WALKING MANHATTA! s SWANK’S NEW YORK GUIDE TO 507 THIS IND COULD DRUGS, VIOLENCE AND SAVE YOUR LIFE-AN DIFFERENT TASTE S PROSTITUTION By Frank Fortunato She ase Scanned with CamScanner™ ‘Never confuse lowlife with the lower classes. Lowlife is invariably more distin guished.’—Edmund Goncourt, 19th Century French author uur Goncourt would feel ‘distinguished! jeve that New trap, and that PEEP . BOOKS Eibw OD y me ee Sa a os Lo tutes anywhere. While it is true that most AWE ©! them are not larcenous, itis also ttue that most of them are pimped. It a gil’ pimp gives her a high money quota on a slow night, she might try to make up the difference out of your wallet—if she thinks she can get away with th For stance, if a strumpet insists on ‘Your pants al the way down whi Scanned with CamScannerdoe: sionate type; m rifling through are pr ally safer th: fly mean difficult it may vigilance with sex eran strumpet d off, assaulted busted police. B in jail or and if their Wu may be a from a 3 walker is 5 3g lke calling back an ‘orgasm once you've ejaculated. Pimped for otherwise, all sreetwalkers adhere to the following principles: 1. Get paid in advance. 2. Never retum money. You must always establish in advance what you expect fo get for your money, Rates are a various thing. Some whores start he bidding at more than they are willing accept, others exhibit their pride by rer compromising their price. Most all H you wax romant ightly think ut if you treat her li — human being rather than a tem sage parlor of tail with in a massage pari prostitutes can be the streets—if you know where to lo Give or take one or two, there are about fifteen streetwalker zones. ‘THE EASTSIDE Delancy Street ‘One of New York's busiest bargain basements for commercial sex, The De- lancy hooker zone straddles twin pock- ‘els of poverty in Manhattan's Lower East: side, To the west it's Little Italy and naking down Chinese business: men. East of Delancy simmers one of the ‘ot! venerable melting pots in the city. 8 ago the immigrants > were primarily European Jewry; to overished Hispanics er from China 'e runs roughly y to ForaythStreet and sits neighborhoods like a dingy arket for blowjobs. ‘an aura of decay here that ia heavy even for a hooker zone, Weather permitting, dozens of Bowery winos king to save the 50¢ flophouse fee, crpselike, on the sidewalks. De- Street, around the corer, is not less depressing. The streetlights flicker dimly—as if by the hooker's re- quest—and the gutter garbage seems how filhier than on surrounding blocks. Delancy Street hookers are @ tough breed, During citywide streetwalle ‘kdowns, (Le.; election time) while area's hookers take a breather working the massage parlors, Delanc dirls continue to play hide and seek the blue and white vans of the posse”. (On the other hand, the cinct police are not exacily one was recently indicted for| hooker's back.) Neighbor about the only day, they are i and an Oriental mixed neighborhood and to the excellent C Scanned with CamScannerlancy Street whores are pimped. In short, the quota system works like this: either the girl brings her pimp his nightly ‘quota—anywhere from $50 to $300—or She leaves town in a hurry. Consequent ly, johns are frequently rolled for their wallets, Selfrespecting players don't care to bbe bothered keeping fabs on their girls 80 they hire back-up men, Looking more like pimps than pimps, backup men are paid $10 or $15 dollars per night, per hooker, to make sure the girls aren't tipped off or hassled by other hooker ‘On Delancy Street these elaborately fes. fooned apprentice pimps can be lounging around an adjacent park and lurking in doorways, The actual pimps, unlike th Square colleagues who ermine coats and El ply dressed and Grew. It must be a creat that there ar. they can fance in the dignity bet tion. But then, pim and down here they make do with wha they have—which happens to be tw "slores'’ between the Bowery and C ie Street. A recent walking tour indica that “Bob's Candy and Pinball” is currently the most popular pimp hang, ut. The place is filled with players drink. ing from brown bags and Girls who scamper ‘Squad car When the patrol car passes, the hook ts scamper back out to the curbside Pipejob circuit, On we tersection traffic at Delancy and Time: imp-imper ting their voca are flexible f talking fo their is the retreat signa is snarled by a line of cars—most of which bear New lersey Bale evel along and inspecting the whores; later lit shetiPaaicin be soon sarteclet sidestreets. While platinum-wigged heads bob up and down in their laps, the drivers periscope the ai eyed expressions of anxiety or an eq ly nidicr dashb a with wide: sympathetic, maybe eve sireetwalkers and their pim ter how stupid, masochistic nous and ugly they may be, Delancy Street girls work in two groups. The majority can be found on the corner of Delancy and Chrystie Streets. Primarily black, some are atirac. tive and all are working for no-nonsense ung and rambunctious, this broads looks as if they would s your teeth if given i filching is, in fact, ace here. The majority wil feat, curbside blowjobs for in in a hotel for $18 or ‘otels are the New De- hovel on neigh: t. Both charge $6 .ccordingly. Al are whores, there are ature, Hard mely_stif ¥ P a lock not tle helper, is Scanned with CamScanner‘most of it leads to an apartment barra- ‘cadled by what looks like a cannon-proof metal door. There is a slot built into this door and, beyond the slot—a pair of eyes. The eyes accept ten dollar bills ‘and dispense tinfoil packets