Charlie

I find bodies like these more attractive when they are dressed than when they are undressed.

I worked at the same job, in the same city, for 36 years, and it was the right job, in the right place, for me at that time. But I was able to take long summer vacations, and even one year sabbaticals a few times, to get away and try out life in other cities and other countries, so I had a pretty good idea about where else I would be happy living. As Moondance said, what was right for me during those years would not necessarily be right forever. I don't like cold, snow and ice for more than about a week at a time, so I wanted to move somewhere sunny, warm and dry, which was why I chose to move 2500 miles from the Northeast to the Southwest, and I have never regretted doing so. But after a dozen years in Palm Springs, I began to think I might want yet another change. I had always liked the Pacific Northwest, and I began to explore possibilities for another move. Ultimately, certain circumstances convinced me that it was the wrong time to make a change in location, and so we stayed in Palm Springs, but if circumstances change, it is still possible that I will end up spending my final years somewhere completely different. BTW, jjk, being part of a couple can make it harder, not easier to make the move. Each time I contemplated moving, it took me a long time to convince my spouse to consider leaving where we were, because he is as resistant to change as you are. If I were alone, it would be much easier for me to try someplace new.

Just a couple of notes. LA-PS train service is notoriously unreliable, especially going from PS to LA, where the infrequent trains have been known to arrive many hours late. The train station is in the middle of nowhere, with very few services, and if the train is not on time, you can find yourself locked out on the platform waiting. Some of the flights on azdr's list are only seasonal, and many are not daily. The Virgin America (now part of Alaska) service non-stop between PSP and New York is only once per week, and goes to JFK. There is actually more service between PSP and SFO than between PSP and LAX, because United has cut out most of its turbo-prop commuter service to LAX. My in-laws are coming later this month and flying from DFW into and out of ONT, because the flights were cheaper than to PSP. However, they have to rent a car at ONT, and their return flight from ONT is at 5:30am. I will pass on their experience with ONT after their visit.

My oldest friends live in one of the few private residences that Philip Johnson designed. It is a gem, but impractical as a family home. One of them is an architect himself, and he has had to make numerous tweaks to the house to make it functional to raise their children. Whenever I stay in their guest bedroom, which used to be one of the kid's bedrooms, I feel like I am in a compartment on a very small ship. Nevertheless, they have stayed in it for almost a half century, and despite the trouble of maintaining it, they can't bring themselves to leave.

I lived down the street from the Sinatra house for a number of years, and walked my dog past it regularly. It had become rather shabby, but I understand that the renovation (which seemed to go on forever) has been very successful.

A good friend decided to leave the Hollywood Hills and move to Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, he had been there only two weeks when he was diagnosed with a particularly nasty kind of cancer, and discovered that the medical care in Santa Rosa was not up to dealing with it. He had to go to USF for treatment, and ended up having to rent an apt in SF to live in while recovering and having daily treatment, because when you are ill, traveling into SF from Santa Rosa regularly is just not practical. He never did get to live in the beautiful retirement home he had bought in Santa Rosa because he didn't survive, so I don't know what he would have thought of the place. Ashland is gorgeous, but it is not cheap to live there. We looked at the area very seriously last year, when we were thinking of leaving Palm Springs, and found that the nearby city of Medford was more reasonably priced. A ten minute drive from Ashland, there is a large, beautiful continuing care retirement community in Medford, on a hill overlooking the city, at which we spent two days as guests. However, we found that our hosts were the only gay couple among the 1000+ residents, sort of the token gays so the community could claim it was diverse. The area is reliably conservative Republican. If you are interested in the area, however, PM me for details about the options there.

When I was younger, my requisites for my headquarters would have reflected Amazon's: there had to be at least a million people in the metro area, and a major airport. In old age, I have begun to appreciate the charm of small towns. Their main downside for the elderly is a lack of medical support, but otherwise I appreciate the cheaper cost of living, friendliness, slower pace and convenience of the small town way of life--IF you choose the right small town, of course. My favorites are mostly in the Pacific Northwest and New England, but there are other candidates throughout the country.

