LGBTQ History of Greenwich Village - Walking Tour - NYC

During this two-hour walking tour, we'll explore the heart of the West Village, where the modern LGBTQ liberation movement was born a century before the Stonewall Rebellion.

Like Paris’ Left Bank, Greenwich Village has been the center of the city’s many countercultures and artistic movements throughout history, from the creators of Off-Broadway to the Beats and the Factory—and of course, the "gay liberation" movement. The list of LGBTQ greats we discover reads like a history of American culture, from Herman Melville to Eleanor Roosevelt to James Baldwin to Harvey Fierstein.

• All ages are welcome on this tour. While we are featuring many historic LGBTQ bars and spaces, we won't be entering the establishments. We encourage you to return after the tour or another time to have a drink where history was made.
• We will be stopping at the new , which features historical displays and context on the Rebellion, the history leading up to Stonewall, and the events since 1969. You'll also see and be able to play a vintage jukebox, the same make and model that was destroyed in the fight with police.

We will see where Villagers lived and loved, including the sites of the drag shows and gay bars that have dotted the Village for 150 years.

What's Up?

• Our tour begins at 2:00 PM in front of the white statues in Christopher Park in the Stonewall National Monument, which encompasses several blocks in Greenwich Village.
• The two-hour tour concludes at the same location, where numerous dining options are available.
• You may elect to finish the tour "historically" with a drink and dinner at Julius, a historic stop on our tour. Opening at 4:00 PM, they serve simple, delicious pub food.

A five-time winner of the Harvard Certificate for Excellence in Teaching, has taught art history and Classics at Harvard, Columbia, and New York University. Lear is the founder of , the first company to offer tours focused on LGBTQ history, and the winner of the Travel Industry’s 2016 Travvy Award for best-escorted tour operator, LGBT, Luxury Travel Guide’s 2016 LGBT Tour Operator of the Year, and Best of GayCities.com's 2025 Best Tour Operator - Gold Award.

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