of coke, the quality of which cannot be vouchsafed, But, you pays your money, you takes ‘your choice ... just like the whores, 14th Street The whore zone here staris at 14th Street and runs down Third Avenue to about Seventh Street. Only on Third Avenue can you see garishly-attired crossdressing homosexuals hooking next to an eight-month pregnant woman with a complexion like a mushroom piz: area is worked by a collection of some of tion prostitutes cts who live in the neighborho: ped: dling themselves on the same corners Basically, they are a if ured, crew w inclination or energy necessai their clientele. The homo peddle between Often deceptively feminine al glance, look reveals buldi muscles and baritone voices. I able to maintain a tact ing else—at $8, If you can't s the hotel, most of the hookers will accon modate you in a doorway. The bottom line is the only line here. The local liquor store sports a floorto ceiling bulletproof partition and caters to neighborhood needs by selling quarter- pints of whiskey and $1.75 quarts of Night Train wine. The pimps wear poly- esier leisure suits bought down the street, the patrons of the local cobbler bring in one shoe al a time, There i a little longer for your quarter, the pom no longer able to attract ev theatres cost a few bucks less than in undiscerning johns, and other neighborhoods, and the free back- fare cases, cleaning woman af ofthetheatre blowjob stil thrives here, ever elie it takes to raise their although the lips may belong to a trans- into 2nd generation whores, pimps ¢ vestite felons. 14th Street is a society of lowlife. Some of the homeliest woman imagin- And then there's drugs. Unlike De- able peddle their asses on 14th Street. ancy, 14th Street is a “full: service” Sallow skin, pimple-covered faces and sleaze zone especially on the comer of missing front teeth are worn here like Third and Fourth Avenues; drugs are badges of accomplishment. Gathered very much a part of the local economy. together, they discuss vice cops, recent- On one recent tour I crossed Grd Ave- visits to jail, what they have done for nue and continued walking east. In ex: their pimps and what their pimps have actly 68 seconds a voice whispered a done fo them. Many hookers share a litany of wares into my ear as it passed. convoluted value system wherein abuse me from behind: "Methadone, fuinals, is equated with love. One girl, so obese placidyls and valium.” Almost simulla: 1¢ looked as if she had been pneumati neously another vendor approached ally inflated, was showing off her from the opposite direction. His lips q ises inflicted by her pimp. The other seemed immobile, like a ventriloquist’s hookers scrutinized the bruises with words issued from his mouth: "Got gleaming eyes as if they were admiring that good, smokin’ reefer—joinis, bags the take at a Tupperware party. If you and half ounces!” Then he disappeared: were to compile the prototype 14th in a flash like a sneaker-clad apparition. jet hooker, she would have to have All that is necessary to cop is tolbe there, in her life, Battalions of dealers solicit passersby of fenng everything from grass and hash to seconals and methadone, Seconals cost r a whopping $3 each and a rule of urs in normal thumb is never buy anything but grass: ths, marriage, ba- on the streets unless you're willing fo be 4 deaths—but they ;pped off or poisoned. glaze of The methadone and pills are supplied. happened to overhear one hook- courtesy of the Methadone: Clinic on e moving her family up to 14th 2nd Avenue, Addicts are given pill si were an exclusive neigh- part of their maintenance, and bos snd I couldn't help thinking of waste litle time converting them to cash. ‘cle. In 1 watched two clusters of junkies slowly ier than shuffle down the street while a pair of to the hook foot patrolmen watched them from the dead or in street pounding his nightstick into his fist nn they ate and threatening: “If you don't want me 4, with at least one ki accordin: ers, usually wind up e whores retire Scanned with CamScannerling catlle. The junkies hard- | eye as they continued shuf- slurred hhe cop soon lost interest. It's a againstthe-tide batile—and he __ Above all, 14th Street is a certain state _ of mind that happens to agree with the junkie perspective. The cops disappear and a fresh cluster of monkey people gather in front of the Durkin Bar. A man ressed in purple from head to toe is involved in a domestic quarrel with his woman: “Whatchu mean, ‘whaichu mean’ bitch?’ He keeps repeating this while their friends comment on the dy. Tamics of the argument. Junkies are fond of street theatre and although they are quick to excite, they calm down just as quickly, In a short time the cluster—led bby the couple who are now walking arm in arm—collectively drag-asses its way fowards the old needle park on 15 Street, Prior to the methadone program 14th Street was considerably more vi Tent as junkies were obliged to sculfle and scam for heroin money. By and large, they are now as peaceable as they are pathetic. ‘The Durkin Bar accommodates every: thing that walks or crawls, which is say, the vast majority. It is singular if for no other reason the ancient bartop liter ally sinks six inches traveling from left to right. But then, nothing else is on the level in this place which is representative of the neighborhood in that the denizens are a spiritually integrated mixture of hookers, pimps, and dealers with a Of white alcoholics and johns. Ttis a grim but pretty much friendly col- ‘of Ist, 2nd and 3rd