Gay Street (Manhattan)
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Gay Street, a short street that marks off one block of New York City's West Village, is described on New York Songlines (http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/gay.htm) as follows:
- This street, originally a stable alley, was probably named for an early landowner, not for the sexuality of any denizens. Nor is it likely, as is sometimes claimed (http://www.mcny.org/Exhibitions/abbott/a263.htm), that its namesake was Sidney Howard Gay, editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard (http://muweb.millersville.edu/~ugrr/tellingstories/demosite/Christiana/resistance/images/standard_text.html); he would have been 19 when the street was christened in 1833. The mistaken association with an abolitionist is probably because the street's residents were mainly black, many of them servants of the wealthy white families on Washington Square. Later it became noted as an address for black musicians, giving the street a bohemian reputation.
The street extends from Christopher Street one block south to Waverly Place.
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External links
- Gay Street: New York Songlines (http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/gay.htm) – A history of buildings and establishments along Gay Street.
