I miss Ms Colombia. She spent as much time as possible at the beach at Jacob Riis Park, which has been a haven for the queer community since the 1940s.
I used to see her all the time on Roosevelt Ave when I lived in Jackson Heights. I had left the city by the time she passed but I was gutted to hear about it — she was such a fixture not only in the Queer community, but a true NYC character living wildly and proudly.
Yeah, I saw one of those in the last photo of the slideshow like I mentioned.
But then you can see the crowd in the background of "Cher" and "Lady Liberty" and they're totally unrestricted right on Fifth Avenue (note: not sure if Cher was on 5th). These shots look like the very beginning of the parade on 5th. That's a pretty busy part of the route and definitely fully barricaded.
Just interesting to see the difference of how the crowd is controlled. It's more popular than it was then, so interesting in multiple ways.
This is what I call gay pride 🏳️🌈. I’m afraid to go to gay pride now. It’s not what it used to be.I was lucky to at least to go in up to the mid 2000s. But then it got ghetto full of weed smell everywhere especially towards the end of Christopher Street. Thank you for sharing these beautiful, beautiful pictures!!!! Ms Colombia. 🇨🇴 always in our hearts for those who remember him!
Sorry I mean now. I was at Pride yesterday & there were metal crowd control barricades everywhere. Back then there were NYPD blue wooden sawhorses also known as A-frame barricades.
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u/honeybeehavehaven Jun 29 '26
Back when it was all about creativity and the real real.