The Greenwich Village, the historic gay district of New York

The Greenwich Village neighborhood is situated on lower Manhattan, known also as “the village” is a place full with Gay history.

This area in the 16th was a place to cultivate tobacco and then was turned into pasture; during the following years the place became a place where the penitentiary was settled.

The Greenwich villa is known as a place where bohemian culture was very popular, a lot of artist, writers and painters used to live there.

This zone was very important for the LGBT movement Stonewall. The rebellion started at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar and tavern opened in 1967, where the Police used to to raids.

During a raid in 1969, violent demonstrations against the police by the gay community where shown when the police tried to arrest some of the clients of the gay bar. The people who witnessed some of the actions against gay people reacted against the police.

The situation got out of control that even the police were afraid of the crowd against them. The confrontation continued for a few days but the crowd started to grow and the movement of gay liberation started.

In this area you can find different college and universities, for example the New York University; the Washington Square Park, theaters.

Greenwich Village has become a place where art, cultural and social gay movements takes place, a place very important for the LGBT community not only in New York but in the world.