NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee designated Julius’ Bar in the West Village a historical landmark on Tuesday.
Julius’, a gay bar located just a block away the Stonewall Inn, was the location of a 1966 “sip-in” in which gay men openly declared their sexuality before ordering a drink at a bar in protest of establishments that refused to serve openly queer people.
The bar is historic in more ways than one. Aside from its role in the gay liberation movement, Julius’ has been open since 1860, making it one of the oldest bars in New York City.
In the 1950s and 1960s, it was technically legal to serve gay patrons, but many bars refused to do so out of bigotry or fear of police raids.
The NYPD would arrest LGBTQ people for “disorderly conduct” if they saw them acting with affection towards another gay person, dressing outside of traditional gender norms or drinking at a bar that was known to serve gay clientele.
In 1966, three gay men, Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell and John Timmons, staged sip-ins at bars around the city to protest this defacto ban on gay nightlife.
Julius’ was already known as a gay bar, and it became a symbol of the sip-in movement after a newspaper photographer captured an image of the bar tender laying his hand on top of Leitsch’s during the protest.
Three years later, the Stonewall Riots would take place around the corner, catapulting the struggle for gay liberation into the public eye and overshadowing earlier protests.
Even though Stonewall is often remembered as the explosive start to the gay liberation movement, the sip-ins were an important precursor to other civil disobedience demonstrations that focused on being proudly and publicly gay.
"The 'Sip-In' at Julius' was a pivotal moment in our city and our nation's LGBTQ+ history, and this designation today marks not only that moment but also Julius' half-century as a home for New York City's LGBTQ+ community," said Mayor Eric Adams. "Honoring a location where New Yorkers were once denied service solely on account of their sexuality reinforces something that should already be clear: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers are welcome anywhere in our city. Let this designation serve as an important reminder to everyone that LGBTQ+ history is New York City history and that, like Julius', the City of New York will always serve as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people to be safe and feel safe."
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