generation 2 tate towards low areas, since | {ng zone. Mos of the hookers are young, all of them are aggressive, Working un- der the scrutiny of their pimps, they run up to cars and compete with one an- other to fondle the prospective’ itch. Rather than a display of lust, thi a means fo determine il the driver is carry- ing a wad. The ultra depressing Amster- dam charges $10 for a room and the hookers ask for $25 and $30 but will settle for $15 or $20. None of them are to be trusted as far as you can stretch a condom. Park Avenue—23rd to 34th Street Running parallel to Lexington Ave nue, Park Avenue picks up steam around midnight and temains active till dawn. Currently one of the hottest hook er arteries in the city, up t n be found at They are mainly black and more attractive than their Lox Avenue sisters, The « $25 with a few of a room fe 33rd between Third and Fifth The greatest concentration can be found in t the Grand Union Hotel between Madison and Park Avenues. The hookers here are a 50/50 racial mix who will walk away in con- temptuous silence when offered “down town rates”. They start the bidding at $30 or $35 and will generally settle for $25 and lead the john to the grim Grand Union which has the moxie to charge $12.50 for a fast fling in its roach-infest ‘ed rooms. Many of these floozies consid- er it beneath them to trick in a car, but some will give frontseat head for $15 or $20. There is virtually no drug trade here, and except for the whores, pimps and johns, the area is desolate at night. Its also relatively safe, rise apartments, d taurants and even a is the northermost some like to call: “the side." But there is a di which mixes the affluent and brated with the poor and the Elaine's Restaurant on 87th 2nd Avenue is a hangout for brated. Although the food and ence is really nothing special, the ous gravitate to Elaine's because it scene—a place where they can with, eyeball and be eyeballed by, peers. Over the course of a ten $2.00 beer, I witnessed the likes of dolf Nureyev, Jules Feiffer and Al Paci sail through Elaine's doors—along witha: year's worth of wet dreams in the formof | beautiful women. Within a block of this glamor world, there are other women to. ‘less beautiful but much ‘Want a date?” a door way dweller asked me. “Sure,” I said. How about dinner at Elaine's and then Studio 54?" “How about a blowjob in the hallway for $10?" was her no-none sense reply. I was in the process of ex: Plaining how hallways give me claustra: phobia when the strumpet spotted a patrol car and quickly vanished down | the street. Actually, there are seldom more than two or three gils ren ‘asses here since the local less tolerant than in other, neighborhoods. ie Despite vigilant police and sence of overt pom and drug | East 86th resembles a Square, This is due to, nightly influx of young adull are the tough, local Irish who get tanked up in bars between 86th a sort of low income separating the Scanned with CamScannerricane effect as the three groups collide. At the comer of 86th Street and 3rd ‘Avenue there is located the city's largest Papaya juice store, Barrele of this ange fruit are dispensed here on daily basis beneath a huge sign pro- ing: "Papaya-Nature's Own Revila- izer”. Perhaps itis. Within a half hour me Friday night, I was enter- the “revitalized” clien- < i ourse, papaya juice 7 ed for a problem that vn East 86th Street — alfluent sleaze 120th Street and Third Avenue he hooke re primarily Hig neighborhod much a part of Harlem more than three treet at one ey business "THE WEST SIDE and Tth A\ 3d large th 1 higherp Time ssarily safer. Recently id for stabbing a Ger an businessman to death in his hotel m when he found her rummaging through his wallet. 8th Avenue from 42nd Street, North uding the hotel gils, this strip is the top of the Times Square streetwalk- c's hierarchy, It is also a sleaze trap for every imaginable strain of felon, Theo: relically, there is a risk factor in simply 1g down this street much less deal ing with any of its habitues, This section. ‘8th Avenue is where the city's most Drugraddled teenagers, faces going on 80, Scanned with CamScannerfof the porn theatres and peepshows so- liciting every male in sight with the trad tional, hooker euphemism: “Want a date?” A “date” generally ranges from $15 lo $25 and whatever else the hook eran clip. Among other things, vir, every illegal drug is available arc the comer on 42ni grass, heroin, cocaine, barbitu even LSD. Sullice it to say that buying LSD on 42nd Street dese ‘what he gets. Eighth Avenue is a 1 flam zone as well as a high crime stroet Nothing is on the level here should not surprise anyone il, as William Burroughs said of a cerlain Central American city: "The hookers are prob: ably cut with foam rubber. 