Roger Day wrote:
> I was a teenager in the seventies and I STILL MISSED IT. I swear I
> spent the seventies living in a parallel universe.
>
> Roger
>
The Seventies happened in big cities: NY, San Francisco, etc. It didn't
quite reach Binghamton, pop. about 62,000. Charming place, really, but
stuck in a Thornton Wilder time warp. I was from New York City but I
couldn't get there very often.
There was much talk back then of a place in the Ansonia Hotel called
Plato's Retreat. It was the (gay) Continental Baths for straight
people. Men and women would not even exchange names, just walk around
undressed, go into a private space, fuck, and thank each other. Women
were almost unlimited; men had to recuperate:-).
A gay friend wrote a brief article on the Continental Baths and ended it
"And then came AIDS." Exactly. Plato's Retreat died of terror and
probably a few hetero or bisexually transmitted cases of the disease as
well. Remember the designer Tina Chow? Straight woman has one-night
stand with bi male, dies of AIDS. Terrifying.
ken
--
Ken Wolman http://bestiaire.typepad.com http://www.petsit.com/content317832.html
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"Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more.
Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something.
You are not here long." -- Walker Evans
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