NYC and Me: The Beginning

"I didn’t know it at the time but the sophisticated gay culture that grew and thrived just under the surface of New York society in the post-war boom was about to change radically. The Stonewall rebellion that would galvanize a movement to bring this extensive underground society out into the open was just three months after my visit. I think that many younger people view gay culture as divided into two periods, pre and after Stonewall. The former being a shadowy world exploited by the mafia, rife with fear and self-loathing — the later, the beginning of activism, pride and gay culture being recognized as a valid component of American society. Certainly the Stonewall rebellion was a significant event, but there were protests, demonstrations and gay activist organizations before Stonewall. A lot of New York gay culture before Stonewall did exist in the shadows, but there were bars, restaurants, publications, arts institutions, performance venues and entire beach communities where gay people found each other and lived their lives and expressed themselves without shame. Gay men and women were deeply imbedded and influential in the New York’s art and culture institutions. I feel lucky I had a brief taste of this pre-Stonewall New York. This was the world I was setting my sights on joining, but by the time I moved to New York permanently things would change radically."