Hey Adults - Gay Sex in the 70s! — Page 2

i'm down 4 that.
when do we have this discussion?

Undi - back in my clubbing days, my nickname was 'Rubbermaid' - because of the way I danced

funny, i was waiting for the cross street - 70th and what, dammit?!?

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i was not alive in the 1970's, but if i was, hopefully i would have been having sex with all you hotties on this board.

you can use your "cane" on me all you want midtowngym.

What? No mention of the Mine Shaft?

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I'm not saying P.J.
And I don't know nothin' about no bathtub in the basement, either.

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Updated On: 11/13/05 at 10:55 AM

Does it mention the coincidence that what was formerly once one of the most popular gay bars on Columbus Avenue from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Wildwood, is now home to "Housing Works," a not-for-profit organization which supports people with AIDS, and others, through the sale of used furniture, clothes, and other goods?

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 11:02 AM

Yes, I remember Pershing's, on Columbus just below 71st Street. For those who were not in town then, it was not a gay bar.

Remember how the floor of Wildwood was covered in peanut shells because they set out fresh roasted peanuts on the bar? what about how at Christmas they hung a decorated tree upside down form the ceiling?

I remember Wildwood and the nutshells, Pershing's and The Works--all of them appear in the film (except the nutshells). But the film is about sex not bars. And the fact that after decades (or centuries) of repression, there were 12 years of hedonism.

I onbly knew the last years of that time, but I experienced it with a group of friends that included many "hot chorus boys" who are no longer with us.

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I was once hairy chested and mustachioed...

but I was never seen after midnight.

I just saw it this afternoon and couldn't recommend it more to everyone on the board. Lots of great footage and intelligent commentary, it's an evocative trip down memory lane for an entire era. I wasn't around to participate in some of the goings-on at the various bars, clubs and bathhouses, but I remember seeing some of the remnants of that time in the late 80s and the 90s (the Anvil and the Works, among others were still around). I also remember getting tours around the East Village by older friends of mine, showing me where the St. Marks Baths, Club Baths, The Saint etc.... used to be.

Speaking of which, the film was a bit of a melancholy experience for me because one of the "talking heads" is an old friend, Al Baltrop (the African-American gentleman with a lot of jewelry) who passed away from cancer about a year ago. Al was a great photographer (The Times did a full page profile on him and his work shortly after his death) who documented the whole pier scene with the trucks and public sex in thousands of photographs from the 60s through the 80s. A very large percentage of the photos used in the film were from Al's collection (I recall seeing all the ones they used in the movie and hundreds more that were crammed into that cramped apartment of his that was packed floor to ceiling with photos and prints -- so many, he could never fully catalogue them). Good to see Al again when he was still relatively healthy -- I'll have to get the DVD when it comes out.

Anyway, by all means, go. The film is a terrific memoir of an important time in gay history which is both entertaining and, especially for the younger set, quite educational.

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