ABS (Adult Book Stores): Do you frequent them?

[jon1265]

After losing some serious weight and feeling better about myself I have ventured back into the ABS cruising again. It is amazing the differecnes between some of them. I am located in South Jersey and have visited four former haunts from well over 10-12 years ago. I found myself in a good one yesterday and was there for almost seven hours. Yes, I have an addictive personality.

 

I am just stunned, but should not be, at some of the men that go to these places. I mean octagenerians who are just hideous. I mean, they have a right to go, don't get me wrong, but they walk around with their cocks out, and are SO aggressive it makes you want to slap them silly. I have cruised guys who did not want me and I got the hint--some of these guys do NOT get the hint. I had a guy yesterday that groped me in the hallway. I was actually kinda pissed. Saw another guy who cross-dressed and came in. Pretty funny shit.

 

Does anyone still partake in this activity? Share some of your more outrageous stories. And hot ones.

[Guest]

I didn't know there still were adult book stores, at least not those with gay content. I thought that the last gay skin magazines stopped printing about a decade ago. Are there still gay porno mags being printed?

[+ FreshFluff]

I didn't know there still were adult book stores, at least not those with gay content. I thought that the last gay skin magazines stopped printing about a decade ago. Are there still gay porno mags being printed?

 

My impression is that these places make most of their money on the pay per minute video booths. Often, their employees harass people who are using the booths to have sex without feeding the video machines.

[whipped guy]

Well in areas where I hang out these places seem to have mostly disappeared as far as I know. Yes there are Adult Stores around here, but most are "all-inclusive" and usually chain type stores that carry toys, lingerie, and DVDs, etc. No booths to speak of... and not much in the way of BDSM toys either... and no mags. I thought that the days of feeding quarters were long gone. Frankly even local video stores that carry both legit and sexually explicit content (not to mention only legit content) seem to have disappeared thanks to the Internet and on-demand services.

 

Interestingly, there is one "ma and pa" sex shop still left in town... it caters to straights... and one might see the odd S&M toy there on occasion... even though its main focus is an extensive lingerie and DVD section. Ironically, it was owned (and might still be owned) by a Catholic priest who was based in another part of the state.. There was a local mini scandal about that. But heck a diocesan priest takes no vow of poverty... now wether or not this particular priest broke his vow of celibacy... I can only imagine!

 

I would assume that the only ABS where gays would cruise would be in or near big cities... and as the OP suggests it would probably be older guys who are computer and otherwise technically challenged who would most often frequent such establishments.

 

At any rate, what the OP describes reminds me of Times Square in NYC in the 'pre cleaned up' days... I'm sure there are guys who have some stories about that time and place.

[Guest verymarried]

I hope this does not post twice. In my small conservative city I have been to the only ABS twice. It is VERY active with about a dozen dollar booths. The first time, a 20's cute Latino stuck his dick through a hole and the next time a sex starved cute 20's Asian guy came in my booth and started kissing my body, saying he was married and "too scared to do anything else." It is very risky for me to go there and I suppose the cops could raid at any time - but it was plenty hot.

[+ FreshFluff]

Well in areas where I hang out these places seem to have mostly disappeared as far as I know. Yes there are Adult Stores around here, but most are "all-inclusive" and usually chain type stores that carry toys, lingerie, and DVDs, etc. No booths to speak of... and not much in the way of BDSM toys either... and no mags. I thought that the days of feeding quarters were long gone. Frankly even local video stores that carry both legit and sexually explicit content (not to mention only legit content) seem to have disappeared thanks to the Internet and on-demand services.

 

I think the video machines are just a way of charging for use of the booths--either for masturbation (in the case of married guys) or sex.

[Irtwo]

There are still dozens of these in NYC. Fluff is right, they make money on the video booths. Most sell mags and other things (including shelves of G-rated videos), to get around NYC zoning laws, that require that a certain percentage of floor space be non-sexual merchandise. There are a few large scale ones that took over old grand movie theaters where they show regular non-porn movies and have rows of video booths in another section. Fair Theater in Astoria is one example. They even serve food to customers!

 

http://images4.citysearch.net/assets/imgdb2/reinvent/profile/2012/8/4/21/ciEHoAaY.jpg

[jon1265]

Well, this place I went to last night was pretty wild. A str8 couple came in and was having sex in the common room where XXX movies are playing. Other guys joined in. This place also has booths with glory holes (they call them air vents so I guess that is how they circumvent that law). It was not something I desired to witness, but one or two guys had their dicks out and were not bad. The couple left and the guys who participated then cruised the bookstore. Weird. The workers just let it all go on and pretty much leave the patrons alone.

[Phil_musc]

Seven hours, jon??!!! That's a lot of watchful waiting, I'd guess, or too much of "hope-springs-eternal."

 

We have some of these emporia in my town and they can be fun, although I think the action was better 10 years ago or so.

[Guest Starbuck]

This whole thread is a trip down memory lane.

 

The first time I walked into an adult book store I was too young and dumb to know that people went there for more than the magazines and the movies. My last time, probably a decade ago, the store was in a small, semi-suburban town where I worked. The front of the store, no more than a quarter mile from my office, faced on to a busy main road. I was grateful for the (HILARIOUS!) sign in the window that let me know that the shop's owner understood the need for discretion. It said: FRONT AND REAR ENTRANCES AVAILABLE.

[+ Cock Eyed Optimist]

There are several left in Chicago. They run the gamut from extra sleazy to fairly upscale. they seem to be scattered around the city and are pretty busy late at night.

[joselowe]

Are there any good ones in NYC?

[+ RyanDean]

The 'cruising directory' on SQUIRT offers often quite current information about local hotspots, including boothstores. The boothstore circuit is not really my scene anymore, but I do like to have a sense of the current 'lay of the land' (so to speak) wherever I am. Squirt has definitely proven instructive in that regard.

[joselowe]

SQUIRT [/url][/b] offers often quite current information about local hotspots, including boothstores. The boothstore circuit is not really my scene anymore, but I do like to have a sense of the current 'lay of the land' (so to speak) wherever I am. Squirt has definitely proven instructive in that regard.

Squirt is full of cheap complainers IMO 90% of the ousts are people pissed they had to pay more than $1 to enter into a bookstore

[+ RyanDean]

Squirt is full of cheap complainers IMO

 

Perhaps. But as on Yelp (and sometimes even on Daddys) the "cheap complainers" can be very instructive, in their way.

[Rudynate]

I used to spend a little time in them back in the 70's. I could tell some amazing stories. It was in an ABS that I first learned to like uncut men. I had spent several years in Europe and never much liked uncut dick. In Europe, I preferred other Ami's as partners. But in an arcade in Denver, I blew this wonderful cowboy from Wyoming...hot, built, hung and uncut and became an instant convert.