Queer Space - New York Piers

6/2/23, 18:17 Queer Space - alek tomich portfolio
2
My Research Folder
Alek Tomich Info︎
Academic Queer Space:

Living with Less Waste Defining Public Spaces of Gay Male Sexuality and
The House of Butter
Materializing Arctic Air Desire in New York City in the Twentieth Century
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Reclaiming the Common
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Air in the Cold War Era
Safe Space
Scenes of Domesticity
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News
Figure 01: Nude Sunbathers at the Greenwich Village Piers, 1975-86
Written for “Questions in Architectural History”

https://alektomich.com/Queer-Space 1/12
Spring 2019, Columbia
2 GSAPP
My Research Folder
Alek Tomich Critic: Nader Vossoughian, Caitlin Blanchfield
Societal attitudes toward same-sex relationships, and the spaces these relationships
occupy, have varied greatly over time and across place. However, the idea of a
Academic ‘homosexual as a person’ was defined in the Victorian era. Before that time, the sexual
act and the person were not associated.1 When a person is labeled as homosexual,
Living with Less Waste society is able to group these individuals together, examine their behaviors, and
The House of Butter classify their existence. Subsequently, this classification provides implications on
Materializing Arctic Air legislation, stigma, and the formation of exclusionary as well as inclusionary spaces.
The Loop These inclusionary spaces, or queer space(s), can be defined as “spaces that critique
Library of Dreams the divisions of sexuality, gender, class, and race through political, cultural, social, real,
ephemeral, geographic, and historical contexts.”2 Simply, they can be understood as a
space where queer people are able to feel safe and thrive - a place with safety,
comfort, and community. Throughout the past century, these spaces have taken on
Professional various forms within the urban context. Queer spaces of sexuality and male desire
have been formed through the exploitation of legal loopholes as well as the reclaiming
450 Warren
of abandoned, unwanted, and unwatched public spaces at both the urban and
Wayzata Residence architectural scale. By taking advantage of the anonymity found in these public
Edina Residence spaces, queer people, and specifically the gay male,3 have defined and continue to
Colita define spaces as their own within the context of New York City throughout the past
720 Loft century.
House Five
From an early point, young people in search of gay sex and romance in the city
Scarfshop
discovered that “privacy could only be had in the public.”4 As gay men came into the
Concrete city, they sought places with the possibility of safety, comfort, and community.
Somewhat counter-intuitive, claiming public space as queer space maintained a level
Studies of anonymity and safety in numbers in a hostile society. New York City’s streets, parks,
and in some cases, entire neighborhoods served, and still serve to a lesser extent, as
Let’s Have a Kiki vital meeting grounds for men who lived with their families or in cramped quarters
Air in the Cold War Era with few amenities. These public spaces became spaces where many men went for
Safe Space sex and ended up being “socialized into the gay world.”5
The Way Things Go On an urban scale, the gay world evolved throughout the city, but it most developed in
visible form in just a few neighborhoods. At the turn of the twentieth century, the
Bowery was the epicenter of gay life, with young men participating in raucous
Positions nightlife, and socializing in the famous cafeterias of the area. However, by the 1920s,
The Ladies’ Room gay men quickly shifted their focus to Greenwich Village and Harlem, the most
famous and exciting centers for gay life in New York City. The emergence of
Queer Space
Greenwich Village as a gay center was “closely linked to the development of the
Monticello bohemian community there,”6 making it a reasonably tolerant environment for queer
individuals. Newcomers to the Village were attracted by its winding streets, Old World
Observations charm, and cheap rents due to its relative isolation from the rest of the city at the time.
Above all, the social life and “particular forms of eccentricity” (Figure 02) made it easy
Colors I for gay men to fit into society en masse by providing “a cover to those adopted
Urban Underlays flamboyant styles in their dress and demeanor.”7 The Village’s reputation for tolerating
nonconformity made it a safe place for homosexuals to live and explore their sexuality
Etc out in the open view of the public, seizing the opportunity provided by the existing
culture to begin building the city’s most famous gay enclave. However, despite the
News Village’s nationwide fame and popularity, many gay men themselves of the time
regarded Harlem as the most exciting center of gay life in New York City. Because of
segregational laws at the time, it was the only place where black gay men could
congregate in commercial establishments. While it was “easier for white interlopers to
