Christopher Street (Manhattan)

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Christopher Street

Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, and 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.

The street was once called Skinner Road after Colonel William Skinner, the son-in-law of Admiral Peter Warren who once owned much of the land in the West Village. The street received its current name in 1799, when the land was acquired by Charles Christopher Amos. See also Charles Street, and Amos Street.^[1]

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 (1 2) at Christopher Street-Sheridan Square.

1 Notable residents of Christopher Street
2 Christopher Street as gay icon
3 Sources
4 External link

[edit] Notable residents of Christopher Street

Vincent Canade, artist (lived at 86 Christopher in the 1930s)
E. E. Cummings, poet (lived at 11 Christopher)
Harlan Ellison, author (once lived at 95 Christopher)
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)
Sally Kirkland, actress (once lived at 84 Christopher)
Dawn Powell, author (lived at 95 Christopher in 1963-65)
Amy Sedaris, actress and comedian
Linda Solomon, editor-music critic (once lived at 95 Christopher)
Ted White, author-editor (once lived at 105 Christopher)

[edit] Christopher Street as gay icon

Oscar Wald store, on a corner of Christopher and Gay streets

Christopher Street magazine,
Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1976

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. [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., 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.