NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

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NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project

The first initiative to comprehensively document historic sites associated with New York City's le***an, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

06/17/2026

MARCH WITH US IN REMEMBRANCE. Today, Wednesday June 17th, at 5PM, beginning at 129 MacDougal Street and ending at the Arch in Washington Square Park.

A century after the unjust arrest of Polish-Jewish le***an immigrant Eve Adams by the NYPD (on June 17, 1926), we will gather at the site of Eve's former tearoom —and her arrest — to honor her legacy, reflect on the importance of preserving and sharing LGBTQ history, and show solidarity with all those in our LGBTQ community whose safety continues to be challenged.

Meet outside La Lanterna (129 MacDougal Street) for a vigil march to the Arch in Washington Square Park, with special guests:
— Eve Adams biographer and playwright Jonathan Ned Katz
— Klezmer music by Eve Sicular and accompanists, to honor Eve's life
— Remarks from Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, retired senior rabbi of the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), New York’s and the East Coast’s oldest LGBTQ synagogue

06/11/2026

WALKING TOUR — LE***AN HERSTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE
⏰ next Tuesday, June 16th, at 6PM
🎟 www.eventbrite.com/e/le***an-herstory-of-greenwich-village-walking-tour-tickets-1990804825825

One of our most-requested tours, back by popular demand! Travel back in time as we highlight women’s bars, businesses, and community gathering spaces that supported le***an social life and organizing. Learn about the layered le***an herstory of 70 Grove Street, from Duchess > Grove > Pandora’s Box (pictured c. 1992). See where playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry lived and worked, and so much more.

06/10/2026

In 1993, D**E TV aired its first episode on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. During its 12-year run., D**E TV became one of the most widely distributed LGBTQ programs in the US.

READ MORE: www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/ana-maria-simo-kelly-cogswell-residence/

D**E TV was created by Cuban exile writer, playwright, and activist Ana María Simo; theater producer Linda Chapman, and filmmaker Mary Patierno to report on actions by the Le***an Avengers, provide le***an perspectives on news and art, and "to incite, subvert, organize, and provoke." As grassroots organizations, the Avengers and D**E TV hosted fundraisers at le***an bars and members’ residences — Simo kept her apartment living room (at 52 East 1st Street) relatively empty for rehearsals, parties, and meetings, including the initial viewing party of Janet Baus and Su Friedrich’s documentary "Le***an Avengers Eat Fire, Too" (1993) and a garden party to benefit the 1994 International D**e March. Journalist and Avenger Kelly Cogswell, Simo’s partner who moved into the apartment in about 1994, recalled that there was little more than “a piano in a niche, tons of plants, a few paintings,” and a couch.

📸 1️⃣ D**E TV pamphlet. Courtesy of the Le***an Herstory Archives; 2️⃣ Exterior of 52 East 1st Street, Manhattan, c. 2024; 3️⃣Photo © Ana María Simo.

06/09/2026

HONORING THE LIFE OF PIONEERING LE***AN EVE ADAMS
100 Years After Her Arrest at 129 MacDougal Street
Wednesday, June 17th, from 4PM to 6PM
Greenwich Village, NYC

** COMMEMORATION at 4PM **
Hosted by the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project
with Eve Adams Biographer Jonathan Ned Katz
and a Special Guest Performance by Lisa Kron, Tony Award-Winning Actor & Playwright, in Scene 1 of Katz's Eve: Daring Life, Dangerous Times

** VIGIL MARCH at 5PM **
Following an intimate performance inside the former tearoom, we will make a solemn vigil march memorializing the 100th Anniversary of Eve Adams' arrest by the NYPD.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vigil-march-honoring-the-life-of-pioneering-le***an-eve-adams-2-of-2-tickets-1991232608334

On June 17, 1926, Polish-Jewish le***an immigrant Eve Adams was arrested by the NYPD at her tearoom, Eve's Hangout, 129 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. Convicted and jailed on charges of obscenity stemming from the publication of her book, Le***an Love, and for attempting "Sapphism" with the police woman sent to entrap her, she was deported to Poland on December 7, 1927. As the N**i regime rose to power, Eve appealed to a friend in the U.S. for help to return to this country. On December 7, 1943, she was arrested at her home in N**i-occupied Nice, France, deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and murdered.

One hundred years later, we gather at the place where Eve was arrested to honor her legacy, reflect on the importance of preserving and sharing LGBTQ history, and show solidarity with all those in our LGBTQ community whose safety continues to be challenged.

06/05/2026

In honor of , LGBTQ historic sites curated by are being featured on kiosks across the five boroughs. Keep your eyes pealed; snap a photo if you see one on your walks through the city this month. And be sure to tag us! Featured sites include:⁠
⁠
📍 LARRY KRAMER RESIDENCE — 2 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
The fiery author-activist co-founded the influential AIDS groups Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT UP in the 1980s.

