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Untitled photo by Alvin Baltrop (courtesy of Alvin Baltrop Trust, Third Streaming, and TF Editores) (Just watch where you step so as not to trip over anyone on their knees.) Depending on when you visit Provincetown, you may even encounter the occasional performance art gig. On a good night, still today, a drunken stumble down to The Dick Dock could put you face-to-face with dozens of anonymous guys looking to get their rocks off.
GAY MEN CRUISING IN WOODS FULL
These days you’re perhaps more likely to walk upon a photo shoot taking place in Vaseline Alley than actual gay cruising, although this is West Hollywood, and really, in any town full of strapping gay men, isn’t anyplace a makeshift cruising spot? While the Gold Coast Bar recently closed due to the COVID pandemic (fingers crossed we’ll get it back!), the former Circus of Books location is now home to a sex shop owned by famed porn directrix Chi Chi LaRue. For years it sat behind some of West Hollywood’s most bustling businesses, like the local Gold Coast Bar, vintage shop Out of the Closet and formerly the notorious head shop-slash-porn shop Circus of Books. Traditionally men would sit in parked cars along Vaseline Alley and wait for the right match to stumble along. It’s an infamous (literal) alley, located just off Santa Monica Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, and for decades Vaseline Alley and the residential and commercial area surrounding it was one of L.A.’s most popular gay cruising spots.
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And it’s conveniently close to the windmill in Golden Gate Park, as well as Marshall’s Beach, which are themselves hotspots for making a date.Ī vintage shot of West Hollywood’s Vaseline Alley (The nude sunbathing area is the beach’s north section.)Ī shot from Marshall’s Beach, not far from Baker BeachĪ clump of boulders found amidst one of the city’s most popular gay cruising spots provides a convenient place to slip away if you’re looking to escape prying eyes.
GAY MEN CRUISING IN WOODS PLUS
Baker Beach is your best bet for admiring the sun, sand and sea air, plus naked bodies on this clothing-optional stretch of land not far from the Golden Gate Bridge. Baker Beach, San Franciscoīeautiful views abound in San Francisco, and although the city has basically been converted into corporate housing for Facebook, there’s still plenty of gay fun to be had on the city’s outskirts. (Anonymity was key, and at night lights of any kind were banned.) Even today, Fire Island visitors are able to take advantage of this most infamous of gay cruising spots. Hugely popular in the ’70s, it’s said that anyone could step into the Meat Rack and find a playful partner, day or night. By 1952 it was officially a three-level underground parking garage. Pershing Square, 1920s (photo courtesy LA Times)Īs always, authorities were determined to push queer people out of public life, and an eventual redesign discouraged foot-traffic, not just in terms of cruising but for neighbors as well.
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(Hey, nobody ever claimed Los Angeles was a masterpiece of civic infrastructure.) But for decades Pershing Square had wooded areas that facilitated private rendezvous among men. Pershing Square, 1918 (courtesy LA Times)Įstablished as a cruising spot in the 1920s due to its proximity to other queer-friendly venues, Pershing Square, located in Downtown Los Angeles, is today undeniably ugly. Here are 10 of America’s most popular gay cruising spots through the years: 1.
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(That’s not to say it doesn’t still happen, of course.) And nevertheless, the memory of America’s great gay cruising spots lingers. Times have since changed, of course, and it’s no longer necessary for gay men to wander the trails of public parks to meet others also seeking a little fun. The secret side of queer relationships we witnessed in the past now welcomes modern LGBT family models, marriages and parenting styles.While it’s illegal to have sex where others might stumble upon you, it’s also a fact that repressive, regressive laws left LGBTQ people with few options for most of the 20th century. Is cottaging still popular today?Ĭottaging is becoming less popular as gay rights progress further. Whatsmore, it’s estimated that during the 1950’s approximately 1,000 men were imprisoned every year for cottaging and “lewd” behaviour. The government would dispatch units of police officers to inspect public toilets and parks in a bid to “rid England of this plague”, with undercover police often arresting cottagers for indecent assault. Furthermore, the concept of being “out” wasn’t normalised yet, and so a surreptitious culture of public sex began across the country. In the mid 20th Century, those who partook in cottaging didn’t do so out of fantasy or fetish.Ĭottaging was the only way that gay men could meet other gay men, hidden away from the government.