City Considers Landmarking 6 LGBT Sites As Pride Month Begins

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The city is considering landmarking six additional LGBT historic sites to join the landmarked Stonewall Inn.

Several testified in support of landmarking six sites — from SoHo to Staten Island — highlighting the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and LGBT rights movement in New York at a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing Tuesday.

In the West Village, Caffe Cino — known for being the birthplace of off-off-broadway theatre and haven for gay playwrights — is among the sites up for landmarks designation.

"The Caffe Cino brought theatre into the modern era, created off-off-broadway and from its very humble beginnings at 31 Cornelia St., forever nurtured performing arts worldwide," testified Magie Dominic, a Caffe Cino historian and artist.

Another possible landmark is the Women's Liberation Center in Chelsea, located at 243 W. 20th St. in Chelsea.

The center housed various lesbian and feminist organizations at a former firehouse, including the Lesbian Feminist Liberation organization in 1972.

"For me, [the center] was a life saver in a lot of ways as a young lesbian coming to the city not knowing anyone," said Cheryl Adams, an active member of senior LGBT advocacy group, SAGE, and former president of the Women's Liberation Center.

"The building's significant connections to the ongoing fight for women's and lesbians' equality should be recognized and honored with New York City landmark status," added Amanda Davis, the project manager at the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

The six sites are emblematic of the historical and cultural significance of the LGBT rights movement in New York City — where political actions were planned, the arts flourished, and safe spaces were created, supporters of the designations testified.

The Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse was known as the city's "first gay community center," and the LGBT Community Center was where the nation's first community-based HIV clinic was located, per LPC.

All six sites up for landmarks status include:

• Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse at 99 Wooster St. in SoHo
• Women's Liberation Center at 243 W. 20th St. in Chelsea
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 W. 13th St. in the West Village
• The Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia St. in the West Village
• James Baldwin Residence at 137 W. 71st St. in the Upper West Side
• Audre Lorde Residence at 207 St. Paul's Avenue in Staten Island

"Individual landmarks status for these buildings will help ensure that their historical importance for the LGBT community is preserved and recognized for generations to come," said Erik Bottcher, chief-of-staff for City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who read a statement on behalf of Johnson, State Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Daniel O'Donnell, and Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Debi Rose, Daniel Dromm, Carlos Menchaca, Ritchie Torres and Jimmy Van Bramer.

The hearing comes as Pride month in New York begins — which coincides with WorldPride making its debut in the city and the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprisings. The city also recently announced two transgender activists will be honored with a monument in the West Village — Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.

The six possible landmarks would join Stonewall Inn as a landmark, which was designated in 2015.

The Landmarks commission will vote at a later date on the sites.