be openly gay during their brief visits to Harlem than it was for the black men who
lived there around the clock,”8 it was black gay queers that nonetheless turned
Harlem into a homosexual
2 mecca during the Roaring Twenties. Denied access to
My Research Folder most of the segregated restaurants and spaces white gay men frequented in
Alek Tomich Greenwich Village, black gays and lesbians built an “extensive gay world in their own
community, which in many respects surpassed the Village’s in scope, visibility, and
boldness.”9 Most unique to Harlem was its nightlife. Though most of Harlem’s
residents socialized as corner cabaret saloons, basement speakeasies, and tenement
Academic parties thrown to raise money for rent, the drag balls were what brought the entire city
north. Most famous, the “Hamilton Lodge Ball” was a glamorous nightclub that “drew
Living with Less Waste hundreds of drag queens and thousands of spectators”10 to see and be seen.
The House of Butter Workingmen dressed in drag would perform and compete in front of the middle-class
Materializing Arctic Air men and social elite (Figure 03), bringing together the wide range of people that were
The Loop forced to live side-by-side into one queer space. Although potentially at a greater risk
Library of Dreams of assault and violence due to systemic racism in the criminal justice system, Harlem’s
primary classification as a black neighborhood provided a level of inconspicuousness
for gays of all races, creating a space where “more men were willing to venture out in
public in drag”11 than anywhere else in the city.
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc Figure 02: Claude McRay and Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven, famous Bohemians
News of the 1920s Village
Figure 03: Queens Compete at a drag ball in the 1920s
On a smaller scale, gay men “took full advantage of the city’s resources to create
zones of gay camaraderie and security”12 across program typologies within the
hetero-centric built environment of public spaces. Bar-hotels at the turn of the
century, Central2Park’s Ramble during the 1950s, and the Greenwich Village Piers
My Research Folder during the 1970s are all prime examples of the reclaiming of queer space in the
Alek Tomich twentieth century.
At the turn of the century, the state of New York passed the Raines Law, requiring
saloons to close on Sunday in an effort to control working class male sociability and
Academic productivity. A small provision allowed bars attached to hotels to remain open, as they
generally served a class of male drinkers considered more respectable to lawmakers
Living with Less Waste than the typical working class citizen. In order to stay open, bars across the city began
The House of Butter to offer rooms for rent as a part of their establishment. Unintentionally, prostitution
Materializing Arctic Air rates within the city skyrocketed and spread to new neighborhoods. The government
The Loop and neighborhood committees soon acted to close these ‘Raines Hotels’, and
Library of Dreams attempted to curb the rise of prostitution by prohibiting women from entering the
establishments that they could not close. Always searching for space to occupy,
queer men took advantage of the provision and began to utilize these hotel rooms as a
safe space to exercise their sexuality. Essentially the first gay hotels in the city,
Professional business owners were willing to turn a blind eye and rent “rooms… to male couples on
an hourly basis, about whose purposes they could have had no doubt”13 to remain
450 Warren
open and fly under the radar of the restrictive laws (Figure 04). However, these small
Wayzata Residence hotels and cabarets soon developed a citywide reputation among gay men, and by
Edina Residence 1923 New York legislature “specified homosexual solicitation… as a form of disorderly
Colita conduct”14 - specifically and formally banning the assembly of gay people in a public
720 Loft space. Nevertheless, this practice of queer men claiming considerable space for
House Five themselves within the public realm continued through the remainder of the century, in
increasingly public domains.
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News
2
My Research Folder
Alek Tomich
Academic
Living with Less Waste
The House of Butter
Materializing Arctic Air
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space Figure 04: Depiction of men in a ‘Raines Hotel’ in New York City at the turn of the 20th
century
The Way Things Go By mid-century, “cruising” in the parks became one of the most popular and secure
places to meet friends and search for sexual partners in the city. Central Park offered
Positions “vast stretches of unsupervised wooded areas”15
that became a vital social gathering space for gay men to have privacy in the public.
The Ladies’ Room Characterized as an intimate, secluded maze of intermingled trees and branches,
Queer Space winding walkways through man-tall thickets of bush, and a network of man-made
