Lifespan

[samhexum]

I went to my first gay porn theater just before I turned 16 and enjoyed Manhattan's thriving porn industry (there were 8 theaters that I can think of, plus one in Queens & one in Brooklyn, neither of which I ever sampled) for about 5 years before AIDS happened. One of the things about the pandemic that's been hard to wrap my mind around is that within my lifetime I've gone from having sexual experiences (and swapping germs and more) with anonymous strangers to wearing a mask everywhere and being apprehensive about going food shopping and getting something from the deli counter, or handing my shopper's card to the cashier.

 

Not to mention how computers and technology have made things from my childhood feel like they're from the stone age.

 

I can only imagine how @WilliamM & @marylander1940 feel about going from fleeing dinosaurs to becoming ones. ??

Edited January 5, 2021 by samhexum

[+ LIguy]

Ah the memories....my first porn theater was the 55th St Playhouse. I couldn't understand why all these men were walking around instead of sitting and watching the movie. Then a man comes and sits right next to me and I'm thinking what the hell? There's so many empty seats. Then I felt the hand on my leg...moving up. I was shocked and confused but I didn't move. His hand found what he wanted and in seconds I blasted then ran only to walk the streets confused and dazed. It was my first time ever being touched by anyone. 2 weeks later I went back looking for it.

I remember watching a very popular soap star getting blown in his seat high up in the balcony of the Park Miller.

Geez the memories are flooding....The Adonis, The Adult Fair in Queens where I topped for the first time, The Kings in Brooklyn which at times was so freaking hot.

Does anyone remember the abandoned warehouses across from Christopher street and exploring them inside and watching all the sex going on?

I really should write my memoir...

[+ Charlie]

Ah the memories....my first porn theater was the 55th St Playhouse. I couldn't understand why all these men were walking around instead of sitting and watching the movie. Then a man comes and sits right next to me and I'm thinking what the hell? There's so many empty seats. Then I felt the hand on my leg...moving up. I was shocked and confused but I didn't move. His hand found what he wanted and in seconds I blasted then ran only to walk the streets confused and dazed. It was my first time ever being touched by anyone. 2 weeks later I went back looking for it.

I remember watching a very popular soap star getting blown in his seat high up in the balcony of the Park Miller.

Geez the memories are flooding....The Adonis, The Adult Fair in Queens where I topped for the first time, The Kings in Brooklyn which at times was so freaking hot.

Does anyone remember the abandoned warehouses across from Christopher street and exploring them inside and watching all the sex going on?

I really should write my memoir...

I do.

[JayCeeKy]

Oh, can it be that it was all so simple then

Or has time rewritten every line

And if we had the chance to do it all again

Tell me,

Would we

Could we?

Memories, may be beautiful and yet

What's too painful to remember

We simply choose to forget

So it's the laughter we will remember

Whenever we remember

The way we were

Remember, the way we were.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I really should write my memoir...

 

I would like an autographed copy, please.

[samhexum]

Ah the memories... I really should write my memoir...

I would like an autographed copy, please.

Remember, the way we were.

I do.

 

And, of course, we all know that Garbo's last appearance on film was in a gay porn flick, right?

https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/background-people-in-porn-movies.139887/#post-1573161

[Danny-Darko]

Ah the memories....my first porn theater was the 55th St Playhouse. I couldn't understand why all these men were walking around instead of sitting and watching the movie. Then a man comes and sits right next to me and I'm thinking what the hell? There's so many empty seats. Then I felt the hand on my leg...moving up. I was shocked and confused but I didn't move. His hand found what he wanted and in seconds I blasted then ran only to walk the streets confused and dazed. It was my first time ever being touched by anyone. 2 weeks later I went back looking for it.

I remember watching a very popular soap star getting blown in his seat high up in the balcony of the Park Miller.

Geez the memories are flooding....The Adonis, The Adult Fair in Queens where I topped for the first time, The Kings in Brooklyn which at times was so freaking hot.

Does anyone remember the abandoned warehouses across from Christopher street and exploring them inside and watching all the sex going on?

I really should write my memoir...

 

I loved that abandoned warehouse on the docks at the end of Christopher's Street! I discovered it by watching all there guys walking to it and going insider and some coming from and decided to go see what was there. I would have never guessed. Christopher's St and the Village itself was like gay Disneyland for me! I was 19 and discovering myself and had never been around gays and lesbians before in my life!

 

BTW can you say who that very popular soap star was?

[samhexum]

Ah the memories... I really should write my memoir...

I would like an autographed copy, please.

Remember, the way we were.

I do.

I loved that abandoned warehouse on the docks at the end of Christopher's Street! Christopher's St and the Village itself was like gay Disneyland for me! I was 19 and discovering myself and had never been around gays and lesbians before in my life!

https://nypost.com/2018/09/11/this-map-lets-you-tour-nycs-lost-porn-palaces/

 

The purple ones are the gay theaters.

[+ sync]

Methuselah here. It was the early1970's when I wandered into the Tom Kat theater on West 42nd Street in NYC and became acquainted with one of the dancers whom I engaged as my regular provider until he was no longer available. The memories of his masterful balance of romantic nuances and erotic expertise linger with me to this day.

[JayCeeKy]

A Tale of Two Cities:

 

 

 

I remember what David Letterman said on his show when the "renovation" of Times Square started in the 1990s: "Hey, Rudy, America has the whole rest of the United States for DisneyLand, why not keep Times Square for adults?"

[Guest]

I regret never having experienced the 70's, 80's, and early 90's gay life. I was terrified of AIDS and wound up in the middle of nowhere Ohio in the late 80's. Shortly afterwards the sheriffs in Ohio shut down all the video booths at adult book stores so I only have the stories from older friends. Even the bath house closed, the midwest sucked. I was fortunate to go to Key West in the early 90's and called it adult Disneyland it was so much fun. Then I went in 2000 and I started to see the change when the cruise ships started coming. Shortly afterwards all the gay guest houses sold and went straight or were tore down for time shares (Atlantic Shores). No more back rooms, tea dances on the dock. Sigh.

 

Gentrification has taken a heavy toll everywhere especially New York and San Francisco. I hope it all comes back someday but I think the genie is already out of the bottle.

[+ LIguy]

I loved that abandoned warehouse on the docks at the end of Christopher's Street! I discovered it by watching all there guys walking to it and going insider and some coming from and decided to go see what was there. I would have never guessed. Christopher's St and the Village itself was like gay Disneyland for me! I was 19 and discovering myself and had never been around gays and lesbians before in my life!

 

BTW can you say who that very popular soap star was?

Don't remember his real name but he played the hot blond hunk Dr. Steve Aldrich on The Doctors

[BabyBoomer]

Don't remember his real name but he played the hot blond hunk Dr. Steve Aldrich on The Doctors

 

David O'Brien.

 

~Boomer~

[Danny-Darko]

Don't remember his real name but he played the hot blond hunk Dr. Steve Aldrich on The Doctors

 

Thank you! It seems he died at 51 of AIDS complications. Poor man. ?

 

David O'Brien (actor) - Wikipedia