West Hollywood, April 1986
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In the 1980s, photographs of naked men were rare, even in West Hollywood. There were a few gay porn magazines -- Mandate, In Touch, Blue Boy -- but they were hard to find -- the Different Light Bookstore didn't stock any, for fear of being raided. The only place in town that I knew of where you could get them was Book Circus. They were prohibitively expensive, two or three times what ordinary magazines cost.
As a result, we guarded our collections jealously, keeping them hidden in locked drawers, rarely bringing them out except to show at parties, and to impress dates with.
I was especially protective of my In Touch for Men magazine, #72, October 1982, which I bought at the adult bookstore in Bloomington. It was the first gay magazine I ever bought.
Before setting foot in that adult bookstore, I thought that gay people had nothing but badly-mimeographed newsletters, but here was a big, bold, glossy magazine like the ones they sold at supermarket check-out stands, with articles, columns, and everything!
A tribute to Steve Reeves.
A retrospective on gay icons of the 1960s, like Ron Ely of Tarzan.
And naked men!
It was one of my most prized possessions.
Tuesday, April 8th, 1986
I got back from my night class at USC at 11:00 pm, exhausted, ready for bed. My roommate Alan the Pentecostal Porn Star was sitting in the living room with a cute Asian guy, looking at my copy of The Celluloid Closet.
"This is Dennis from Taiwan," he said. "We went to see Lucas -- Corey Haim in his underwear, pretty hot, huh?"
Dennis from Taiwan looked up and smiled. He was short, slim, a bit on the femme side, with pale skin, thick eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses.
"Hi," I said, staring at Alan. I never knew him to spend the night of a first date reading. Maybe things weren't going well.
"Hey...do you suppose we could borrow your 1982 In Touch? I want to show Dennis the article on Steve Reeves. He doesn't believe that the guy was a gay icon."
"Um...I'm really tired. I was just going to go to bed." Meaning: I won't be around to supervise.
"That's ok. We'll just look at the article, and put it back in your room when we're done."
Well, anything to help him get Dennis from Taiwan off the couch and into his bedroom.
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Wednesday, April 9th
In the morning when I woke up, Alan and Dennis were already gone. I checked my desk and dresser. No In Touch. I checked the coffee table, the kitchen table, Alan's room, even the bathroom. It was gone!
There were no cell phones in those days, so I had to wait for Alan to get home from work. When he came in, the first thing I said was "Hey, where's my In Touch?"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think you'd mind. Dennis wanted to take it home to make a copy of the article."
"Huh?" I don't know if I was more mad over the "borrowing," or shocked that Dennis would take a gay porn magazine into Kinko's.
"He's going to use the copying machine at work, after everyone goes home," Alan explained. "And he'll bring it back during our next date."
"You'd better call and remind him, pronto!" I exclaimed.
"Chill. I can't call so soon. Last night was our first date." It was customary to wait 24-48 hours after the first date, to avoid appearing needy. "I'll call tomorrow."
The full story, with nude photos and explicit sexual situations, is on Tales of West Hollywood.
In the 1980s, photographs of naked men were rare, even in West Hollywood. There were a few gay porn magazines -- Mandate, In Touch, Blue Boy -- but they were hard to find -- the Different Light Bookstore didn't stock any, for fear of being raided. The only place in town that I knew of where you could get them was Book Circus. They were prohibitively expensive, two or three times what ordinary magazines cost.As a result, we guarded our collections jealously, keeping them hidden in locked drawers, rarely bringing them out except to show at parties, and to impress dates with.
I was especially protective of my In Touch for Men magazine, #72, October 1982, which I bought at the adult bookstore in Bloomington. It was the first gay magazine I ever bought.
Before setting foot in that adult bookstore, I thought that gay people had nothing but badly-mimeographed newsletters, but here was a big, bold, glossy magazine like the ones they sold at supermarket check-out stands, with articles, columns, and everything!
A tribute to Steve Reeves.
A retrospective on gay icons of the 1960s, like Ron Ely of Tarzan.
And naked men!
It was one of my most prized possessions.
Tuesday, April 8th, 1986
I got back from my night class at USC at 11:00 pm, exhausted, ready for bed. My roommate Alan the Pentecostal Porn Star was sitting in the living room with a cute Asian guy, looking at my copy of The Celluloid Closet.
"This is Dennis from Taiwan," he said. "We went to see Lucas -- Corey Haim in his underwear, pretty hot, huh?"
Dennis from Taiwan looked up and smiled. He was short, slim, a bit on the femme side, with pale skin, thick eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses.
"Hi," I said, staring at Alan. I never knew him to spend the night of a first date reading. Maybe things weren't going well.
"Hey...do you suppose we could borrow your 1982 In Touch? I want to show Dennis the article on Steve Reeves. He doesn't believe that the guy was a gay icon."
"Um...I'm really tired. I was just going to go to bed." Meaning: I won't be around to supervise.
"That's ok. We'll just look at the article, and put it back in your room when we're done."
Well, anything to help him get Dennis from Taiwan off the couch and into his bedroom.
Wednesday, April 9thIn the morning when I woke up, Alan and Dennis were already gone. I checked my desk and dresser. No In Touch. I checked the coffee table, the kitchen table, Alan's room, even the bathroom. It was gone!
There were no cell phones in those days, so I had to wait for Alan to get home from work. When he came in, the first thing I said was "Hey, where's my In Touch?"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think you'd mind. Dennis wanted to take it home to make a copy of the article."
"Huh?" I don't know if I was more mad over the "borrowing," or shocked that Dennis would take a gay porn magazine into Kinko's.
"He's going to use the copying machine at work, after everyone goes home," Alan explained. "And he'll bring it back during our next date."
"You'd better call and remind him, pronto!" I exclaimed.
"Chill. I can't call so soon. Last night was our first date." It was customary to wait 24-48 hours after the first date, to avoid appearing needy. "I'll call tomorrow."
The full story, with nude photos and explicit sexual situations, is on Tales of West Hollywood.