LGBTQ History of Greenwich Village - Pride Month Walking Tour - NYC

Explore the rich LGBTQ history of Greenwich Village, starting in the early 1800s through to Stonewall Rebellion and today.

On this tour, we'll be exploring the heart of the Village where the birth of the modern LGBTQ liberation movement took off, starting a century before that in the time of Walt Whitman.

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.

We will see the places where Villagers have lived and loved, including the sites of the drag shows and gay bars that have dotted the Village for 150 years—and of course, the Stonewall Inn, where our tour starts and ends.

What's Up?

We recommend allowing two hours for this comprehensive tour and not booking plans immediately afterward. Our tour begins at 12:30 PM sharp, rain or shine, in front of the white statues in Christopher Park (38-64 Christopher Street) in the Stonewall National Monument. The tour ends at the same location. Subway: 1 to Christopher Street, 2/3 to 14th Street, A/C/E to West Fourth, PATH to 9th Street.

Double-Feature LGBTQ History Tour

Combine this tour with the LGBTQ History of the East Village tour on Sunday for more fun and savings. Learn about the Pansy Balls, the Saint, St. Mark's Baths, America's first gay painter, Wigstock, and more on this rarely-hosted tour.

Our Art Historian and Tour Guide: The Always Engaging Professor Andrew Lear

A four-time winner of the Harvard Certificate for Excellence in Teaching, Professor Andrew Lear has taught art history and Classics at Harvard, Columbia, and NYU. Lear is the founder of Oscar Wilde Tours, the first company to offer tours focused on LGBT history, and the winner of the Travel Industry’s 2016 Travvy Award for best-escorted tour operator, LGBT; and the Luxury Travel Guide’s 2016 LGBT Tour Operator of the Year. in 2021, Lear founded WeWereThere.org, an educational nonprofit dedicated to raising public awareness of LGBTQ histories and stories.

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