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LEADING UP TO THE RIOTS
Stonewall Inn
Location of the Stonewall Inn in relation to
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
The Stonewall Inn, located at 51 and 53 Christopher
Street, along with
several other establishments in the city, was owned by the Genovese
family. In 1966,
three members of the Mafia invested $3,500 to turn the Stonewall Inn
into a gay
bar, after it had been a restaurant and a nightclub for heterosexuals.
Once a
week a police officer would collect envelopes of cash as a payoff; the
Stonewall
Inn had no liquor
license.
It had no running water behind the bar—used glasses were run through
tubs of
water and immediately reused There
were no fire exits, and the toilets overran consistently.
Though the bar was not used for prostitution, drug sales and other "cash
transactions" took place. It was the only bar for gay men in New York
City where
dancing was allowed; dancing was its
main draw since its re-opening as a gay club
Visitors to the Stonewall in 1969 were greeted by a bouncer who
inspected them through a peephole in the door. The legal drinking age
was 18,
and to avoid unwittingly letting in undercover police (who were called
"Lily
Law", "Alice Blue Gown", or "Betty Badge"),
visitors would have to be known by the doorman, or look gay. The
entrance fee on
weekends was $3, for which the customer received two tickets that could
be
exchanged for two drinks. Patrons were required to sign their names in a
book to
prove that the bar was a private "bottle club", but rarely signed their
real
names. There were two dance floors in the Stonewall; the interior was
painted
black, making it very dark inside, with pulsing gel lights or black
lights. If police were
spotted, regular white lights were turned on, signaling that everyone
should
stop dancing or touching.In
the
rear of the bar was a smaller room frequented by "queens"; it was one of
two
bars where effeminate men who wore makeup and teased their hair (though
dressed
in men's clothing) could go. Only a
few transvestites, or
men in full drag, were
allowed in
by the bouncers. The customers were "98 percent male" but a few lesbians
sometimes came to the bar. Younger homeless adolescent males, who slept
in
nearby Christopher
Park, would often try to get in so customers would buy them drinks. The age range of
the clientèle was between the upper teens and early thirties, and the
racial mix
was evenly distributed among white, black, and Hispanic.Because
of its
even mix of people, its location, and the attraction of dancing, the
Stonewall
Inn was known by many as "the gay bar in the city".
Police raids on gay bars were frequent—occurring on average once a
month for
each bar. Many bars kept extra liquor in a secret panel behind the bar,
or in a
car down the block, to facilitate resuming business as quickly as
possible if
alcohol was seized.Bar
management usually knew about raids beforehand due to police tip-offs,
and raids
occurred early enough in the evening that business could commence after
the
police had finished. During a typical raid, the lights were turned on, and customers were
lined up
and their identification cards checked. Those without identification or
dressed
in full drag were arrested; others were allowed to leave. Some of the
men,
including those in drag, used their draft cards as
identification. Women were required
to wear three pieces of feminine clothing, and would be arrested if
found not
wearing them. Employees and management of the bars were also typically
arrested.—and
the closing of
the Checkerboard, the Tele-Star, and two other clubs in Greenwich
Village. The period immediately before June 28, 1969 was marked by frequent raids
of
local bars—including a raid at the Stonewall Inn on the Tuesday before
the
riots
Greenwich Village
The New York neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and Harlem were home to a sizable homosexual population
after World War I, when
many
men and women who had served in the military took advantage of the
opportunity
to settle in larger cities. The enclaves of gays and lesbians, described
by a
newspaper story as "short haired women and long haired men", developed a
distinct subculture through the following two decades. Prohibition inadvertently
benefitted gay establishments, as drinking alcohol was pushed
underground along
with other behaviors considered immoral. New York City passed laws
against
homosexuality in public and private businesses, but because alcohol was
in high
demand, speakeasies and
impromptu
drinking establishments were so numerous and temporary that authorities
were
unable to police them all.
The social repression of the 1950s resulted in a cultural revolution
in
Greenwich Village. A cohort of poets, later named the Beat poets, wrote about anarchy, drugs, and
hedonistic pleasures. Of them, Allen GinsbergWilliam S.
Burroughs—both Greenwich Village residents—also wrote about
homosexuality.
Their writings attracted sympathetic liberal-minded people, as well as
homosexuals looking for a community. and
By the early 1960s, a campaign to rid New York City of gay bars was
in full
effect by order of Mayor Robert F.
Wagner, Jr., who was concerned
about the image of the city in preparation for the 1964 World's
Fair. The city revoked the liquor licenses of the bars, and
undercover
police officers worked to entrap as many homosexual men as possible.Entrapmentsolicitation. One
story in the
New York Post described an arrest in a gym locker room, where the officer grabbed his
crotch,
moaning, and a man who asked him if he was all right was arrested. Few
lawyers would
defend cases as undesirable as these, and some of those lawyers kicked
back
their fees to the arresting officer. usually consisted of an
undercover officer who found a man in a bar or public park, engaged him
in
conversation; if the conversation headed toward the possibility that
they might
leave together—or the officer bought the man a drink—he was arrested for
The Mattachine Society succeeded in getting newly elected Mayor John
Lindsay to end the
campaign of police entrapment in New York. They had a more difficult
time with
the New
York State Liquor Authority (SLA). While no laws prohibited serving homosexuals, courts allowed the
SLA
discretion in approving and revoking liquor licenses for businesses that
might
become "disorderly". Despite the high
population of gays and lesbians who called Greenwich Village home, very
few
places existed, other than bars, where they were able to congregate
openly
without being harassed or arrested. In 1966 the New York Mattachine held
a
"sip-in" at a Greenwich Village bar named Julius,
which was frequented by gay men,
to illustrate the discrimination homosexuals faced.
None of the bars frequented by gays and lesbians were owned by gay
people.
Almost all of them were owned and controlled by organized
crime, who treated the regulars
poorly, watered down the liquor, and overcharged for drinks. However,
they also
paid off police to prevent frequent raids.
TOMORROW PART 4 THE RIOTS