Townhouse in NYC

[JuniorNYC]

Just curious - any experiences or suggestions? I’m heading over this weekend for the first time even though I live in NYC. My friend who doesn’t want to put up an online profile wants to go to mingle with guys. Any etiquette advice for an escort who is visiting? Asking for a friend (as ridiculous and cliche as this sounds, it’s the truth - LOL).

[+ Tarte Gogo]

Just curious - any experiences or suggestions? I’m heading over this weekend for the first time even though I live in NYC. My friend who doesn’t want to put up an online profile wants to go to mingle with guys. Any etiquette advice for an escort who is visiting? Asking for a friend (as ridiculous and cliche as this sounds, it’s the truth - LOL).

I went only once and on that night there were only potential clients, no one that I would ever think of hiring.

So I think your friend should be popular.

[+ nycman]

I’d only suggest that he keep it very low key.

 

Most the “gentlemen” there are of a certain age (i.e. ancient).

 

A young handsome man stands out like a beacon in the night,

and they don’t take too kindly to “trade” there. I’d suggest

dressing like the other patrons (think preppy/business).

 

“Trade” that doesn’t look like trade or behave like trade....is

quietly tolerated. It’s old school and it’s not my scene, but it’s

been that way since I first walked in there in the late 80’s.

[TopVolt]

Sorry guys, and my apologies, but what is this Townhouse thing?, never heard of it.

[RyanDean]

http://www.townhouseny.com/

 

The door staff definitely attends to the dress code and, yes, I would say that prep/business is right. "Casual Fridays" or "Garden Party" would probably work very well. On the one or two occasions I've been, I've been a bit too shy to chat anyone up, so I have no idea about the etiquette/protocol.

[+ g56whiz]

I’m a WASP of “that certain age” whose standard dress is my business casual drag. So imagine my shock when I was turned away at the Townhouse door simply because I was wearing a baseball cap (bill to front mind you!). And all I really wanted was a copy of the bar rag from the stack right behind the goon who denied me entrance.

[+ PapaTony]

I wish there were a similar establishment in Los Angeles

[+ g56whiz]

I wish there were a similar establishment in Los Angeles

 

The people in LA who would patronize a Townhouse have all migrated to Palm Springs.

[+ PapaTony]

The people in LA who would patronize a Townhouse have all migrated to Palm Springs.

Of this I have no doubt.

[hornytwells]

I’m a WASP of “that certain age” whose standard dress is my business casual drag. So imagine my shock when I was turned away at the Townhouse door simply because I was wearing a baseball cap (bill to front mind you!). And all I really wanted was a copy of the bar rag from the stack right behind the goon who denied me entrance.

Couldn't you just have removed the cap and put it in your pocket??? They turned you away rather than asked you to remove it?

[nynakedtop]

Couldn't you just have removed the cap and put it in your pocket??? They turned you away rather than asked you to remove it?

ummhh... what decade is this?

[BeamerBikes]

For such a high class establishment with lofty standards, their web site looks like it was left in 1997! One does not expect to ***dress-to-impress*** when their advertising lacks a design to impress.

 

Yes. I drank some haterade this morning.

[Tonyko]

In the GOOD old days the front bar room was for working boys, the back piano bar room was for the more "distinguished" crowd. (ie guys the age most of us are now or, like me, are rapidly approaching SADLY like everything else in this city the combo of Disney-fication and the Cyber revolution have made the fun of "real world" face to face shopping for a guy all but extinct. Up to late 90's the front room was still full of working boys (although even back then they frowned upon T-shirts tank tops etc the door rule was working boys had to look nice) and you could stroll thru and see what was on the shelves.

NOW they've all but disappeared and, like mentioned, a working boy sticks out like a Gazelle wandering thru a pack of lions on a nature show.

You WILL get a client odds are, but you may feel a tad awkward since you WILL be a minority or (I've seen this recently) the ONLY working guy in the joint.

