Gay Street (Manhattan)

Coordinates: 40°44′01″N 74°00′01″W / 40.73362°N 74.0004°W / 40.73362; -74.0004

Gay Street, a short street that marks off one block of Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan.

This street, originally a stable alley, was probably named for an early landowner, not for the sexuality of any denizens. Nor is it likely, as is sometimes claimed, that its namesake was Sidney Howard Gay, editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard; he would have been 19 when the street was christened in 1833. The mistaken association with an abolitionist is probably because the street's residents were mainly black, many of them servants of the wealthy white families on Washington Square. Later it became noted as an address for black musicians, giving the street a bohemian reputation.

A newspaper dated May 11, 1775, had a classified ad for one R. Gay, who lived on the Bowery, and who advertised a gelding for sale.

Since it was once too narrow to be a full-fledged street, the City of New York widened it in 1833; as a result Federal houses of 1826-1833 line the west side of the street, while on the east side, following a hiatus caused by the Panic of 1837, the houses are of 1844-1860, with remnants of Greek Revival detailing in doorways and window surrounds.

The street extends from Christopher Street one block south to Waverly Place, between and roughly parallel to Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It runs through the site of a brewery owned by Wouter van Twiller, who succeeded Peter Minuit as Governor of New Netherland in 1633. The name first appeared officially in the Common Council minutes for April 23, 1827, which record a health inspector's complaint against a privy belonging to one A. S. Pell of Gay Street.

The 1943 movie, A Night to Remember portrays 13 Gay Street as the address of the building where most of the action, including a murder, occurs. In 1996 Sheryl Crow made a video on Gay Street for the song "A Change Would Do You Good".