8th Avenue, South of 42nd Street Between pimps, drugs and the clien- fele, prostitules get "used up” in a hurry in Times Square, When a citl is no long: er fit to compete north of 42nd Street, her pimp will move her one notch down the ladder which translates to south of 42nd. Hookers working here generally itick for a few bucks less than their sister sluls working north of the 42nd Street demarcation line, They are more larce- ‘nous, however, and this area is very much a crime zone. Be forewarned. ‘9th Avenue from 42nd Street, South ‘The hooker hierarchy continues to de- cend in a westerly direction towards the 10th, 11th and 12th Avenues at of Felliniesque whor fuse to give up the ghost of hi y a depressing group who simply re oking. The Streets. Strictly for the indi the blind, the greatest danger here is venereal disease. They will perform any act you can think of in your car at prices starting at $5. Doctor's visits start around, $251 40th Street at the Lincoln Tunnel Since a large percentage of street. walker clientele comes in from New Jer- sey, there are usually several hookers strutting their stuff in greeting at the exit to this tunnel, These enterprising hook- ers are not necessarily belterlooking, safer or less expensive than the rest of 9 to $25, Dame. a sehnores will fu Notre Central. Hotels, ina local $2 isa full service zone in drugs are hawked on 96th et, itis n isable to deal with Stree! denizens. This street is part of e 24th Precinct which tallied over 400 assaults last year. While the hook 10t generally considered larce- there are stil plenty of predators in the neighborhood, West 86th is Primr parison, It blocks in th ct which ranges along the west side of Central Park from 86th to 110th street. Police precincts are rated in a descending order of crime as A, B or Csstationhouses. There are no "C houses” —or “country clubs" as the cops call them—in Manhattan. The 24th, which tallied 44 homocides among theit 1,400 assaults lat year, is very much a high crime precinct. It earned its "A" rating between 96th and 110th Streets. t must be sald that lving in New York requires healthy instincts and cons! vigllance. Only a maniae will Ive be se Lane by com- s one of the few cakewalk Scanned with CamScannerThe Centre Hotels are the current favor ites among the floozies who flaunt their asses on Broadway in the lower 90s. The going rate here is $10 to $15 per pop, and judging by the number of hookers, business is definitely popping. From east to west, 96th Street is as quiet and eerie as Broadway is frenetic and loud. Despite it's well-lit, gener respectable appearance, you can almost smell the felonies here. Many fin solid citizens live on intersecting arteries like Riverside Drive, West End Avenue and Central Park West. After midnigh cially 96th becomes a no-man’s land, and these locals make tempting targets for the predators—particularly junkies. Ad. dicts like convenience. After mugging citizens for their liquid assets on 96th, st ‘is just a short hop up to 104th Street and Columbus Avenue where heroin openly Horror stories abound among the cli- entele of Hanralty's—an attractive res- taurantbar off 96th at Amsterdam. One of the bartender's was shot fo death out side the door here several years ago, but another incident, involving a teenage kuller, seems to sum up the neighbor- hood attitude. It seems a 1S:yearold would hail taxis at 96th and direct the Most all drugs are available here but sometimes they are sold in the same manner as the Brooklyn Bridge. I left Hanratty's with tales of slit throats and bbulletridden bodies fresh in my head, when instantly I was accosted by a slea- zoid with a cocaine scam. My internal sonar registered: "No threat—con job. a the sleazoid unraveled his verbal hus- tle: grams of cocaine at about half the going rate. I declined, but the hustler followed me down the hill to Broadway talking 2 mile a minute like a used car salesman on speed, Finally, he reached the punchline: "I can't take you up to ¢, but gimme the fifty and I'l downstairs in ten minutes!” The ol’ back door deal. I had to laugh hard at the obvious con (although I actu ally resented being taken for a mark) but the sleazoid laughed even harder (as is usual when t game), then shr away. Many people are from 96th for real and 8th Avenue year-old growing up in a mid aac ony frvaertab eel ae irom a deficiency of cheap { enagers. At the was considered the height of ad: venture to hop a bus into New York and et shitfaced drunk at Bill Dunn's on 8th Avenue. Bill Dunn's was the sort of bar that had would sit immobile staring at his reflec: tion in the mirror all night. Consequent- ly, it was the sort of place that would serve anyone who could reach over the bar with the price of a drink. Occasional: ly, when stoned out of our teenage gourds, we would, as Duke Ellington suggested, “Take The A Train'’—to 125th Street, Harlem's main drag was a fantastic cacophony of sights and ‘sounds in the late ‘80s. The Apollo The- atre was still in ils prime and record stores lined the street blasting out blues and latin music loud enough to be heard blocks-distant. Groups of men would stand outside the bars or amble down the street ive stepping in time to the mu: time it ‘whites can be seen around the clock at 116th Street and 8h Avenue. And the teason is junk. Everything about heroin is lethal: addicts overdose, shady bust essmen are shot rather than sued, and competition is discouraged with a ‘waming""—generally a bullet in the leg, In 1977, 23 people were shot at the comer of 147th Street and 8th Avenue during @ heroin war between rival gangs. But heroin peddling is a transient business that shifs from one urban night- ‘mare to another. This year Manhattan's ‘main heroin marketplace happens to be the Hotel Rivella, In a grim litle irony, East 116th Street star's with organized crime and leads to a heroin supermarket on the west side. East Harlem includes a small but intact talian community which dates back to the immigration waves at the turn of the century. Many people believe that top elon mafia men live here—including those responsible for the wholesale dis- tnbution of heroin. Travelling west on 116th, the Ttalian restaurants soon give way to Spanish bodega’s. Spanish Har Jem in this area is clearly a poor but “sill