The place is now more a place for men of a certain age to enjoy a cocktail and some Gershwin or showtunes in back. *There may be a stray boy who's there WITH his older guy, or two such older/younger couples, I imagine bc the older ones feel more comfy being out with their boy in a place where the BOY sticks out and not them lol. (like they would at Boxers)

They have started doing specialty nites on occasions with Go-Go boys dancing in a TEENY TINY private bar downstairs (with a sep cover charge 10$ I think) where you could also get a lapdance, but it's SO small and often SO empty that it feels weird down there.

For the one who knew nada about The T.H. what was explained to me by an older gent when I was young was that thru to the 1950's MOST Upper East Side gay watering holes were clandestined for obvs reasons and weren't really "bars" but private residences, usually Townhouses owned by wealthy gays who'd have "parties" by word of mouth, sometimes for a fee that an organizer would pay them for hosting it etc. Hence the name.

[citylaw1]

I was there with an escort a little over a year ago, only to show him what the city pickup scene used to be. Dress code, anti trade? They would have let us in wearing anything - the place was dead, and I was the youngest (except for my friend) guy in the place. The bartender fell all over us - believe me, they're not picky, and there are zero escorts.

[30somethingsexybear]

The descriptions of the townhouse are pretty spot on. I'm surprised it's still in business. It had such a great atmosphere of sophisticated older gentlemen and their admirers and hustlers thrown in here and there. I like to interact with a guy before a possible negotiation so places like the townhouse and Stella's was so much fun (even if I never hired ha ha, was great to look!) but now you just order your pizza (guy) online and hope it comes how you ordered it! I always like the setup of the place and it reminds one of what a speakeasy might have been like back in the day. Also the carpeted floors and fabric wallpapering gives it a very upper east side swanky kind of feel. and the drinks are HUUUGE! A mixed drink comes in this beautiful rocks glass. You feel like you are Don Draper in "Mad Men" fixing a drink in his office!

[citylaw1]

With the internet laws changing, like 70's fashion, I bet that bars like this make a comeback of some sort.

[JayCeeKy]

I bet that bars like this make a comeback of some sort.

 

From your lips to God's ears! Bring back Rounds and Stella's!!!

 

http://www.papermag.com/10-sleazy-gay-places-from-nycs-glory-days-1427524835.html

[+ glutes]

With the internet laws changing, like 70's fashion, I bet that bars like this make a comeback of some sort.

 

And let's hope they do comeback.

Then there is no more age shaving, or photo fraud.

[+ tassojunior]

Rounds was amazing. Best looking guys ever and too many of them.

[+ WilliamM]

Rounds was amazing. Best looking guys ever and too many of them.

 

In the GOOD old days the front bar room was for working boys, the back piano bar room was for the more "distinguished" crowd. (ie guys the age most of us are now or, like me, are rapidly approaching SADLY like everything else in this city the combo of Disney-fication and the Cyber revolution have made the fun of "real world" face to face shopping for a guy all but extinct. Up to late 90's the front room was still full of working boys (although even back then they frowned upon T-shirts tank tops etc the door rule was working boys had to look nice) and you could stroll thru and see what was on the shelves.

 

@Tonko's take on Townhouse in the 1990s reads much more like Rounds. He's usually completely accurate.

[nynakedtop]

From your lips to God's ears! Bring back Rounds and Stella's!!!

 

http://www.papermag.com/10-sleazy-gay-places-from-nycs-glory-days-1427524835.html

 

Stella's was my absolute favorite... I remember making connections with some very hot guys.... and then helping them make bail a few days or weeks later (no causative connection there, I promise!)

[+ sync]

Anyone else here remember a long-gone bar on East 53rd St. in NYC named GH Club? It offered a welcoming, relaxed ambiance in which senior gay gents could congregate. There was a very nice bar area in the front and a piano room in the rear. It was not a hustler bar at all, but it wouldn't have surprised me if a few of the bartenders got offers. One of the bartenders was a Filipino hunk named Manny. Manny was Viagra personified (sigh).