Inside New York’s underground ’60s & ’70s cruising scene

Decades before Stonewall, queer New Yorkers found community in Central Park, gathering around Bethesda Fountain. It’s where ​“The Angel of the Waters” – the visage of 19^th century actor Charlotte Cushman – is immortalised by her lover, sculptor Emma Stebbins, for all eternity. 

But others, seeking a more intimate exchange, had long disappeared into The Ramble, a lush woodland filled with winding paths, rustic bridges, and dense foliage in the shadows of nearby Belvedere Castle. By the early ​’20s, The Ramble had become New York’s most infamous cruising grounds – its legend only growing more luminous as police efforts to snuff out illicit activity only added to the thrill of it all. 

In 1968, Brooklyn-born photographer Arthur Tress, then 28, began making photographs in The Ramble with his Hasselblad. As a participant and observer, Tress crafted an intricate map of queer desire and clandestine pleasure, unfolding in plain sight among young men signalling to one another in discreet glances, gestures, and codes. They preened and posed for one another with the yearning for a love that dared not speak its name – at a time when to do so was still a crime. 

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The works, made at the start of the photographer’s prolific, high-profile career and continuing throughout the ​’70s, had been kept hidden for years. ​“This series was a private, intimate record rather than work intended for public display,” says photographer Matthew Terrell. ​“Yet, Arthur has a historian’s sensibility and understood the significance of preserving this moment for future generations. This work fits into his oeuvre as a candid, honest exploration of a community navigating public spaces under intense social scrutiny.” 

Terrell, who has long been friends with Tress, now 84, knew immediately upon seeing the images that the time had come to cast a light on one of New York’s best kept open secrets. With the new exhibition, Cruising in the Shadows: Uncovering Secret LGBTQ+ Culture in New York City, Terrell crafts a layered portrait of queer history hidden in plain sight, weaving together Tress’s photographs with artworks, news articles, historical documents, and cultural artefacts like the Hanky Code, a bandanna worn in the back pocket that was colourcoded in accordance with a dazzling array of queer desires to like-minded strangers. 

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Tress photographed cruising as one who understood the thrill of the hunt, sharing in their wins and loses with the empathy and understanding of a man who has been there himself. He crafts the black-and-white photographs as classic pastorals, simmering with the implicit tension desire spoken without words. Here there is endless watching and waiting with bated breath for a moment of instant gratification in the semi-privacy of trees and shrubs.

“Arthur was part of the community he was documenting – this was not just an external observation, but an experience he lived himself,” says Terrell. ​“For Arthur, these outings were often about cruising with his camera in hand, blending art and life naturally. He photographed everything and everyone, never hesitating to approach strangers for a photo. His openness and genuine curiosity allowed him to capture these moments with authenticity and respect.” 

Cruising in the Shadows: Uncovering Secret LGBTQ Culture in New York City is on view through July 26, 2025, at apexart in New York.

Miss Rosen is a free­lance arts and pho­tog­ra­phy writer, fol­low her on X.

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