Gay Cruising The Brooklyn Heights Promenade
The breathtaking Brooklyn walkway was once a premier meeting ground for gay men
Now a popular romantic site for marriage proposals both gay and straight, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was once one of New York City’s most popular and well-known gay male cruising areas, beginning in the 1950s and lasting well into the 1980s. During the 1960s in particular, it became contested ground when complaints from residential neighbors about the "goings on" there late at night led to a police crackdown as well as a curfew.
The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a a 1,826-foot long platform and pedestrian walkway which cantilevers out from Columbia Heights over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights. It is particularly known for its breathtaking views of NY Harbor and the Lower Manhattan skyline, and runs from the west end of Remsen Street to the west end of Orange Street and can additionally be accessed from Montague Street and Pierrepont Place and the west ends of Pierrepont Street, Clark Street and Pineapple Street. The promenade first opened in mutliple stages between 1948 to 1951. As early as 1952, it had already become a documented location for gay male cruising.
As reported by Hugh Ryan in When Brooklyn Was Queer, Thomas Painter, who moved into the nearby St. George Hotel in 1953, was surprised to discover that the Promenade had become a gay cruising ground, but grumbled that it was “pure homosexual” there and was missing the “trade” (gay slang for casual sex partners who are not gay-identified) that he was more interested in bedding. Ryan also mentions that Stonewall activist Martin Boyce noted that the Promenade was still one of the few places in Brooklyn that maintained a citywide gay reputation by the time of the Stonewall Riots in 1969.
By the early 1960s, the Promenade’s reputation as a gay destination continued to grow and homosexual men (as well as those who were curious) from other parts of the city began flocking to Brooklyn Heights. According to Armand Whitehead, who moved to Brooklyn Heights in 1963: “It was absolutely wild. People did everything there.” In September 1962, things got so rampant that police started responding to complaints from neighboring straight residents as well as the Brooklyn Heights Association, which ultimately led to a crackdown that included stationing plainclothes officers on the Promenade. In 1966, the Parks Department then got involved and began imposing a curfew on the Promenade from midnight to 6 AM at the request of the police, who told the Brooklyn Heights Press that they were responding to the many neighborhood residents who “objected to the ‘goings on’ there late at night.”
Eventually the police became more accepting and according to Armand Whitehead, “if they knew you from the neighborhood, [they] kind of just let it be.” In 1981, the New York Native reported on a still-active cruising scene, with its focus on the south end at Remsen Circle, “where those who cruise in cars can idle or park,” while at the north end, the playground in Squibb Park became at night “the biggest outdoor backroom in the world.”
By the late '80s-early '90s, the Promenade mostly fell out of favor as a cruising grounds as the LGBT community began settling in other neighborhoods of Brooklyn, notably Park Slope, Fort Greene & Clinton Hill. According to Tyler Hampton (@tttyler), however, “it still gets a bit cruise-y some nights 😏”. In perhaps an ironic twist, the promenade is now a popular destination for both gay and lesbian wedding proposals and weddings.
Several others noted via comments their own queer relationships to the Promenade:
@beabaggage recalled: “Goings on...went to a party in the Heights in 1982, was shopping the bargain rack at Bloomies with a friend and a cute guy invited us, it was fun!”
@butchhmolly recollected: “I used to go running at night on the promenade when I was 18 when I was sad and I always wished I would run into another dyke. After I got tired of running I would sit and read the things people wrote or carved on the benches. Some of it was poetry. At some point I wrote my name and a lover’s on one and I have sat for many an afternoon and drawn the Brooklyn bridge from the promenade ❤️.”
And Roger Hockett (@rotoho_foto) added this romantic comment: “I met my husband on the promenade 3 + decades ago, gathering again at the very bench 25 years to the day to make it legal and blessed.”
Fascinating to read how the tables have turned.😄