For the better part of six decades, Fredd E. \u201cTree\u201d Sequoia has been a fixture of New York\u2019s queer community and a long-time bartender at The Stonewall Inn<\/a>. From being present the night of the riot<\/a> as a young patron, through the ensuing fight for gay rights, the AIDS epidemic, and even the Covid pandemic, Sequoia has become inseparable from the iconic bar and its place in history, now serving as a global ambassador of sorts. But most weeks, you can still find him at the bar pouring a beer or chatting with customers. We recently sat down with Sequoia at the storied establishment to talk about his experiences on both sides of the bar.<\/p>\n Tree Sequoia: When I was younger, I worked as a gopher for Jackie Gleason. \u201cHey kid, go get my script!\u201d I was just a teenager. And then a friend of mine got me a job at The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em>, where I would knock on the door and say, \u201cYou\u2019re on stage in 5 minutes, Ms. Dietrich.\u201d Things like that. <\/p>\n I was just figuring out my sexuality then, and I snuck into the Village one day and I saw these two very obviously gay guys go into a coffee shop called Mama\u2019s Chicken Rib, right on Greenwich Avenue. I followed them in, sat down, and the waiter introduced himself, saying, \u201cHi, I\u2019m Joan Crawford.\u201d And I knew I was in the right spot. I made some friends there. And one day I asked the manager for a cup of coffee, and he says \u201cI\u2019m busy, get it yourself.\u201d So I go behind the counter, I make coffee, and he says, \u201cactually, make two.\u201d And the next thing I know, I\u2019d worked there six years.<\/p>\n I moved into my apartment in Chelsea March 8, 1968. I just celebrated 57 years there. Sometimes we\u2019d go to my house and play charades, but mostly we\u2019d hang out at the bars. One of my friends was a bouncer at the Ninth Circle, and he asked me to cover for him on Mondays and Tuesdays because he hadn\u2019t had a day off in months. But I didn\u2019t call myself a bouncer\u2014I called myself an attitude adjuster. And after about a month, the owner came over to me and said, \u201cYou know, everybody likes you. You\u2019ve got a great person personality. We\u2019re going to make you a bartender.\u201d I said, Bobby, I don\u2019t drink. And I\u2019ve never made a drink.\u201d He says, \u201cYou\u2019re going to learn to do both.\u201d That was 57 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meeting people. Every day, here at the bar, you name a city, or state, or country, and they\u2019re here. I would say 80 percent of the time, I\u2019ve been to their city or country, so I can talk about a bar or a restaurant or the people. And then they look me up on Facebook and we have nine mutual friends. The other week, two guys from London came in. One works in theater, and he said he\u2019s going to say hello to Russell Davies for me, who was the writer who wrote Queer As Folk<\/em> and Doctor Who<\/em>. I met Russell when I won the Attitude Magazine<\/em> award in London. And the other one works with Ian McKellen, and I\u2019m Ian McKellen\u2019s favorite bartender. You just never know who is going to come in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, yes. And now, sometimes in the afternoon with the tourists, we have more straight people than gay\u2014husbands and wives, groups of three or four couples that came in from Michigan because they heard about this place and wanted to visit. So I get to talk to all of them. And, of course, I make fun of where they\u2019re from, like, \u201cCome on, there\u2019s no such place as Michigan.\u201d My boss says, \u201cYou\u2019re always in a good mood, you talk to everybody, you have fun with them, you tease them\u2026 why don\u2019t you come in and just talk to everybody at the tables?\u201d <\/p>\n So now on the weekends, they put tables out in the middle of the street, and I just go sit and talk with everyone. And the next thing you know, they\u2019re taking my number, and I\u2019m getting phone calls asking if I want to come here or there for events. But I never say no. I always I tell the truth: If you pay for it, I will go to the opening of an envelope.\u00a0I\u2019ve met the Infanta of Spain, the two crown princes of Denmark, presidents, prime ministers\u2026 It makes me laugh. I\u2019m just a kid from Brooklyn!<\/p>\n I always say I was in the right place at the wrong time, or the wrong place at the right time. Because I went to jail so many times for being in gay bars. They either threw us out of the bar, or they asked us our names, and nobody had proof, nobody had an ID, so we would make up names. Sometimes they put us in jail and we\u2019d go before a judge in the morning, and they\u2019d either throw it out as a waste of time, or some judges would fine us $20 for being perverts\u2026 But we\u2019d all go back to the bar that night or the next night. <\/p>\n I don\u2019t think they raided the bars because we were gay. I think they raided it because the boys forgot to pay the police that week. The expression \u201cNew York City has the best police money can buy\u201d was because almost every cop was on the take.<\/p>\n Everybody always asks me if I was afraid. I never set anything on fire, like garbage cans. I never rattled a police car, I never threw a bottle or a rock or anything. But we were lucky\u2014Frank, Charlie, myself, and Gregory got out as the cops were making people start to run. They would put drugs on the floor and tell people, \u201cThat\u2019s yours.\u201d Because in 1969, even if you had a little roach of pot, that was 5 years in jail. Gregory had to leave because he was a Catholic priest. And he would not want to be caught in the gay bar in 1969. <\/p>\n And that\u2019s when the riot squad came, and I did something then that I can\u2019t do now\u2014ran.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So we were all outside, and we noticed that the lock was hanging off the paddy wagon, so Charlie knocked it off, the door opened, everybody ran down the street. And all the store owners and people in the buildings around, they actually let the people into their hallways and would not let the cops arrest them\u2026 We saw two people pull a parking meter out of the ground, concrete and all, and were using it as a battering ram next door to get into the bar. The police were barricaded in there and the crowd of 25 people grew to a couple of hundred, literally trying to set the bar on fire with the police in it. <\/p>\n And that\u2019s when the riot squad came, and I did something then that I can\u2019t do now\u2014ran.\u00a0We all went back to Mama\u2019s Chicken Rib, and we said, if the cops come in, we\u2019ll swear we were here. We went back to the bar the next day, and the whole area was full of smoke and garbage cans and people running around. There were TV cameras, newspapers\u2014everything.<\/p>\n Well, this place is now Mecca for the gay community. People all over the world know Stonewall. But I would say maybe 20 percent of the young people who come in today don\u2019t give a shit about the history. They just come to dance, party, drink, have fun. But a lot of them do care. I always tell them: Get an education. Education is so important in these times. You\u2019re gonna be gay 24\/7, but don\u2019t do it 24\/7. Get yourself an education. Then I always tell them: Safe sex. Because I lived through AIDS pandemic. And because I haven\u2019t had [a cigarette] in 50 years, I tell them to stop smoking. But these kids know more than I did when I was that age.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t retire. My invitation to my birthday party last year at 85 said, \u201cYou are cordially invited to Tree\u2019s 15-more-years-to-go birthday party.\u201d Now I\u2019m 86, so it\u2019s 14 more years to go. And I expect to be here. I\u2019m going to retire at 100, maybe. I don\u2019t wanna give up, I love it.<\/p>\nImbibe: You\u2019ve been a bartender the majority of your working life. How did you get into it?<\/h5>\n
What has kept you in the profession all these years? What do you love about it? <\/h5>\n
Is that part of what makes Stonewall so special? That it brings in people from all over the world? <\/h5>\n
What was the scene like in the early days, and what are your memories of the night of the riot?<\/h5>\n
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Do you think places like Stonewall and other queer bars still inherently serve as places of rebellion? Do you have any advice for younger generations?<\/h5>\n
You\u2019re still here at Stonewall every week, and you\u2019ve traveled the globe as an ambassador\u2014any plans to retire?<\/h5>\n