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Frommer's Guide
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FEATURES AND EVENTS
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Crazy Nanny's
21 7th Avenue South
212.366.6312
This homey West Village bar has a small dance floor, and is a great place to have a beer and shoot some pool surrounded by lesbians uniformed in everything from flannel to Chanel.
Lola's
30 West 22nd Street
212.686.5665
This new weekly dance club is the hot spot for women on Saturday nights--and well into Sunday morning.
Stonewall Inn
53 Christopher Street
212.463.0950
The only gay bar on the National Register of Historic Places is still a happening neighborhood hangout. Although it's not the original building where the famous riots happened, it is on the original site.
Splashbar
50 West 17th Street
212.691.0073
Some nights it seems like all the beautiful men in Manhattan are here—and with 10,000 square feet of pulsating club energy there's probably room for them. Watch for celebrities, both onstage and in the crowd.
The Oscar Wilde Bookshop
15 Christopher Street
212.255.8097
In spite of the lavender façade, you could easily walk right past this unassuming bookshop. Don't though; you'd be missing out on the world's first gay bookstore, a Village landmark since 1967.
When you get to town, be sure to pick up a copy of TimeOut New York (or check it out online) for other gay goings-on.
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It's hard to believe, but just a generation ago, New York City's gay scene was small and secretive, mainly congregating in windowless bars and pubs. Police raids were common, and when the cops burst in, patrons had two choices: Make a run for it, or quietly cooperate and hope their name didn't appear in the paper the next day.
One day in the summer of 1969, a group of drag queens at New York's Stonewall Inn came up with a third option: Fight like hell. The riot that ensued put the city on notice that the gay community wasn't going to take it any more, and the city--along with the entire gay rights movement--hasn't been the same since.
Today the Stonewall Inn is just one of many gay bars serving one of the largest and most proud gay and lesbian communities on the planet. (Oh, and the police force has long since come around, too. In fact, the Gay Officers Action League, an international group of gay law enforcement professionals, was formed in the city in 1982.)
New York City's gay community is strongest in Greenwich Village, especially the West Village. In the last 10 years or so, the nearby Chelsea neighborhood has also become a great place to go for gay and lesbian bars and clubs. Of course, you're likely to find gay happenings and gatherings in other neighborhoods, as well, but these neighborhoods are your surest bets.
Don't limit your search for a gay old time to Manhattan, though, especially if you're looking for the women's scene. Brooklyn has made a name for itself as the place lesbians go to settle down, but even in the outer boroughs, lesbians still need to get out for java and jazz now and then. A good place to find the Brooklyn lesbian community is at Rising Café (186 Fifth Avenue, 718.789.6340.) A little further afield, all of Fire Island is a summer playground for men. Long Island offers a few spots for women, including the bar Forevergreen (841 N. Broome Avenue, Lindenhurst), and Shi Bar, actually more of a nightclub than a bar (121 Woodfield Road, West Hempstead).•
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