53 Christopher Street. It was at this address on June 28, 1969 that the gay rights movement ignited. On that day a police raid occurred at the Stonewall Inn at 1:20 am. Eight police officers arrived without backup and aggressively tried to remove and arrest members of a crowd of 200 patrons. Police Billy-clubs were pulled out and used to help “incentivize,” movement out of the building. The raid was met with an almost instant violent response from the gay community, and it thrust the gay rights movement front and center at a time in our nation’s history where many authority-based actions were being questioned.
Last Tuesday (June 23, 2015), the Stonewall Inn was granted Landmark Status, ensuring the building and its surroundings will never be significantly altered. In a timely coincidence, three days later the Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is legal in the United States, ending a debate that has been raging almost as long as the Stonewall Rebellion.
While quite unremarkable on the outside, many of the city’s landmarks are landmarks because of what they represent, not what they look like. We thought we’d dig into the history of the Stonewall Inn for you, just to add color to such a culturally significant locale.
Up until 1929, the Stonewall Inn was actually two horse stables located at 51 and 53 Christopher Street. During the Great Depression the location was converted into a “tearoom” by the purveyor at the time, a woman whose name was Bonnie. Bonnie’s original name for the location was just: The Stone Wall, but later “Inn” was added even though the premises never had rooms for its guests. Up until 1966 The Stonewall Inn was a low profit bar that had little patronage, but in 1966, Genovese family member Tony Lauria bought the Stonewall Inn and converted it to a gay bar.
There were two quite remarkable facts about this: first in 1966 it was considered “disorderly,” by the State Liquor Authority for a bar to serve alcohol to any patron who was gay, so as a consequence it was rare that an openly gay bar could ever secure a liquor license. The other remarkable fact was that the Genovese Family was part of a crime syndicate that saw a profit making opportunity serving alcohol to a service-starved gay community. While not quite like Prohibition, the Genovese Family spent $1200 a month in bribe money to the Sixth Police District in order for them to turn a blind eye. The Stonewall Inn circumvented the liquor laws by maintaining itself as a private, members only “bottle club.” Patrons were required to sign a member registry (largely with pseudonyms), to further add to the appearance of exclusivity. Because of its non-bar status, as well as significant police bribes, raids were rare at the Stonewall Club.
Shortly after the Stonewall Riots on June 28, 1969, the bar changed ownership and the Mafia exited the investment. Crime families operate under a cloak of secrecy and the media attention proved to be too much.
Jonathan Winter
