Pride in the Village

June is Pride month. There are festivities celebrating Pride in hundreds of cities across the globe, including PrideFest in NYC this Sunday. The first Pride march, known as Christopher Street Liberation Day, took place in New York in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village. There were also marches that day in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the number of participating cities grew each year.

The Village is a treasure trove of historic sites of great significance to the LGBTQIA+ movement and community. Here are five:

1. Julius’ Bar

Opened in 1864, Julius’ Bar is reputed to be the oldest gay bar in the city. The bar had become widely known as a gay bar by the early 1950’s and was a meeting place for the Mattachine Society, an early gay rights organization in New York. A "Sip In" at the bar, organized in 1966, paved the way for abolishing state liquor regulations that had effectively banned establishments from serving alcohol to gay patrons. Today, Julius’ Bar is on the National Register of Historic Places and still operates as a gay bar.

1. Stonewall Inn

Just around the corner from Julius’ Bar is the popular gay bar the Stonewall Inn, which used to be the only gay bar in the city where men could dance with each other. The Stonewall Inn is famous today as the site of the Stonewall Riots, when violent protests erupted after a police raid in 1969. The Stonewall Inn is widely regarded as the birthplace of the gay rights movement. Like Julius’ Bar, the Stonewall Inn is recognized as a historic place. It is also the first National Historic Monument designated for an LGBT historic site.

1. St. Vincent’s Hospital

Formerly the third oldest hospital in the city, St. Vincent's was one of the first institutions to treat HIV and AIDS patients, and it was once known as ‘ground zero’ for the epidemic. Although St. Vincent's closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2013, it is not forgotten: across the street from the former hospital is New York City's AIDS Memorial, memorializing forever the hospital's important role in helping AIDS' earliest victims.

1. Christopher Park

Across the street from the Stonewall Inn is Christopher Park, home to a permanent art piece called “Gay Liberation,” which was installed in 1992. The four statues commemorate the Stonewall Riots and are dedicated to the gay rights movement.

1. The Church of the Village

The Church of the Village (formerly, the Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church) was the site of the first formal meeting of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). PFLAG was founded in 1973 by Jeanne Manford, who wanted to organize with other parents of gay and lesbian youth and to show support of her son Morty, who had been beaten while distributing flyers. Today, PFLAG has 400 chapters nationwide and 200,000 members, and serves to provide resources for the LGBTQ community.

Happy Pride everyone!

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St. Patrick's Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. Patrick, often referred to as St. Patrick's Cathedral, is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church on 5th Avenue between E. 50th and 51st Streets in Midtown Manhattan. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and sits directly across from Rockefeller Center. It is considered one of the most visible symbols of Roman Catholicism in New York City and the United States.

The Diocese of New York, created in 1808, was made an archdiocese by Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850. In 1853, Archbishop John Joseph Hughes announced his intention to erect a new cathedral to replace the Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. The new cathedral was designed by James Renwick Jr. in the Gothic Revival style. On August 15, 1858, the cornerstone was laid. The location, while in the heart of present-day midtown Manhattan, was far north of the populous areas of New York City in the mid-1800s.

Work began in 1858, but stopped during the Civil War, and resumed in 1865. The cathedral was completed in 1878 and dedicated on May 25, 1879. The archbishop's house and rectory were added in 1880, both designed by James Renwick Jr., and an adjacent school (no longer in existence) opened in 1882. The spires were added in 1888, and at 329 feet and 6 inches, were in fact the tallest structures in New York City, and the second highest in the United States, at that time. The final East addition, including a Lady chapel, was designed by Charles T. Matthews and constructed between 1901 to 1906.

In 1927 and 1931, the cathedral was renovated, which included an enlargement of the sanctuary and the installation of a new organ. The cathedral and associated buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. A second more recent extensive restoration of the cathedral was begun in 2012 and was completed by September 17, 2015, in time for Pope Francis’ visit on September 24 and 25, 2015. The restoration cleaned the exterior marble, repaired stained glass windows, painted the ceiling, and repaired the flooring and steps, along with other restorations.

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Bryant Park Ice Skating Rink

Originally opened to the public in 1847, by the late 1970’s, Bryant Park had fallen into disrepair and was, like many of the City’s public spaces at that time, grimy, unkempt, and typically avoided by most New Yorkers. It was certainly not a place anyone would want to spend a lunch hour or afternoon.

The Bryant Park Restoration Corporation was founded in 1980 by Dan Biederman and Andrew Heiskell, chairman of Time Inc. and the New York Public Library. The BPRC’s goal was to clean up the park and make it once again a place people wanted to visit. After some initial successes, BPRC closed the park in 1988 to undertake a four-year project to build new park entrances with increased visibility from the street, enhance the landscape design and improve and repair paths and lighting. BPRC's plan also included restoring the park's monuments, renovating its restrooms, and building new restaurant pavilions and concession kiosks.

After a four-year effort, the park reopened in 1992 to widespread acclaim. It won numerous urban planning awards, and has been lauded as one of the signature examples of New York City's revival in the 1990s. With a low crime rate, the park became filled with office workers on sunny weekdays, city visitors on the weekends, and revelers during the holidays. Today, daily attendance counts often exceed 800 people per acre, making it the most densely occupied urban park in the world.

Bryant Park introduced the Holiday Shops in 2002, in an effort to draw people to the park even during the winter. Initially slow to gain traction, the now called “Winter Village” became a fixture of the Manhattan holiday scene in 2005 with the addition of New York's only free-admission ice skating rink, which includes a standalone dining and event space.

In September 2016, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group took over the fine dining venues and Urbanspace was brought in to expand the holiday shops, which now offer a selection of local and homemade goods including a food market featuring many of the city’s restaurants.

The Bryant Park Winter Carnival is the final event of the season, and offers winter fun for the whole family. It will run from Friday, January 26 through Sunday, February 4 this year. All activities are free, admission to The Rink is free, and skate rental is $20.

Events Include:

Professional Skating Performances

Kid’s Skating Lessons

A Children’s Puppet Show on Ice

Curling Lessons

Fitness Classes from Yoga to Hiit Training at the Rink's Indoor Event Space

Karaoke & more!

For a full line-up of events, check the Bryant Park website here!

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