Photograph by Christopher D. Brazee, courtesy of New York State Historic Preservation Office
The Julius’ Bar Building located at 186-188 Waverly Place and 159 West 10th Street, held public testimony at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Zoom meeting on November 15, 2022. The iconic building moved forward in its final step, with two of the many speakers in support of Landmarking, Andrew Berman and Randy Wicker, On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously designated the Julius’ Bar Building to be a NYC Individual Landmark. Commissioner Michael Goldblum spoke eloquently about the importance of “holding on to a time in New York‘ when Greenwich Village looked quite different than it does today, and the importance of focusing on the fact that “it’s all about the history.”
Located at West 10th Street and Waverly Place in the Greenwich Village Historic District, the building housing Julius’ Bar is one of the city’s most significant LGBTQ+ history sites. In 1966, three years before the Stonewall Rebellion, members of the Mattachine Society sat at Julius’ bar, ordered drinks, announced they were gay, and were refused service. At a time of rampant discrimination—when few LGBTQ+ people lived openly, and gay New Yorkers were being targeted for arrest in city bars—this courageous act and other events at Julius’ led to major progress in fighting discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and enabling them to gather openly in public places.
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