Monticello trails into the densest foliage of the area, ‘The Ramble’ was an opportune space for
gay men to socialize shielded from the view of even the highest buildings along
Central Park West. “Confessional-like spaces created by the untrimmed wild fauna”16
Observations and dark areas underneath bridges and arches were particularly available in this area
Colors I of the park, leading to its claim as queer space around the clock. The West side of The
Urban Underlays Ramble’s 30 acre section of the park had a “reputation as a homosexual meeting
ground”17 so popular that the lawn at the North end of the area was nicknamed “The
Fruited Plain,”18 a play on one of the derogatory slang words used to describe gay
Etc men at the time. Men of all classes roamed this area of the park after work to socialize,
News which at this time of day was casual and friendly. However, as night approached, The
Ramble was utilized by men searching for sex, with some of the most trafficked areas
“crowded wall to wall with men until four in the morning”19 searching for an escape
under the safety of the night. However, much like the Raines Hotels decades prior,
congregating in The Ramble as a gay man was not without its own risks. Word of The
Ramble and the activities taking place within it were soon discovered by authorities as
well as homophobic
2 citizens of the city. Although relatively infrequent, arrests and
My Research Folder beatings occurred that not only inflicted physical harm, but could also cost a person
Alek Tomich their entire job and livelihood because of stigma associated with homosexuality in
society. While this didn’t stop the practice of the queer sexualization of Central Park,
gay men continuously sought new neglected and overlooked spaces to claim as their
own, often resulting in seedier and abandoned areas of public space within the
Academic context of New York City.
Living with Less Waste Already by the beginning of the first World War, the piers along Greenwich Village’s
The House of Butter Hudson River waterfront were a popular cruising area for gay men. The concentration
Materializing Arctic Air of unmarried and transient men, numerous bars in the area, and the construction of
The Loop the West Side Highway in the 1930s separating the piers from the city established the
Library of Dreams area as one of the centers for gay life throughout the first half of the century.
Eventually, innovations in the maritime shipping industry and growth of the airline
transportation methods made the West side piers and shipping terminals obsolete,
leading to their complete abandonment by the mid-1960s.20 When the West Side
Professional Highway was closed and left to decay in 1973 due to safety concerns,21 the area was
reinforced as an un-policed backwater area for risky activity. The abandoned pier
450 Warren
structures, specifically pier 45 at the end of Christopher Street (site of the infamous
Wayzata Residence Stonewall Riots), were claimed by gay men and reinforced as a space to “sunbathe
Edina Residence naked, cruise, and have public sex by the early 1970s”22 (Figures 05-07). Experienced
Colita as a “utopian world in suspension over the water’s edge”23 the queerness of the piers
720 Loft during the 1970s and 80s are indicative of the threshold between public and private
House Five space that gay men so typically occupied and appropriated as queer space in the city.
Beyond sex, the piers also became a space for queer men, as well as women, to
Scarfshop
express themselves artistically. Symbolic of the “seeming collapse of modernity,”24
Concrete artists were attracted to the culture and dystopian nature of the piers, because they
appeared to be out of control. The interior and exteriors of the piers’ decaying
Studies terminals became the site for art installations, murals, photography and performances
by the likes of Vito Acconci, Peter Hujar, Alvin Baltrop, and David Wojnarowicz (Figure
Let’s Have a Kiki 08).25 These artists often inserted themselves into the pier culture, granting them a
Air in the Cold War Era status as observers, documenters, and participants in the local queer scene. The
Safe Space infusion of art into the culture of the piers led to an increased sense of permanence
Scenes of Domesticity and “place,” and expanded the cultural significance of the claiming of these spaces by
The Way Things Go queer individuals. The formation of queer space was still a reaction to the need for
safety and a space to exercise sexual desire, but increasingly became a place to form
a collective queer identity in the city. The Greenwich Village Piers were a fully fledged
Positions gay world within New York City. However, by the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic and
The Ladies’ Room planning for waterfront improvements began to impact the area and destroy the queer
spaces that were formed. By the time that it was demolished in the mid-1980s, the
Queer Space
Christopher Street Pier terminal “had become a safe haven and first or second home
Monticello for many marginalized queer youth of color”26 who to this day make up a significant
