Gay & Lesbian “FunMap”

Some of the first gay directories and address books were The Lavender Baedeker, first published in 1963, and the Darmon Address Book, first published in 1964. In the face of censorship and discriminatory laws, gay men produced these guides to share places where they could safely convene in public.

David James Press’s Gay & Lesbian “FunMap” carries that tradition forward into the 1990’s producing a two-sided foldable map, with one side covering Manhattan up to 90th Street and the other side focusing on the Greenwich Village neighborhood. There are a total of 45 numbered establishments on the map, each of which is accompanied by a small advertisement. Notably, this is the earliest map in NYPL’s collections that mentions HIV/AIDS in its content, with an HIV public service announcement and a list of resources that includes an AIDS Gay Men’s Health Crisis hotline, an AIDS resource center, and an AIDS discrimination project.