9. Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop

The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop opened in 1967 when Craig Rodwell, gay right’s activist, wanted to create a place where the LGBT community could celebrate their literary history and somewhere that the community could gather to plan events like the first pride parade which was then referred to as “The Christopher Street Liberation Day March.”

Rodwell originally proposed the idea to the Mattachine Society, the gay rights group he took part in, but his idea was shot down and he was determined to make his dream a reality. He eventually opened the bookshop in his apartment building on Mercer Street and in 1973 he moved it to its location on Christopher Street. He ran the bookshop until he sold it in 1993 and the store was open until 2009. The building is still standing and remains an important fixture in the history of the LGBTQ movement.