Stonewall riots

The Stonewall Inn occupies two buildings on Christopher Street that were constructed as stables in the middle of the nineteenth century. Before the events that made this site famous, these structures were converted into a bakery and later operated as a nightclub for heterosexual patrons. It was not until nineteen sixty six that members of the Genovese crime family invested thousands of dollars to transform the space into a gay bar. Because the state prohibited serving alcohol to homosexuals at the time, the bar operated without a liquor license, making it a lucrative but frequent target for police raids.