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17th St., widely considered to be a predecessor that set the tone for the Stonewall uprising in Greenwich Village.ĭewey’s, a malted milk and ice cream vending chain, had two stores that remained on the Philly gaydar. 25, 1965, the nation’s eyes were drawn to a sit-in staged by three protestors at Dewey’s on 219 S. Janus Society was co-lead by Clark Polak, who two years later, would create and edit LGBT news and erotica magazine, DRUM. In 1962, the Janus Society was founded in Philadelphia, making it one of the first recorded and publicly known “homophile” organizations in the city. 1960s: Dewey’s, the Stonewall predecessor Then-Deputy Streets Commissioner John Scruggs told the Inquirer he thought it was an overreach: “It’s kind of stretching it to think you can regulate human behavior with a traffic sign.”īut the sign never came down - it’s still there today. The signs prohibited left turns from 21st onto Delancey Street between midnight and 5 a.m. Under Mayor Frank Rizzo, the city put up signage around the Square to discourage gay people from cruising. “They come from all parts of the city, from the suburbs, from as far away as Reading and Atlantic City.”
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“Saturday night is the gayest night of the week,” read a story on the Rittenhouse queer scene in Greater Philadelphia Magazine.