One of the most famous bars in the Village is the White Horse Tavern whose primary claim to fame is that it was a favorite hangout for Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.  Fans of Thomas sometimes lined up outside the Tavern in order to watch him drink and carouse.  One evening in November 1953, Thomas staggered out of the bar and collapsed in front of the Tavern.  The following day, November 9th, he would die at nearby St. Vincent’s Hospital.  Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, and Anais Nin were also regular patrons.  The White Horse Tavern was built in 1880 and was a popular spot for longshoremen until the late 1940’s.  British exiles living in New York are/were especially fond of the Tavern because it reminded them of the English pubs back home. 

 
Marie's Crisis (bottom), a cabaret bar in the basement of a Greenwich Village townhouse is a former inn.  Marie’s Crisis gets its name from two different people from two different eras:  Marie Dumont, its original owner, a Frenchwoman, and Thomas Paine, author of the pamphlet Crisis and Common Sense (which helped to ignite the American Revolutionary War), who lived here.  Coincidentally, another Marie, Marie Blake -- a popular black singer with a “sandpaper voice,” was the joint's piano player for many years.  Marie's Crisis is now a gay piano bar.  The building dates to the 1800’s and the bar to at least the 1920's.  At one time, poet Hart Crane also resided here.

 

 

During Prohibition the Village was the home to many speakeasies where patron needed a password to enter the establishment and booze was served in paper coffee cups.


Gay Bars:

  • Boots & Saddles, 76 Christopher Street (7th Avenue) 212-929-9684
  • Julius 159 W, 10th Street (Waverly Place) 212-243-1928
  • The Monster, 80 Grove Street (7th Avenue) 212-924-35658
  • Stonewall Inn, 53 Christopher Street (7th Avenue) 212-488-2705
  • Ty's, 114 Christopher Street (Bedford) 212-741-9641

 

In nearby Chelsea:

  • Splash, 50 W. 17th Street (between Fifth & Sixth Avenues) 212-691-0073 
  • G Lounge, 225 W. 19th Street. (between Eighth & Ninth Avenues) 212-929-1085
  • Barracuda, 275 W. 22nd Street (Eighth Avenue), 212-645-8613