Christopher Street , one of the main thoroughfares of the West Village, is the traditional heartland of the city's gay community. Scenes of violence also erupted in 1969, when the gay community wasn't as readily accepted as it is now. The violence on this occasion was provoked by the police, who raided the Stonewall gay bar, and started arresting its occupants - for the local gay community the latest in a long line of harassment from the police. Spontaneously, word went around to other bars in the area, and before long the Stonewall was surrounded, resulting in a siege that lasted the better part of the night and sparked up again the next two nights. The riot ended with several arrests and a number of injured policemen. Though hardly a victory for their rights, it was the first time that gay men had stood up en masse to the persecutions of the city police and, as such, formally inaugurated the gay rights movement. The event is honored by the annual Gay Pride march (held on the last Sun in June).

Nowadays, the gay community is much more a part of West Village life; indeed for most the Village would seem odd without it, and from Seventh Avenue down to the Hudson is a tight-knit enclave - focusing on Christopher Street - of bars, restaurants and bookstores used specifically, but not exclusively, by gay men. The scene along the Hudson River itself, along and around West Street and the river piers, is considerably raunchier at night: only the really committed or curious should venture. But on the far east stretch of Christopher Street, things crack off with the accent less on sex and more on excessive, fun camp. Among the more accessible gay bars here are The Monster on Sheridan Square itself and Marie's Crisis Café on Grove Street.

Christopher Street

• Christopher Street

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