📍 GUILLERMO VAZQUEZ CORNER — 77th Street and Broadway, Queens
This street sign honors the Colombian-born activist who educated Spanish-speaking gay men about HIV/AIDS in the 1980s-90s.

📍 RISING CAFE — 186 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan⁠
Christine Marinoni met her future wife Cynthia Nixon while co-owning this le***an Irish pub in Park Slope from 1996 to 2003.

06/04/2026

CAN YOU NAME THE EARLY ACTIVIST GROUP?

New York’s City Clerk Herman Katz became incensed over the publicity of a same-sex “illegal marriage” at the Church of the Holy Apostles (296 Ninth Avenue, Manhattan) in April 1971, and threatened legal action.

In response, this Gay Activists Alliance held one of its most famous and creative zaps*, an engagement party for two same-sex couples, complete with wedding cake, June 4, 1971, at the Marriage Bureau in the Municipal Building (1 Centre Street, Manhattan).

*A “zap” was a direct, surprise public confrontation with political figures and corporate and governmental entities regarding gay rights and discrimination, designed to gain gay and straight media attention.

📸 1️⃣ NYC Clerk Herman Katz, 1965. Source: United Press International; 2️⃣ Jim Owles during the Marriage Bureau zap. Photo by Rich Wandel. Courtesy of the New York Public Library.

06/02/2026

Join us and celebrate LGBTQ history this Pride Month! Reserve your spot at a talk or on a tour, and experience the visceral connection with our community's history by visiting the places where our history was made. Registration links for all programs available via link in bio.

❤️ Tuesday, June 9th, at 6PM
PRIDE & PRESERVATION: 20th Century Figures Who Shaped the Movement (in-person talk)

🧡 Thursday, June 11th, at 6PM
** sold out ** LGBTQ HISTORY IN CHELSEA, with AIA New York (walking tour)

💛 Tuesday, June 16th, at 6PM
LE***AN HERSTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (walking tour)

💚 Thursday, June 18th, at 6PM
LGBTQ HISTORY IN THE EAST VILLAGE (walking tour)

🩵 Tuesday, June 23rd, at 6PM
PARK-TO-PARK PRIDE, with Landmark West! (walking tour)

💙 Wednesday, June 24th, at 1PM
Preservation for All Roundtable LGBTQ+ Preservation Efforts and Historic Places (webinar)

💜 Wednesday, June 24th, at 6PM
UN-ERASING STONEWALL, LGBTQ History & Activism (walking tour)

05/29/2026

In May 1992, Cuban exile writer, playwright, and activist Ana María Simo hosted a dinner in her third-floor apartment at 52 East 1st Street, Manhattan, that culminated in the founding of direct-action group: the Le***an Avengers.

READ MORE: www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/ana-maria-simo-kelly-cogswell-residence/

Attendees typed up recruitment flyers to distribute at the NYC Pride March, selected a logo — a bomb to reflect the group’s revolutionary, anarchist ambitions.To report on the Avengers’ actions and provide le***an perspectives on news, art, politics, and more, Simo, theater producer Linda Chapman, and filmmaker Mary Patierno created D**E TV, a show that sought "to incite, subvert, organize, and provoke." It first aired on Manhattan Neighborhood Network in June 1993 and became one of the most widely distributed LGBTQ programs in the US during its 12-year run.

📸 1️⃣ Le***an Avengers flyer distributed at NYC Pride, 1992. Courtesy of the Le***an Herstory Archives; 2️⃣ Exterior of 52 East 1st Street, Manhattan, c. 2024; 3️⃣ Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

05/26/2026

"Everard’s Turkish Baths ... plays a major role in New York’s gay life. On weekend nights, there is almost always a waiting line after 10 PM, sometimes over an hour long for dormitory space and longer yet for rooms." (Gaedicker’s Sodom-on-Hudson, 1949)

By at least the 1910s, Everard’s was well known to gay men. Historian George Chauncey found that raids by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1919 and 1920 here produced the arrests of numerous gay men. Still, Chauncey considered bathhouses the "safest, most enduring’ of social spaces for gay men, in comparison to riskier streets, parks, restrooms, speakeasies, and restaurants," as well as "some of the first exclusively gay commercial spaces in the city." Everard’s was relatively private, had few police raids, and had a level of front-desk security that allowed in fewer "outsiders" such as thugs and straight men. Baths served as a fairly discreet and anonymous place for married and closeted men, and were sources of introduction to the gay community for many men.

After the 1968 opening of the lavish Continental Baths on the Upper West Side drew many patrons away, the Everard got a seedier reputation and had numerous safety violations. A tragic fire struck May 25, 1977, when nine men died and the upper two floors were destroyed. The bathhouse was rebuilt and reopened, with an altered façade, but Mayor Ed Koch closed the Everard for good in April 1986 as an anti-AIDS measure.

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