I thought you were referring to the Central Valley of California (aka the San Joaquin Valley), which is wide and flat, and has some of the worst air pollution in the country, according to the EPA. I travel though the valley a couple of times each summer, and from Redding to Modesto to Bakersfield, it always seems as hot as the desert.

Have you seen what the temperatures have been like in the Central Valley this summer?! And the air quality? No thanks.

Is that an EMT transport waiting in the background for passersby who have a heart attack?

I understand that motivation, but one of our reasons for moving was that so many of the good friends we had known for years had already left, and the city we had lived in for so many years had changed a lot from when we had arrived. Being old and alone in an old place that was no longer the same was not my idea of The Golden Years. It can be hard to make new friends as a newcomer in a very conservative, static community, but it is not that difficult to make friends as a newcomer in a place where many other residents are also new. I used to think it would be great to retire and die in the NYC I used to love, but now I couldn't afford to live in the neighborhoods I used to call home.

Stormy, I think we need to know more about where you are now, why you would want to leave there when you retire, what kind of interests you have besides gay life, what kind of support services you think you will need in a new place,what your financial situation will be, etc. A lot of the places that have already been mentioned are places we considered, too, and finally rejected for our own reasons.

We visited both Palm Springs and Wilton Manors when we were looking at retirement locations. In each place we were taken around by gay realtors to see homes that were available and to meet with residents. We eventually decided on PS rather than WM because we preferred the desert climate, but if you can handle hurricanes and their aftermath, and can live with the bugs, WM is a reasonable alternative. At the time we moved, in 2004, WM did have the advantage of being a cheaper place to live than PS, and I suspect that is still true.

This thread would also work nicely in the Fetish Forum.

I don't know what it is called, but in that very old film, the guy who is doing the jacking off is Eric Ryan.

When I was 17, I knew an older gay man who made amateur "physique" photos, which were published in the little black-and-white "physique" magazines that were sold on news stands in Times Square. I was at his house one day when one of his models dropped in unexpectedly. The three of us were sitting, fully clothed, in his living room having a conversation. The model was a super-hot hunk, and I could feel my member becoming aroused just by his presence. Finally, the guy turned to me and gave me a long, flirtatious smile....and I came in my pants. It was hard to hide what had happened, and the model leered with satisfaction at his power to provoke my spontaneous ejaculation.

My father was at that perfect game by Don Larsen in Yankee Stadium. Strangely, it was the only WS game he ever went to there. I was at home listening to it on the radio.

When I was a teenager, friends and I used to drive past Pat Boone's house at night, in the hope that the curtains on the living room window would be open and we would see him and/or one of his guests. One night we got lucky and saw him with Lesley Gore.

Dogs have more liberties in many western European countries than they do in the US. The recent appearance of "dog friendly" hotels and restaurants in this country follows in the steps of longtime customs in England, France and Germany. Unfortunately, Europeans seem much less inclined to clean up the messes their pets leave in public places than Americans do.

The times when I have been dog-less have been exciting and liberating, because I can go wherever and whenever I want, and keep whatever hours I want. But the pleasure in freedom always wears off, and then I want a canine companion, for all the affection and entertainment he provides. Right now we have a dog who hates to let us out of his sight, unless he can be with someone else he loves. I haven't been on a plane for almost two years, because it is hard to leave him behind. Our travels are planned around dog-friendly hotels/motels and restaurants. Tonight we are going out to a nice restaurant without him, because our neighbors offer to entertain him when we want to eat somewhere other than an outdoor patio, and we reciprocate with their dog.

I love these photos of Manhattan street life in the 1950s and 60s. They take me back to those exciting days of my youth, cruising the city.

I use something only I would know: the name of one of the many pets I have owned during my lifetime, plus its birthdate or the date on which I acquired it. That is info that no one else could even guess..

There is socializing among longtime forum members (especially the regulars from the Strip Club forum, who sometimes arrange to meet at the clubs), and the original Palm Springs Weekend was conceived by Lucky as simply a way for several posters from southern CA to get together to chat in person. I have never heard of non-escort posters getting together with one another for (gasp!) sexual activity. That doesn't mean the sluts haven't done so, of course.

I don't know where the term originated, but I suspect it was from the famous image of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.

For example, the typical German greeting "Wie geht's?" translates as "How's it going?"