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Mattachine won its suit and sometime that year, Julius’ owner realized his clientele was gay, had been gay and the neighborhood was becoming more gay. That was followed by an investigation by the city’s Human Rights Commission. The Mattachine Society had filed a lawsuit challenging the liquor authority’s rules, claiming a right to assemble. In 1966, in a final attempt to keep gays out, Julius hung a sign after a police raid that said, “This is a raided premises.” The hope was that gays who were afraid of being arrested, exposed as gay and fired from their jobs would stay away. I was probably attracted to this bar at the time because scenes from the film Boys in the Band - the only gay film out there at the time - were filmed at Julius. Homosexuals were included in the liquor authority’s definition of disorderly - which makes this a good place to insert that this is one of the first gay bars I ever hung out in after I came out in college and hung out in Greenwich Village in the early ’70s. Owners of Julius resisted having the bar turn gay, so they enforced the New York State Liquor Authority rule that prevented bartenders from serving the disorderly. Nearby Stonewall was not nearly as nice (or historic) as Julius and Stonewall was known more as a hangout for drag queens (and people like Dallas’ Phyllis Guest who was at Stonewall the night of the raid). People like Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote used to go to Julius. But for years, gay men hung out at Julius, even though they were subject to constant harassment.Īs Greenwich Village became more and more gay during the 1950s and ’60s, its gay residents hung out at this friendly neighborhood bar. Not until 1966 was it officially a gay bar. Julius is located one block up and one block over from the Stonewall Inn. New York’s oldest (sort of) gay bar - Julius - was closed by the board of health this week. Julius on Waverly Place at 10th Ave in The Village