Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
offered by the School of Professional Studies and Continuing Education.
(NYU;
212-998-2222;
www.nyu.edu
; 50 W 4th St (information center);
A/C/E, B/D/F/M to W 4th St-Washington Sq; N/R
to 8th St-NYU)
4
Astor Place
SQUARE
This square is named after the Astor family, who built an early New York fortune on
beaver pelts and lived on Colonnade Row, just south of the square. Originally Astor Place
was the home of the Astor Opera House (now gone), which attracted the city's wealthy
elite for regular performances in the mid-1800s. Today the square is largely known as the
home of the
Village Voice
and the Cooper Union college.
(8th St btwn Third & Fourth Aves;
N/R to 8th St-NYU; 6 to Astor Pl)
Understand
Gay in the Village
While the rough-and-ready Lower East Side had established quite a reputation for scandalous dancing halls, sa-
loons and brothels by the 1890s, it was Greenwich Village that would ultimately play the leading role in NYC's
long, illustrious queer history.
Village People
Writers and bohemians were already flocking to Greenwich Village in the early years of the 20th century. Their
unconventional attitudes were not lost on the day's 'inverts', who flocked to the area to live a little more freely. A
number of gay-owned businesses lined MacDougall St, among them the legendary Eve's Hangout at number 129.
A tearoom run by Polish Jewish immigrant Eva Kotchever (Eve Addams), it was famous for two things: poetry
readings and a sign on the door that read 'Men allowed but not welcome'.
Wowser Years
The relative transgression of the early 20th century was replaced with a new conservatism as the Great Depres-
sion, WWII and the Cold War took their toll. Conservatism was helped along by senator Joseph 'Joe' McCarthy,
who declared that homosexuals in the State Department threatened America's security and children. Tougher poli-
cing aimed to eradicate queer visibility in the public sphere, forcing the scene further underground in the 1940s
and '50s.
