The Astor Bar, nestled within New York City's grand Hotel Astor in Times Square, was a significant yet discreet gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community from the 1910s until the hotel's closure in 1967.During an era when homosexuality was criminalized, the Astor Bar offered a rare sanctuary.Gay patrons were informally allocated one side of its elegant oval bar, allowing them to socialize with a degree of safety and discretion uncommon at the time.This duality enabled the bar to maintain its public image as a respectable venue while quietly becoming a legendary meeting spot within the gay community.
The bar's cultural significance was immortalized in Cole Porter's song "Well, Did You Evah!" with the lyric, “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr / Just got pinched in the Astor Bar?”—a nod to its reputation as a clandestine rendezvous.
However, the Astor Bar's history also includes darker chapters.In the 1960s, it became a target for extortion schemes against prominent gay men, leading to a significant FBI crackdown on such operations.
The Hotel Astor was demolished in 1967, but the Astor Bar's legacy endures as a poignant reminder of the complexities of queer life in mid-20th-century New York City.