percentage of the homeless youth population in New York City. While most of the
Observations physical history of its LGBT past has been destroyed, the Greenwich Village Piers
remain important public spaces for LGBT people today.
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News
2
My Research Folder
Alek Tomich
Academic
The House of Butter
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News
2
My Research Folder
Alek Tomich
Academic
The House of Butter
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News
Figure 05:
2 Two men sunbathe on one of the Greenwich Village piers along the
My Research Folder Hudson River
Alek Tomich
Academic
The House of Butter
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Figure 06: Two men in an abandoned pier structure
Studies Figure 07: Nude sunbathers en masse
Figure 08: Queer artist David Wojnarowicz paints a mural at Pier 34, 1983
Let’s Have a Kiki
Air in the Cold War Era Through reclaiming abandoned, unwanted, and ignored public domain within the
Safe Space context of New York City, queer space was defined over the past century. From entire
Scenes of Domesticity neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and Harlem to specific sites like the Raines
The Way Things Go Hotels, The Ramble of Central Park, and the Greenwich Village Piers, gay men were
able to find privacy within the public. Seemingly diverse in scale and typology, all of
these sites share the quality of being a physical space. However, as the AIDS
Positions epidemic shifted the perception of gay male sexuality towards the end of the
The Ladies’ Room twentieth century, the landscape of queer space in New York City shifted as well.
Simultaneously, the rise of technology provided opportunity for gay males to
Queer Space
congregate online: an entirely new public space to occupy and explore.
Monticello
The claiming of the internet as queer space is the ultimate allegation of public space
Observations by the gay male in the last one hundred years. While the internet contains space for
groups of all kinds, the gay male has uniquely utilized the online platform to
Colors I completely transform the way that the community interacts today through the
Urban Underlays invention of Grindr.27 A geo-social network, dating, and chat app invented in 2009,
the app “provides a new mode of romantic experience” where finger scrolls replace
Etc physical touch (Figure 09), and “less than five percent of the conversations… end up in
offline encounters.”28 When members do meet offline, the app is successful in
News accelerating homosocial and romantic encounters by eliminating the risk of
approaching through a space where there are pre-agreed notions of community and
expected behavior. In this way, people are able to inhabit this queer space “not only in
the dark of bedrooms” or the types of public queer spaces aforementioned, they’re
also occupying queer space “in offices, bars, streets, trains, factories, gyms, and
college campuses” by turning on their phones.29 Grindr’s appropriation of queer
space is everywhere
2 and nowhere, neither fully virtual or physical, and exists as what
My Research Folder queer space has always aimed to be - safe, comfortable, and community building.30
Alek Tomich As a result, traditional cruising spots and dark rooms around the world have seen their
community reduced sine the dawn of Grindr, as “younger generations have
abandoned them for digital spaces to cruise and negotiate sex.”31 In New York City as
well as across the world, gay bars are “closing down” as queer people are beginning
Academic to opt to “connect with people on social media and with location-based technology”
in informal “pop-up or micro-sites” of queer space in the city32 instead of pre-
Living with Less Waste established ones. The traditional spaces of queer community, “where queer men and
The House of Butter women had to go to define themselves” are increasingly virtual and “are [no longer]
Materializing Arctic Air necessary.”33 As an interface, Grindr has redefined what the notion of queer space
The Loop looks like in New York City, and has questioned if queerness, architecture, and
Library of Dreams urbanism still intersect.
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room Figure 09: Grindr user interface on a mobile phone and smartwatch depicting the
Queer Space fifteen nearest acive users in real time. Users are encouraged to “tap” or “chat” with
Monticello other users they’re interested in.
By taking advantage of the privacy found in the anonymity of public spaces, gay males
Observations have managed to claim abandoned, unwanted, and ignored spaces within the context
Colors I of New York City as queer space throughout the past century. Although recent online
Urban Underlays platforms such as Grindr have continued to reinvent the degree of physicality and
temporality of these spaces within the city, it is still apparent that the intersections
between queerness, architecture, and urbanism still exist and are as prevalent and
