Former Ramrod Bar, 1976-1980 (Site of Ramrod Massacre)

The Stonewall Rebellion in June of 1969 was triggered by years of police harassment of patrons of the Stonewall Inn. Though it grew out of the frustrations of the patrons of that particular place, the rebellion had ramifications far beyond the bar itself. Now widely seen as a catalyst for the gay and lesbian movement, the Stonewall Rebellion also ushered in a golden age for New York City's LGBT community.

In the years following the rebellion, the area around Christopher Street, where the Stonewall is located, became the nexus of gay life in the city. The West Village, particularly the western end of Christopher Street and several blocks along West Street, gay bars and clubs proliferated in an area that had long been home to seedy waterfront bars and seaman dives. For at time, from 1976 to 1980, the Ramrod, a leather bar, was one of the most popular establishments in the area. Located on small, insignificant streets that were largely hidden from view by the now-demolished Miller Elevated Highway, the neighborhoods offered privacy and safety to a community that was still somewhat underground.

But in 1979, director William Friedkin filmed his movie, Cruising, in Greenwich Village. The film, which starred Al Pacino as a detective who goes undercover in the city's leather and S&M clubs to catch a serial killer, elicited criticism and protests from the Village's gay community. Many objected to the film's portrayal of gay men as violent and sex-obsessed and residents of the area did what they could to prevent the filming, including blasting loud music near the sets.

The production went ahead and in the months following the film's release, there were a number of violent homophobic attacks. One of the worst, although it is little remembered today, occurred at the Ramrod. On November 28, 1980, a former transit authority cop named Ronald Crumpley shot and injured two men outside a deli on Washington and Charles Streets, then made his way to West Street, where he fired 40 rounds from an Uzi into a crowd gathered outside the Ramrod. Several men were injured and Vernon Kroening died at the scene. Jorg Wenz, who worked as a doorman at the bar, died hours later at St. Vincent's Hospital.

Crumpley died in a psychiatric hospital in 2015. Though the attack on the Ramrod is not well remembered outside of Greenwich Village, residents have never forgotten the event. Coming as it did shortly after the election of Ronald Reagan and a Republican takeover of the US Senate, the attack felt like an ominous harbinger of things to come. The city's gay community would soon face a different, but no less grave threat; weeks after the attack, the New York Times would report on the strange, "rare cancer" afflicting homosexual men. The Ramrod closed permanently following the attack.

Dunlap , David . New York's Own Anti-Gay Massacre, Now Barely Remembered , New York Times . June 15th 2016. Accessed October 10th 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/nyregion/new-yorks-own-anti-gay-massacre-now-barely-remembered-orlando.html.

Ramrod , NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project . Accessed October 10th 2020. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/ramrod/.

Dunlap, David . A Proper Farewell, Finally, for a Victim of an Anti-Gay Rampage in New York , New York Times . July 1st 2016. Accessed October 10th 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/02/nyregion/a-proper-farewell-finally-for-a-victim-of-an-anti-gay-rampage-in-new-york.html.

Appman, Sarah Bean. Weehauken Street Historic District, Part I , Village Preservation Blog . January 11th 2016. Accessed October 10th 2020. https://www.villagepreservation.org/2016/01/11/weehawken-street-historic-district-part-i/.

Bailey , Jason . Making Sense of "Cruising", Village Voice . March 21st 2018. Accessed October 10th 2020. https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/03/21/making-sense-of-cruising/.