The Story of Christopher Street: From Merchants to Misfits

Christopher Street begins at its intersection with 6th Avenue near 9th Street, and originally ran to a ferry landing on the Hudson River. This original landing was ultimately filled in during construction of West Street.

In 1829, the old landing was commemorated with the shortest street in the West Village, the block-long Weehawken Street. Today, Christopher Street ends a few steps down from Weehawken at West Street, looking out over Pier 40.
 
 
 

Walking down Christopher Street, one is immediately struck by the unique architecture of buildings like The Northern Dispensary. It is the only building in Manhattan with one side touching two streets (Christopher and Grove) and two sides touching one (Waverly Place).

The city handed the site over to the titular Northern Dispensary organization when the building was built, under the stipulation that it be used as a clinic for the poor not able to afford a stay in hospital. And that’s how it was operated, serving tens of thousands of the area’s sick – most famously Edgar Allan Poe – up until 1920, when outpatient services began supplanting walk-ins and overnighters. As the city expanded, bigger, better hospitals opened around town, and the Dispensary became used solely as a community dental clinic.

Although the Dispensary is currently vacated, shuttering its doors to the public in the Eighties, neighborhood residents still comment on the eerie scent of clove that sometimes wafts from its barred windows.

Heading toward the river, one’s senses are awakened as the flavorful aromas of McNulty’s Coffee and Tea spill out onto the street. Since 1895, McNulty’s has been a Christopher Street staple, supplying a wide selection of exotic coffees and teas from around the world.

Little has changed inside the shop since opening. Antique roasters line the walls; large sacks of beans lay stacked beside chests of fresh leaves. McNulty’s presence conjures up images of Christopher Street’s merchant past: a time when vibrant markets would have lined the street all the way down to the docks.

On the corner of Greenwich Street, is 139 Christopher Street, once occupied by a now-shuttered adult video store, Harmony Video. The building has a long history of mob ties, used as a meeting and organizing place during prohibition days.

Most famously, the 139 site is known as the planning location for the Dog Day Afternoon bank robberies in Brooklyn. It stands as a reminder of organized crime’s influence in shaping the surrounding neighborhood.

Back at number 53 Christopher St. sits The Stonewall Inn, site of the “Stonewall Riots,” and symbolic home of the US Gay Liberation Movement.

In the 1960s, Stonewall was owned by the mob, operating with no official liquor license as a “private club.” Inside were two rooms. A front room was outfitted with a bar, dance floor and jukebox. Behind the bar was a dimly lit back room, a favorite hangout for drag queens.

There was no running water behind the bar, no fire exits. Toilets overran consistently. Glasses were run through tubs of still water and immediately reused at the bar. While not known for prostitution, drug sales and other “cash transactions” did take place between the two smoky rooms. Yet, it was the only bar for gays in New York City where dancing was allowed, and that was enough to make Stonewall popular.

On June 28, 1969, NYPD and Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agents entered The Stonewall Inn, allegedly looking for violations of the alcohol control laws. The night was supposed to be a routine raid. Tensions escalated. Instead of quietly slipping away into the night, hustlers, drag queens, students and other patrons decided to fight back.

Urban myth contends people were especially sensitive that night because of Judy Garland’s recent death.

The police were forced to retreat back inside the bar. Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it to barricade the door, trapping the police inside. Handfuls of pennies were tossed, a reference to the mob’s police payoffs. Rioters continued to wreck the place as the police called in reinforcements. The crowd grew as local residents of the Village joined in. Someone set a fire. More people came. For three days, people protested.

That night is remembered as the moment that catalyzed the modern movement for gay and lesbian rights. Across the street, just inside Christopher Park stands the George Segal sculpture “Gay Liberation,” commissioned in 1980 to commemorate the event.

One year after the Riots, the local community gathered outside Stonewall to remember and celebrate. Thousands marched from Christopher Street up 6th Avenue, pouring into the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. People lined the streets. Others joined the march. It was the first Gay Pride March in NYC.

Soon, others held events, with Christopher Street Day now celebrated in 30 countries around the world. Every year during the last weekend of June, people return to Stonewall to remember the day that people stood up and fought back.

In 2009, the march celebrated its 40th Anniversary.