During the 1-hour tour that culminates at the birthplace of Pride, The Stonewall Inn, Joe recounts NYC’s LGBTQ+ history, from before the Stonewall uprising through to the rise of Pride as we know it today. “The story of Pride is the story of our LGBTQIA+ community bravely standing up to bullying and discrimination against any member of our community,” Joe says. “Our tour tells the story of the birth of Pride through that lens.”

Greenwich Village is to New York as the Castro is to San Francisco, so while you’ll find pockets of LGBTQ+ culture across New York’s five boroughs, there’s no neighborhood more significant—or home to more historic sites, organizations, and bars—than the Village. Joe also recommends staying in the East Village or the Lower East Side, two neighboring counterculture hubs. “Those areas (Greenwich Village included) are my personal favorites to experience the hipness and beauty of New York City.”

For an immersion into NYC’s LGBTQ+ history, there’s only one possible starting point: The Stonewall Inn. Read the plaque outside, grab a drink inside, and if Tree's behind the bar, you might just get a firsthand account of the Stonewall uprising. “My favorite stop [on the tour] is of course the Stonewall Inn,” Joe says. “Telling the story of our movement’s uprising night is always the most moving part of the tour for me.”

According to Joe, a good night out in NYC starts with a round at Julius’, said to be the oldest gay bar in NYC, followed by a Broadway singalong at Marie's Crisis Café piano bar, then a show at the Stonewall Inn or the Duplex. “Both the Stonewall Inn and the Duplex in Greenwich Village have showrooms with first-rate comedy, drag, and music performances,” Joe says.

Big Gay Ice-Cream, a seasonal ice cream truck turned full-fledged ice cream parlor, is one of Joe’s favorite spots. Expect tongue-in-cheek flavor names such as “Dorothy” (vanilla with dulce de leche rolled in Nilla wafer cookies) and “Salty Pimp” (vanilla with slightly salted dulce de leche and a chocolate shell).