Gay Street (Manhattan)
Gay Street, northward to Christopher Street
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| Location | Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City |
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| Postal code | 10014 |
| Coordinates | 40°44′01″N 74°00′01″W / 40.73362°N 74.0004°WCoordinates: 40°44′01″N 74°00′01″W / 40.73362°N 74.0004°W |
| North end | Christopher Street |
| South end | Waverly Place |
Gay Street is a short, crooked street that marks off one block of Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan.
The street's name does not refer to the LGBT character of Greenwich Village, or to any other LGBT issues for that matter. The name may have come from a classified ad for one R. Gay, whose name was mentioned in a newspaper dated May 11, 1775 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".
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