Christopher Street Pier

In the 1970's and 1980's, LGBTQ culture was much less mainstream than it is today, and young men and women relied on the kinship and mutual aid of their community for support. The late 1980s film 'Paris is Burning' offers an intimate look into New York's LGBTQ culture of the time. The "family" structure explored in the documentary served as a replacement to the subjects' biological families, whom they were often rejected by because of their gender and sexual identities. They also created a community at the Christopher Street Pier. The piers at the western edge of Greenwich Village have been a haven for gay youth since the 1970s. Today, the pier remains a popular place to socialize for black and Latino LGBTQ youth.