reathing” neighborhood. The bottom ine criteria is that nearly all the stores n and the tenements stil inhabit- i's straight downhill on the far side of Fifth Avenue. Dying neighborhoods all rollect the same desolate images: men drinking on street comers, children play- ing in garbagesilled los, rivers of refuse in the gutters, grass growing through the conerete and, most of all, burned out and abandoned buildings, A typical sight is a street with seven apariment buildings, of which six have been aban- doned. The remaining stores reflect the exodus by dealing only in the essen- tials"groceries, liquor, laundry «<. There are a few Chinese restaurants op- erating under huge "Chop Suey” signs, Scanned with CamScannerprogr fer the heroin “high” and aim that heroin is easier to with- ‘rom than methadone. This is prob- “ably true since street heroin is heavily | Sik whle metbadone is daponsed full “strength. Moreover, non-addicted "joy. bangers” comprise a large segment of the 116th street dope trade; they neither | want nor qualify for methadone. Neatly all the dealing takes place on 116th Street between 8th Avenue and Morningside Blvd. The street dealers light up with nodding comeons as I ‘euise through, but immediately lose in- ferest as I fail o respond. There are at Teast a dozen of them, but the focal point is a building with the neighborhood's fenly intact neon sign: "Hotel Rivella Weekly-Transients." I decide to park ‘across the street and observe, For a small boarding house the Rivelia is re markably active. Everything from laxis to new Jaguars pull up here and disqorae @ passenger who enters the hotel while the driver circles the block. Usually the passenger is waiting oulside when the river returns. A Volkswagen pulls up with four white passengers so stoned it fakes them several minutes to figure out hhow fo exit the car. It takes them even Jonger to figure out who is going to buy the dope. Finally they decide on an em Issary, who, fo my amazement, idicticaly and clumsily shoves a nighistick up the sleeve of his jacket. Evidently, occurred fo this citizen that could physically rearrange him in six di ferent ways before he was able to extrac the nightstck On the one hand, I break out in bruises at the sight of violence, and my frouble barometer had flashed “over load’ since I entered the neighborhood, fon the other hand, my curiosity in con- junction with the spectacle of the cretin- us white boy won-out. "If he can do it, s0 can I,” was my somewhat dubious logic. I ambled over and knocked on the locked door of the Rivella. A very seri uslooking citizen with his hair in hydra. ‘like pigtails opened the door and told me there was a dollar entrance fee. Alter coughing up the buck, I was allowed to what was essentially a rooming up. A staircase faced the do ght there fain brand-name smack. Another junkie disagreed, interjecting thet 747 was "dogshit cut with procaine" (an artificial anesthetic used to bolster weak heroin and cocaine). The two of them discussed this while Twas, being accosted by a dealer: “What do you need, bro?” I learned that a quarter ounce of heroin sells for $50 if you are black and $55 if you are not black. Not intending to buy at any price, nor wanting to push my luck, I didn't bother to argue about the racist price schedule. Back out on the street the white boys were still arguing, this time about who would drive the car—not surprising, ac- tually, since none of them were straight enough to drive a wheelchair. They stood there cin and arguing in loud voices as a police car cruised down the block. The cops looked over briefly with disinterest and crawling down the block. At n 8 cruise 116th at the rale of one a minute, but they stop only for violence. The police and the le seem to ‘ can deal with impunity a8 lon rough, h seems boundaried both by sell preserva tion and contemporary dards. Heroin isthe a munity and the polic handling its byprodu stant tens The cops -ommunit busy violence. The 32 be seen in th faces of the cops who frequently have to break up OK Corral type shootouts be. tween rival dealers. As I drove away from the Rivella, I could not help feeling vaguely grateful for leaving in one piece. Massage Parlors One of the last things you will ind available in a New York massage parlor js.a massage. Of course, here as in most other cities, the name “massage parlor’ is actually a euphemism for a whore- house. The parlor phenomenon, peaked in New York during the early 1970s, and today it is in a holding pattern with the future promising extincition. The teason {or thi ie consistent Cty pressure, moet recently in the form of an ordinance which all but eliminates the opening of any new parlors after November of this "year. there are still an as. : where a piece of ass 4 ticket costing $10 fo $15 lly gets you 15 minutes of sex in a prisomlike cubicle with a mediocre specimen of the opposite sex. I say ust ally because some places are deceptive, such as the rather bizarre Delicate Touch con West 42nd Street. It seems this joint ied {o be, in fact sill is, a huge shoe- ine parlor. Ten bucks gains you en: trance to one of the curlained-off shoe shine cubicles where a oie! will, indeed, shine your shoes. But if you desire her to take a shine to anything else, it costs ‘e—al least another $25—and the bicle ... some- ally speaking, these places © not requite tipping, and what you get is what you pay for: bottom line comfort n ine price. posite end of the price spec the houses which like to call themselves leisure spas. Primarily on the feast side, they