Ramrod was Greenwich Village’s emblematic leather bar—raw, unapologetic, and alive from around 1973 until it closed in 1980. Nestled at 394‑396 West Street along the piers, it became a buzzing sanctuary for the leather and denim crowd, complete with bootblack stands and the pulse of 1970s subculture .
It was immortalized in the Village People’s “YMCA” video and featured in leather guides of the time—but its end came in tragedy. On November 19, 1980, a homophobic gunman opened fire with an Uzi outside the bar, killing two and injuring several others. The attack shook the community, prompting vigils and a reckoning with rising anti-gay violence.
