Christopher Street (Manhattan)
Christopher Street is a
street in
New York's
West Village that was at the center of the
gay rights movement in the late
1970s. To this day the street serves as a symbol of
gay pride.
The street was once called Skinner Road after
William Skinner. The street got its current name in
1799, when the land was acquired by
Charles Christopher Amos.
Christopher Street is also the first stop in Manhattan on the 33rd St Line of the
Port Authority Trans-Hudson rapid transit railroad. The PATH identifies Christopher St station with a large single capital 'C'.
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Christopher Street magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1976 |
Christopher Street was 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. [
1] 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.
Near
6th Avenue, Christopher Street intersects with a short, winding street appropriately named Gay Street.
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GayCities New York: Gay/Lesbian nightlife on Christopher Street