid-block haunts like the Barrel House and the Marine Bar.
1940 One of many gays bars closed by the State Liquor Authority on grounds that homosexual patrons are by nature "disorderly," Gloria's (Third Avenue at 40th Street) takes the SLA to court, and loses.
1950s In a nod to the hugely popular Charlie Parker co-owned jazz club Birdland (1678 Broadway, between 52nd and 53rd Streets) that opened in 1949, a flock of gay bars with fowl names like the Golden Pheasant and the Blue Parrot create the Bird Circuit of gentlemen's gay bars, fanning its feathers out from Third Avenue from the upper '40s through the lower '50s.
1955 The Mattachine Society of New York is founded and holds its first meeting at the Hotel Diplomat (108 W. 43rd Street at Sixth Avenue).
1958 Barbara Gittings holds the first meeting of the New York Daughters of Bilitis chapter, the first lesbian organization on the East Coast (headquartered at 27 W.
38th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues).
1960 Front page New York Times article "Life on 42d St.: A Study in Decay" laments the prevalence of homosexuals on 42nd Street near Eighth Avenue, including details of the reporter's encounter with "a white youth with thick blond hair and handsome features who wore makeup on his eyebrows" who "spoke effeminately and shifted his hips and legs as he spoke."
1910s–'40s The tony Astor Hotel bar (1515 Broadway, between 44th and 45th Streets) becomes well known around the city and the world as a civilized meeting place by gay men.
1930s 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues becomes a rough and tumble gay strip, with sailors and hustlers cruising mid-block haunts like the Barrel House and the Marine Bar.
1940 One of many gays bars closed by the State Liquor Authority on grounds that homosexual patrons are by nature "disorderly," Gloria's (Third Avenue at 40th Street) takes the SLA to court, and loses.
1950s In a nod to the hugely popular Charlie Parker co-owned jazz club Birdland (1678 Broadway, between 52nd and 53rd Streets) that opened in 1949, a flock of gay bars with fowl names like the Golden Pheasant and the Blue Parrot create the Bird Circuit of gentlemen's gay bars, fanning its feathers out from Third Avenue from the upper '40s through the lower '50s.
1955 The Mattachine Society of New York is founded and holds its first meeting at the Hotel Diplomat (108 W. 43rd Street at Sixth Avenue).
1958 Barbara Gittings holds the first meeting of the New York Daughters of Bilitis chapter, the first lesbian organization on the East Coast (headquartered at 27 W.
38th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues).
1960 Front page New York Times article "Life on 42d St.: A Study in Decay" laments the prevalence of homosexuals on 42nd Street near Eighth Avenue, including details of the reporter's encounter with "a white youth with thick blond hair and handsome features who wore makeup on his eyebrows" who "spoke effeminately and shifted his hips and legs as he spoke."