Etc important as ever. In fact, in 2016, apartment towers in Chelsea (adjacent to
News Greenwich Village) and Harlem were among “Grindr users’ favorite locations to find
lovers worldwide,”34 indicating that deeply established physical queer spaces still
exist even as gentrification sets in. Furthermore, as gay rights continue to be attacked
by government institutions and hate groups, non-sex-centric physical spaces of queer
community building and safety are more important than ever. Debates regarding
gender-specific bathroom use, housing discrimination based on sexuality, and the
disproportionate2 population of queer homeless youth call forth architectural and
My Research Folder urbanistic responses. In the era of gay pride and the public celebration of ones
Alek Tomich identity, it has become more and more common to be open and accepted as queer,
especially in a city such as New York. Just as gay males claimed public space as their
own throughout the last century, and queer people of all identities claim public space
today, designers should continue to question the implications of space on queer
Academic individuals, and begin to design space, both physical and invisible, where queer
people are able to feel safe and thrive for centuries to come.
The House of Butter
The Loop
Library of Dreams
Footnotes:
1. Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978), 360
Professional 2. J. Matthew Cottrill, “Queering Architecture: Possibilities of Space(s)” (Master’s Thesis, Miami
University, 2006)
450 Warren 3. For the purposes of this essay, only the experience of the gay male in New York City shall be
Wayzata Residence discussed. However, many of the notable advancements and triumphs in the formation of queer space
Edina Residence in New York City are owed to lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer people outside or in tandem with the
cis-gender gay male experience
Colita
4. George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Makings of the Gay Male World,
720 Loft 1890-1940 (New York: Perseus Books Group, 1994), 202
House Five 5. George Chauncey, IBID, 179
Scarfshop 6. George Chauncey, IBID, 228
Concrete 7. George Chauncey, IBID, 229
8. George Chauncey, IBID, 244
Studies 10. George Chauncey, IBID, 244
Let’s Have a Kiki 11. George Chauncey, IBID, 249
Air in the Cold War Era 12. George Chauncey, IBID, 152
Safe Space
Scenes of Domesticity 15. George Chauncey, IBID, 180
The Way Things Go 16. Doug Ireland, “Rendezvous in the Ramble,” New York Magazine, July 1987
17. Doug Ireland, IBID
Positions 18. Doug Ireland, IBID
19. Doug Ireland, IBID
The Ladies’ Room 20. "Greenwich Village Waterfront," NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, 2017, accessed May 08, 2019,
Queer Space http://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/greenwich-village-waterfront-and-the-christopher-street-pier/.
Monticello 21. "Story Map Journal - A Utopia on Our Own Terms: Queer Encounters on the Chelsea Piers,"
Arcgis.com, accessed May 08, 2019, https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?
appid=4d7effb0d7494294a52c91ffd971638c#.
Observations 22. "Greenwich Village Waterfront," IBID
Colors I 23. "Story Map Journal - A Utopia on Our Own Terms: Queer Encounters on the Chelsea Piers," IBID
Urban Underlays 24. "Story Map Journal - A Utopia on Our Own Terms: Queer Encounters on the Chelsea Piers," IBID
25. "Greenwich Village Waterfront," IBID
26. "Greenwich Village Waterfront," IBID
Etc 27. While Grindr was invented by and primarily used by gay males, it is geared towards gay, bi, trans and
News queer people. For the purposes of this essay, only the gay experience remains the focus.
28. Andrés Jaque. “Grindr Archiurbanism,” Log 41, no. 3 (2017): 77
29. Andrés Jaque, IBID, 77
30. Grindr has come under criticism for promoting unrealistic body image standards and not taking
sufficient action to curb hate speech. Because these are issues plaguing most social media platforms,
it does not seem relevant to this essay. Although the location data crucial to the function of the app has
also been tragically used to track and arrest gay men in Egypt, this online queer space is safe in most
2
My Research Folder countries around the world.
Alek Tomich 31. Andrés Jaque, IBID, 78

32. Aaron Betsky, interview by Jaffer Kolb, “The End of Queer Space?,” Log 41, no. 3 (2017): 88
33. Aaron Betsky, IBID, 88
34. Andrés Jaque, IBID, 79
Academic
Next ︎︎︎
The House of Butter
The Loop
Library of Dreams © Alek Tomich_ New York, NY
Professional
450 Warren
Wayzata Residence
Edina Residence
Colita
720 Loft
House Five
Scarfshop
Concrete
Studies
Let’s Have a Kiki
Safe Space
The Way Things Go
Positions
The Ladies’ Room
Queer Space
Monticello
Observations
Colors I
Urban Underlays
Etc
News

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6/2/23, 18:17 Queer Space - alek tomich portfolio

Academic Queer Space:

Figure 01: Nude Sunbathers at the Greenwich Village Piers, 1975-86

Written for “Questions in Architectural History”

Alek Tomich 31. Andrés Jaque, IBID, 78

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