justify their prices with pretentious “private club" labels and luxury images. They are of course, sell ing the same thing as the lowliest Bow- ery hooker: pussy. But they embellish their pussy with such trappings a8 gale nas, whirlpools, free booze, and stereo Piped into rooms with smoked gl ors and actual carpels. On the of hand, they do offer a large sel Scanned with CamScanner{le the client o a certain amount of time in room with one or mo the target sex. Tipping is required to get your girls) movi jack the price of your action up to $75, $100 or even $150, Judging by the durability 0 certain spas, sex mixed with smiles and ‘champagne bubble baths is a successful formula. Like the $10 cathouses, leisure spas are listed and appraised in the local sex tabloids. For Gays Only San Francisco notwithstanding, New York probably has the largest homosex- ual community in the Nation. This is re. flected all over Manhattan as every sec- tion of town has at least one or two thriving gay bars. However, the greatest concentration of gay action takes place in Greenwich Village, specifically, 0: Christopher Street. Christopher Street west of 7th Avenue is about 99.9% gay from the Gay Guppy fish siore to the Badlands bar on Wes! Street by the Hudson River, literally hundreds of gays an be found cruising around the clock. ‘Along with the numerous other bars in the area, the West Street Pier, by day, is ‘@ heavy cruising area which gives way at night to The Trucks—a lineup of emp- ty tractor trailers whose pitch-black inter 18 are used for mega-bodied group In terms of casual sex, homosex- ithhands down over their het- Many gay bars choices. idst all this, it becomes difficult for imagine a sexually un jomosexual, and more difficul for sex. But, of het wsexuals | filled se, the same laws of supply and de- mand exist for gays as they do for and traights teady gay hi found nookers working this vict ly on nearby Washington Street—s the police tend to ignore them in favor of busting the male hustlers against whom they harbor a traditional emotional bias. here is an ancient gay expression: ist be served” —and serve for that matter, and so there are several up- town hustling zones where a selection of ‘chickens’ cater to the chickenhawk bri gades. In Times Square, it happens to be 42nd Street, where there can be found an around-the-clock array of ‘young hustlers striking macho poses un: der movie house marquees. They will trick anywhere; and from their appear ance they are a young but rough trade fand to be trusted about as much as any Other 42nd Street hustler. There is also a Square block of tamerlooking chickens soliciting on the eastside between 2nd ‘and 3rd Avenues on 53rd and 54th Streeis. Their rates range between $25 and $50 dollars and they cater to the mobile trade, tricking primarily in cars. is that from B You Times Square is the Vatican City of sleaze. Across America at this very mo- ‘ment, provincial con men of every ilk are dreaming of someday running down their husiles on 42nd Street, Despite the election time reform efforts of each suc- ceeding mayor, Times Square remains adamantly corrupt, Pathetically optimis- tic articles on the "Times Square Clean- up" regularly appear in the local papers citing the opening of a legitimate bust ness or the closing of a few massage parlors. But like amoebas, 42nd Street lets seem to reproduce themselves by binary fission. When the cops drop the net on one sleazeoid, two others fight to take his place. The heart of Times ‘Square lunacy runs in an L-shape down 42nd Street then up 8th Avenue for ar other ten blocks. Business, fed by mil lions of tourists and locals, is s0 busting that on a tworblock streich of S2nd Street between 6th and 8th Avenues there are currently 15 porn stores, 8 porn theatres, 4 whorehouses—but only one bar! Appropriately, however, Topps Bar is headquarters for every conceivable strain of hustler—especially male prosti tutes. Because of the critical shortage of hangouts, the homosexuals—who are hardly simpering “teacup faggots’ — share the bar with a varied assortment of pimps, hookers, thieves and murderers. Happy hour at Topps is always refresh: ng. By early evening this charmingly geneous group spills out onto the street where they smoke joints, flip quar: ters against the building and engage passersby in three-card monte con games. Inside, they stand packed barto- wall and test out their scams on one another and whoever should wander in, In terms of local color, Topps is the per- fect launching pad for a sleazeour of Times Square, so what better place for me to wander into and order a drink at the bar? Straightaway I was subject to the pas rade of merchants. One citizen, dressed _ ina grey sweat suit and a pink, sequi bop hal, offered films freshly from a porn siore, Hot on his h Scanned with CamScanner0 thieves here as women and wouldbe women check her bags Behind a doublelock door. Nor is there much decorum, as fights bbreak out on a regular ba One ofthe ‘more interesting ones involved a lesbian and a male crossdresser. The two of them had been cursing each other elo- quently when the lesbian suddenly esca- lated the action by trying to snatch the ‘wig off the crossdresser's head. The fag countered with a most unladylike right hook to the dyke's face. The two white bartenders registered the incident through narrow eyes that have, no doubt, seen more than everything, an continued with their work. At Topps it always the clientele that breaks up fights—like so many Times Square envi Tonmentalists