Julius' Bar

Julius' is a bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, often cited as one of the oldest continuously operating gay bars in the country. On April 21, 1966, members of the Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group, staged a "Sip-In" there. They openly identified as gay and asked to be served, deliberately provoking a refusal to challenge the State Liquor Authority's practice of penalizing bars that served gay patrons, whose mere presence was treated as "disorderly." The action, led by Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and Randy Wicker, helped establish the right of gay people to be served and to gather openly. Julius' was named a New York City Landmark in 2022.