Monday, April 08, 2013

(Hardcore) Sex and the City


I'm sorry I missed the "Asses in Action" contest!

Sleaze be gone: Buildings that housed 
New York’s former sex clubs have cleaned up their act 

I'm kicking myself that the Daily News beat me to writing this (great, if uncopy-edited) story about what's becum of the city's former sex clubs, many of which now house yuppy-riffic businesses.
A tourist from Berlin orders a ‘Shroom Burger from Shake Shack where gay men used to watch skin flicks and copulate. A wealthy Manhattan resident parks his BMW in a space where 30 years ago swinging couples would bathe and trade partners. A family of four visits a haunted house where men used to pleasure themselves in booths. 
“We have gotten rid of the part of New York that is specifically for New Yorkers and replaced it with attractions for out of towners,” says Jeremiah Moss, who chronicles New York City’s constant transformation on his blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York
“The loss of the sex industry is just the tip of the iceberg. We are also losing the things that New Yorkers need like laundromats and bodegas and grocery stores and tailors. My watch repair guy just disappeared. All those things that you need to live your life, those are being replaced by banks and tourist attractions.”
While the piece is fairly comprehensive -- the Anvil is now a boutique hotel, the Mineshaft is now a Thai restaurant and the Vault eventually became an upscale Mexican joint -- they neglected to mention the former sex club that made me want to write the article in the first place:


Try not to get too turned on

When I moved to New York, 675 Hudson Street was the home of J's Hangout -- better known to me and my friends as "J's Jerkoff Club." While getting frisky in a dingy basement -- with a stained mattress in one corner and a group of men who would all flock like sheep to wherever a penis became present -- wasn't exactly my scene back then, the main floor of J's was a reliable "after-hours"/BYOB club, where you could go when the bars closed at 4 and you still weren't ready to call it a night, often referred to as gay men's 20s and 30s.


And what about Hellfire?

For years, Michael and I watched in disbelief as the neighborhood -- where we had spent many nights before meeting frequenting places like Hell, Jackie 60, the Lure, and, of course, J's -- was overrun with  "Sex and the City" fans from across America flocking to enjoy overpriced food and libations at places like Vento Trattoria, which moved in after J's was shut down in 2002. For years, it was all I could do not to scream over to happy brunchers on the sidewalk, "The kitchen where your vegetarian frittata was prepared used to be covered in HIV positive semen -- enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!" These days, Vento Trattoria has been replaced with Dos Caminos. The sour cream jokes almost write themselves ...


Read the full article HERE.


P.S. I can hardly wait to see what the Rawhide becomes ...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I was there at the Mineshaft in its heyday, and it was as wild as you can imagine. Hot men gone in the mists of time. :-( Was also able to experience the sleaze that was 42nd St/Time Square before its Disneyfication and Giuliani cleansing.

Anonymous said...

Visited NYC often in the 90's and besides Roxy, SFBar, Limelight, and Tunnel, often freqyented J's, Zone DK, and others. Those were the times!!!!