protecting an endangered species. Between fights they di fous topics of hustler interest, such as h: dope-peddling locations, shoplifting Yechniques, freaky tricks and different ‘ways to dismember their enemies. In short, Topps Bar functions as both an underground chamber of comme fand a gauge for the size of the a flim-lam. Over the course T witnessed literally hundr filing in and out, Topps is also a microcosm of 8 which is 42nd Street. I's a minute here where a war obiains between buyers Merchants—legitimate constant continually berate the clientele to pay up for a piece of pizza or a piece of ass Frequently the shit hits the fan in sporad fe bursts of violence which end as quick ly as they start. Upon leaving Topps, 1 was immediately greeted by the sight of two souvlakistand employees chasing couple of kids down the subway. The glass door of the souvlaki sland had been shattered, 1 continued walking west past the small island street separat ing the two sides of Broadway, The [peepshow slore here has been replaced by a police sub station euphemistically called "The Spirit of New York Informa. tion Center." Yet another vignette from “the spirit of 42nd Street” was being played out within a hundred yards of the slation. A crowd swung Iderly man pro sieger’s head and shoulders while a other employee swung at his body with a billy club. The man continued flailing wildly with the two-by-four forcing Ma. ma‘s troops to retreat again behind the door. After shattering the twoby-four egainst the door, the man who was now bleeding slightly from the head, looked around for another weapon then disap- Peared down 42nd Street, Mama's troops took advantage of the hiatus by letting out several pale-looking cand an employee who ran to on. The @ 5050, y anc ersed as the man meekly surrendered and the cops carted him off. Lunacy is the norm on 43nd Street. Ten minutes later, Mama's troopa wete again dispensing greasy hot dooe asf nothing had happened, 7 1 909! The violence comes gratis on 42nd Street but you must pay for the sex, But then, for as litle as 25¢ you can watch other people fuck or, for as lle as $10, You can participate, Concerning the lak {sr, there is a man who parades up and down the street wearing sandwich sign boards which read: The Room: $10, No Extr Meeting Room is on se proiila Scanned with CamScannertronie surveillance as a b coughs up the sawbuck to a ‘a desk who wordlessly issues him a tick and buzzes him into a much larger room. The walls are covered with someone cil-on-velvet interpretation of the fem nine ideal. The floor is covered with a theatrelike arrangement of chairs in which sit a cross section of the city’s lumpen—Chinamen in grey suburbans and white sox, aging hipsters with pony: tailed hair, and adolescents, there for pethaps their first or second piece of ass. It's grim, silent group which makes the place resemble more a dentist's office than a whorehouse. The objects of the patrons’ anxiety sit facing them along the wall. They all wear leotards and Every 80 patron will inevitably follow—back fo a cubiclessized room where, if he is not ‘cop, he will be instructed to strip:and hold a washbasin beneath his balls while the girl washes his genitals. He is then free fo jump on her bones for exactly 15 minutes, The time limit is. enforced by a “floor walker” whose job it is to stoop and peek through holes in the door and. render the final indignity of banging loudly when the carnal hourglass runs ‘out. To put it mildly, the pump palaces ‘are a cold scene. in terms of human contact, they are about one notch above fa glory hole. But then, what can you expect for ten bucks in these inflated Fo: not inclined to the joys of line whorehouses, there is al: ways the peek scene. Voyeurism is by at slice of the 42nd Street iness, It wasn't always that way. en years ago, prior to the har explosion, buying porn here was methin uying mallitary secrets. A far the | ments siting in a prayer Sp films list. The arithme It costs 2,00 to wv a 15:minute loop film, and some of multifloored megaipeep joints offer several hundred films with easly hal the booths filled during peak-peeping hours It ranslates into daly pros inthe thousands ‘Always sensitive to the needs of the public, these places offer a psychopathia sexualis assortment of films, For those into “animal husbandry” there are flicks featuring women with dogs, donkeys, horses, pigs, snakes and eels. Friends of miscegeny can choose between black men with white women, white men with black women, Oriental women with white men and black dwaris, and just bout any ‘color combo imagin: Domination! ‘Male Subserviencel (also female) "Big Tits! “Pgs drunk out of a champagne “Erotic Shiny Rubber Clothing! ’ Twas reading a film description in which a man fucks a chicken up the ass, when I picked up the scent of grass. A mop man also picked up the scent after determining its source, loudly on the door of a booth: "No reefer smoking in there!” Apparently only jerk: ing off is allowed in the booths which is where the mop man comes into the plo- ture. Since the Board of health cites the peep joints for semen-encrustated booths, it is the mop man’s job fo swab the patron’s lost lust off the floors of the cubicles (Of course there are those who prefer pecking at live, rather than celluloid, q are covered on Forty- justBe-21," a seated woman with too much eye shadow screeches "PUS- SY" into a microphone like a berserk ‘ymphomaniac. She is referring to an oval configuration of booths in which the can view live womenfolk