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1969 Stonewall Rebellion
 N.Y.C.P.D.
"Mug Shot"
Greenwich Village, New York City, U.S.A.

1969 Stonewall Rebellion -- NYC Mug Shot

"The Face of Stonewall"
[1969 Mug-shot by the NYC Police Department]


=S=T=O=N=E=W=A=L=L=
~The Mourning After~
New York City Police Department
(Old) Sixth Precinct
135 Charles Street
Manhattan, New York
Event Date:  Friday night, 27 June 1969
Arrest Date:  Saturday morning, 28 June 1969 


Related to The STONEWALL Bar & Dance Club at 51 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City, this is the one and only -- known or unknown -- New York City Police Department ("NYCPD") mug-shot as a result of the notorious 1969 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender ("G.L.B.T.") Stonewall Rebellion.  There were total of 21 arrests from the notorious.  There were thirteen arrests the first night (Friday, June 27th), six arrests on the second night (Saturday, June 28th) and three arrests on the third night (Sunday, June 29th, 1969).  There was no rebellion or uprising on Monday and Tuesday evenings due to rain.  For your information, at that time in history, Gays did not 'rebel' when it was raining!  Who wants their hair messed up?  Not Gays.  When the rebellion resumed for its fourth night (Wednesday, July 2nd) and, then, the fifth and final night (Thursday, July 3rd), there was no rain and no arrests.  There were, however, plenty of signs such as "Gay Power", "Gay Rights", "Gay Marriage" and "Gay Unity".

The original raid on the ~original~ STONEWALL Bar & Dance Club by the NYCPD very late Friday night on June 27th, 1969 was not, as it turned out, the typical police raid on a Gay bar!  The alerting 'white lights' went on signalling that the police were at the front door but the white lights never went off!  This Gay club raid was not just instigated by the local police Sixth Precinct.  This raid came from much higher up within the police department as they were aware about the Gay bar pay-offs to some local police.  The coordinated invasion -- a sneak attack -- also involved heavyhitters the First Division Detectives ("FDD") and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ("ATF").  Thus, three legs to this table!         

NYPD mugshot 1969 Stonewall

"The Face of Stonewall" (shown above), as has now been famously named by many astute observers, represents the look of a "Stonewall Inn" patron.  If one is familiar with the times of Gays and the police in New York City in the 1960s, of course, the Stonewaller did not use his or her actual name.  To have done so would have been careless and naive.  Because The STONEWALL Club, proudly owned and efficiently operated by the Mafia, had to be considered a 'private club' in order to control who entered, you were regarded as a 'member'.  Therefore, you had to 'sign-in'.  What name you used was irrelevant.  

This Stonewaller shown above signed in as the junior namesake of an actress from Hollywood namely Lana Turner!  Lana was ultra blonde, stunning, daring and sexy on screen and off.  She had Gay favorite films like "Ziegfeld Girl", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Peyton Place", "Imitation Of Life" and "Madame X"!  There were many ~original~ STONEWALL Club patrons named as follows:  Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Mae West and, of course, Elizabeth Taylor!  There was also Barbara Stanwick, Vivien Leigh, Olivia De Havilland, Greer Garson and, you betcha, Shirley Temple!  Female singers included Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Shirley Bassey, Dolly Parton, Aretha Franklin, Petula Clark and Cher!  Nightly, there were also male celebrity names such as:  1) James Dean (Bisexual), 2) Frank Sinatra, 3) Marlon Brando (Bi), 4) Little Richard (Gay), 5) Rock Hudson (Gay), (6) Cary Grant (Bi), 7) Johnny Matthis (Gay), 8) Frankie Valli, 9) Liberace (Gay) 10) Marvin Gaye (Bi), 11) Ted Kennedy (the politician), and, of course, cartoon characters like 12) Donald Duck and comic book heroes like (13) Dick Tracy (double entendre)!  (Gay Note:  #4, 5, 7 and 9 were publicly known to be Gay; Bisexual Note:  #1, 3, 6 and 10 were admitted Bisexuals.)  Sometimes the name signed in was cleverly one of the movie characters that one of the above actresses portrayed such as "Dorothy Gale" (Judy G), "Mrs. Skeffington" (Bette D), "Mildred Pierce" (Joan C), "Virginia Woolf" (Elizabeth T), "Margo Channing" (Bette D), "Madame X" (Lana T), "Harriet Craig" (Joan C), "Baby Jane" (Bette D) or "Blanche Hudson" (Joan C)!  There were even character names from songs like "Eleanor Rigby" and "Father MacKenzie" from The Beatles' song and "Jimmy Mack" from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' song of the same name.  It was always anticipated fun to see who signed in with what name!  Some used play-on-words names like Ginny Genovese or Gerty Gambino!  

Elsewhere in America and throughout most of the World, the situation and scenario would have been far worse than in New York City, which was quite progressive and mostly accepting.  Back on point with the unwritten, Gay life, two-point policy back then:  do not bring any identification ("I/D") and do not use your real name!  Therefore, with no I/D on a Stonewall person and a clean record in the system for any name, there was literally nothing for the police to check and nothing to compare.  There was no I/D for probably ninety percent of the patrons who went to any Gay bar, particuarly one that was Mafia-run such as The STONEWALL Club in Greenwich Village, NYC; The Hayloft in Oceanside, Long Island; The Thrush in the Flat-Iron District of Manhattan; The Magic Touch in Island Park, LI; Dr. Feelgood's in Central Greenwich Village; The Limbo Lounge in Bayside, Queens, NYC; The Charade in East Harlem, NY; Ralph's (Dance) Bar on Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn, NY; and Satan's Club in Baldwin, Long Island.  Also like The Stonewall, the others were previously raided many times by the police.  Again, Gay patrons, notably Stonewallers, made sure not to bring one item with them to the Gay club... I/D!

   

From the G.L.B.T. Archives of the......
STONEWALL Rebellion Veterans Association
511 Avenue of the Americas,
Suite 128
Manhattan, NY  10011-8410

telephone:  (212) 627-1969 (24/7/365)
SVA@STONEWALLvets.org
fax:  (718) 294-1969

www.StonewallVets.org/mainpage.htm

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See the informative and interesting webfile on the
SVA's founder and director Willson Lee Henderson at:
https://www.StonewallVets.org/WillsonHenderson.htm

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Visit the STONEWALL V.A. on FaceBook:
www.FaceBook.com/SVANYC

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=====2021:  52nd Anniversary of the NYC Gay Stonewall Rebellion=====
[Friday night, June 27 ~through~ Thursday evening, July 3, 1969, Manhattan, New York City]

     

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