Christopher Street

For other uses, see Christopher Street (disambiguation).

Street sign

Christopher Street looking east

The Hangar Cafe, Christopher Street

Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th St. to the west of its intersection with 6th Ave. The Stonewall Inn is located on Christopher Street, and, therefore, the street was at the center of New York's gay rights movement in the late 1970s. To this day the street serves as a symbol of gay pride.

History

Christopher Street is the oldest street in the West Village, as it ran along the south boundary of Admiral Sir Peter Warren's estate, which abutted the old Greenwich Road (now Greenwich Avenue) to the east and extended north to the next landing on the North River, at present-day Gansevoort Street. The street was briefly called Skinner Road after Colonel William Skinner, Sir Peter's son-in-law. The street received its current name in 1799, when the Warren land was acquired by Warren's eventual heir, Charles Christopher Amos. Charles Street remains, but Amos Street is now 10th Street.

The road ran past the churchyard wall of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields (built 1820-22; rebuilt after a fire, 1981–85) still standing on its left, down to the ferry landing, commemorated in the block-long Weehawken Street (laid out in 1829), the shortest street in the West Village. At the Hudson River, with its foundation in the river and extending north to 10th Street, Newgate Prison, the first New York State Prison, occupied the site from 1796 to 1829, when the institution was removed to Sing Sing and the City plotted and sold the land.

PATH station

West Street is on more recently filled land, but the procession of boats that had made the inaugural pass through the Erie Canal stopped at the ferry dock at the foot of Christopher Street, 4 November 1825, where it was met by a delegation from the city; together they proceeded to the Lower Bay, where the cask of water brought from the Great Lakes was ceremoniously emptied into the salt water.

In 1961 Jane Jacobs, resident in the area and author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities published that same year, headed a group that successfully stopped Mayor Robert Wagner's plan to demolish twelve blocks along West Street north of Christopher Street, including the north side of Christopher Street to Hudson Street, and an additional two blocks south of it, slated for "urban renewal".

Christopher Street is the first stop in Manhattan on the 33rd Street Line of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson rapid transit railroad. The PATH identifies Christopher Street station with a large single capital 'C'. The street also has a station on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line at Christopher Street – Sheridan Square (1 and ​2 trains).

Notable residents of Christopher Street

• Stephen Ackerman, fashion mogul (once lived at 89 Christopher)
• Theodor Adorno, philosopher and cultural theorist (once lived at 45 Christopher Street)
• Richard Amos, Revolutionary War hero, built the house at 133 Christopher Street, died there 1837

Former office building, now apartments

• Eva Amurri, actor
• Bob Balaban, actor-writer (lived at 95 Christopher)
• Vincent Canadé, artist (lived at 86 Christopher in the 1930s)
• Robert Cordier, producer-director (lived at 85 Christopher in the early 1960s)
• E. E. Cummings, poet (lived at 11 Christopher in 1918).
• Harlan Ellison, author (lived at 95 Christopher in the early 1960s)
• Dick Francis, science fiction illustrator (once lived at 105 Christopher)
• Ben M. Hall, author (The Best Remaining Seats) and founder of the Theatre Historical Society of America (once lived at 181 Christopher where he was murdered in 1970)
• Rosemary Harris, actress (once lived at 77 Christopher)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, actor
• Sally Kirkland, actress (once lived at 84 Christopher)
• David "Fathead" Newman, jazz musician (lived at 95 Christopher through the 1980s)
• Yoko Ono (lived at 87 Christopher)
• William Poole, member of the New York City gang, the Bowery Boys

• Dawn Powell, author (lived at 95 Christopher in 1963-65).
• Katherine Prichard, educator (once lived at 91 Christopher)

• Lindsay Price, actress
• Vicky Ruane, actress (lived at 39 Christopher Street)
• Amy Sedaris, actress and comedian (lived at 95 Christopher)
• Hyman "Hymie" Satenstein was the proprietor of the "55", a neighborhood bar at 55 Christopher Street, back in the 50's and 60's. It is now the site of the 55 Bar jazz club.
• Linda Solomon, New York editor of New Musical Express and Village Voice columnist (lived at 95 Christopher 1960-99)
• Ted White, author-editor (once lived at 105 Christopher)

Christopher Street as gay icon

File:Gay Liberation Monument-New York City-2006.jpg

A duplicate George Segal's Gay Liberation was placed in the park in 1992.

In the 1970s, Christopher Street became the "Main Street" of gay New York. Large numbers of gay men would promenade its length at seemingly all hours. Gay bars and stores selling leather fetish clothing and artistic decorative items flourished at that time. This changed dramatically with the loss of many gay men during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The apparent center of gay life subsequently shifted north of 14th Street to Chelsea. This new area, however, was never as vibrant as the old West Village. While some gay bars remain on Christopher Street, it has largely lost its gay character and is not unlike other quiet thoroughfares in the Village.

The former Oscar Wilde Bookshop, in an 1830s house at Christopher and Gay Streets

Christopher Street is the site of the Stonewall Inn, the bar whose patrons started the 1969 Stonewall riots that are widely seen as the birth of the gay liberation movement. The Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee formed to commemorate the first anniversary of that event, the beginning of the international tradition of a late-June event to celebrate gay pride. The annual gay pride festivals in Berlin, Cologne, and other German cities are known as Christopher Street Day or "CSD". Christopher Street magazine, which began publication in July 1976 was, for many years, one of the most respected gay magazines in the U.S., until it folded in December 1995.

Near Sixth Avenue, Christopher Street intersects with a short, winding street, named by a 150-year-old coincidence, Gay Street.

Since 1992, Christopher Park (at the intersection of Christopher, Grove, and W 4 Sreets) has been decorated with the sculpture Gay Liberation by George Segal to commemorate the gay rights traditions of the place.

"Christopher Street" is both a song and the main location of the musical Wonderful Town.

The Oscar Wilde Bookshop located on the corner of Christopher and Gay, was the oldest LGBT bookshop in the world until its closure in 2009.

Anaïs Nin once worked at Lawrence R. Maxwell Books located at 45 Christopher Street.

Other businesses and landmarks

McNulty's Tea & Coffee located on 109 Christopher Street.

• Home to McNulty's Tea and Coffee Company, a purveyor dating back to 1895.
• Current location of Kettle of Fish, a bar that was once located above the famous Gaslight Cafe on Macdougal Street. Since the Beat Generation, it has also become affiliated with Green Bay Packers fans.
• Adjacent to Sheridan Square is Christopher Park, a .145 acre landmark. The park that contains a bronze statue of General Philip H. Sheridan and a reproduction of George Segal's Gay Liberation, originally located at Stanford University.
• The Lucille Lortel Theatre, an off-Broadway playhouse, is located at 121 Christopher Street.
• At the western-most tip is the Christopher Street Pier, which was recently renovated and converted into a waterfront park.
• Outside of Village Cigars at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street is a triangular mosaic which reads "Property of the Hess Estate Which Has Never Been Dedicated for Public Purpose". David Hess was a property owner whose building was condemned to make room for a subway line in the early 1900s. David Hess kept the 500 square inch piece of land, once the smallest private land possession in New York City, until his death. It was sold by estate for $1,000 in 1938.

External links

• Live webcam of Christopher Street

• GayCities New York: Gay/Lesbian nightlife on Christopher Street
• New York Songlines: Christopher Street, a virtual walking tour