under But progress is the word on 42nd et where management works Over time to present the public with new wrin- kKles—as I was to discover. ‘ler depositing a quarter in one of these booths, a cloth curtain wil ise with a rachely, mechanical whirr, revealing two naked women—usually a pair of hookers on a hiatus from the streets. On. ‘his particular evening it happened to be ¢ black and white team. The white git] lies spread-eagle on a revolving table; she is expressionless as if she is locked into the stirrups in a gynecologiat’s of ice. Her snatch passes exactly once ev= ery 14 seconds, and a series of eyes from across the room follows its” pro: ress. Meanwhile, the black gitl who has {near-perfect body, sashays around room exhibiting her assels to ct windows which contain a wide faces—fat, lean, young and: rather sillylooking framed gyrating ass, Eventually Scanned with CamScannerg Ha Holl thal demands higher stakes. Next door to the live pussy-peek, there is a place where, fora dollar you can talk to ‘your very own naked gil. This is accom. "plished through a glass shield and via a - fwoway phone system. But finding 9 dual spint here can be costly and frus- | taling since a buck only gets you two minutes of chatter with this paricular joints brood of inarticulate broads. For those who prefer the silver screen to loops, there are several dozen feature film smut houses, and although none ever seem to fold—competition is sill consequently, some of the grind houses fler live sex exhibitions between films. ‘Others, such as Show World, have tried "specially acts like Monica Kennedy. for fen weeks Miss Kennedy was a smash hit on Broadway, thanks to her audience- | Parlicipation format. Specifically, she blew two or three members of the audi fence at each performance—sometimes ultaneously. Finally, the police threw net over the entire show, breaking hearts in the process. Miraculous had a regular following of water. who would sit in the audience ‘waiting for the privilege of hav- take a tinkle o: d bit n hobbled in on a igomrali spear git wilt « poe ‘gangbuster body, was young enough Io be the audience's communal grand- daughter. But there was little filial feeling running through this crew as they watched her display her anatomy in in- stallments to a series of Rolling Stone tunes. It was the traditional burlesque tableau as the audience stared up at her with a collective expression of religious worship and politely applauded encour- agement as she shed her outfit. You ‘could sense the tension among the horn sticks when she was finally nude—it was main event time, What followed can only be termed an exercise in senior citizen macho. Once. nude, Bambi sashayed around the pe- timeter of the stage untl one of the old duffers abruptly stood up, flung a dollar Conto the slage and made’a grab for het aseets. Actually a dollar got them a hug, @ smooch on the cheek and a. brief mouthful of Bamby's tis, After the ice was broken, dollars flew across the slage a the joint became one big avalanche of Geriatric groping. They were competing with and exhoring one another on, ag well as waving their dollars in a signal for attention. One ditty old dog looked 8 if he would throw a bolt in his pace- maker as his head turned beel ted while buried in Bambi's cleavage. He emerged with a wide, leering smile on his face. Another man compulsively flung down five dollars in a row and then, as it he came to his senses, put on his coat and headed for the door—only to return for one last dollar-squeeze. Fi- nally the dollar rush subsided and ywesome pornographic vision; doors up the sree! reales the Ch seling service for runaways. It the shadow of the Las Vegas Bar, a ing $10 for drinks and assaulting cus tomers who refused to pay. Easily, the forces of evil are carrying the day here, 3 6th Avenue remains one big sexual sleaze trap. Pimping is a growth industry on Eighth Avenue. The national media (most recently 60 Minutes) has intro- duced this street across America as the Minnesota Strip—reference to the fact that pimps recruit girls from as far away as the Midwest. What's less known but more common is the recruiting which ie done two blocks south of 42nd Street at the Port Authority bus terminal. The imps bivouac at the aptly named Term nal Bar across the street from the bus station. Itis perhaps the only pimp bar in. ‘own which serves Chinese food, and trom the looks of the place and its hab. tues, the “fied lice" here is pr made with lice. Around the dock iy predators lounge and cruise the bus sae tion playing the spider and fly g with runaways fresh off the buses. Ho Stories start al the Port Authority and nel sex is immune since a large ‘age of the predators are F Pederasts into young boys. R less of sexual persuasion, the same ta be i cal intimidation—to “t ss info sexual os Scanned with CamScannerman the porn stores and trinket-selling tourist traps. A citywide assortment youth gangs congregate here usin: subway arcade al 42nd Street and 8th Avenue as their local headquarters. y make the papers by fight They reaul ing with € d street tour at an end, I w sab home when an apr aps ten years old, sailed up to me with a pile of magazines under arm. He offered me one: "Self maga: zine, a $1.50 value goin’ right now for twenty-five cent. "That's a righteous deal,” I said, “But I'm not looking to find out anymore about myself.” "Thass cool!” He said. "Take one anyway!" 1 took the magazine. It would never do to bbe uncool on 42nd Street. . Scanned with CamScannerScanned with CamScanner