This turned up as a FB Notification for me from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives. It's actually from KCETLink, specifically KCET Public Broadcasting and of course their web site for Los Angeles and so much more.

I can't save it as a readable PDF and I don't think their Terms of Service allow me to copy it here without asking permission. Here's the link I hope you'll read:

A Guide to Gay Los Angeles, 1965

..and also a short excerpt, like the bloggers do:
It's a great read, going on to explain how Damron first created his "Address Book" of 35 places in the LA area on a mimeographed sheet. Having run a bar himself in the '50s, Damron knew how then as now they changed, appearing and disappearing. After Stonewall through the '70s the Address Book kept expanding on to at least the '80s, my years coming out. I had a couple of Damron's books, different years in college and grad school.

And then there was AIDS, and somehow that didn't make it into the article, nor that the Damron Company still exists, publishing several titles, and has a large web site. The Damron site's Frequent Asked Questions page actually suggests that those looking for cruisy places come here to CRUISING for SEX, presumably the Sex Listings.

So. If you had or used Damron's Address Book, how about sharing your story and recollections of it?

And do read the article. It has some photos of the contents and covers which are remarkable to see now.

A side note: Just as Damron's early Address Books have been preserved for us to see now, I've realized this year more and more the importance of preserving CFS, even all that old outdated information, Sex Listings cruisy places reviews, and Message Board discussions.

Just as Damron showed who we were and a part of how we lived in his time, so did Keith with CFS with the change from print (STEAM Magazine) to the Internet (CFS!) beginning in the 1990s.

And here we are, still with CFS somehow today, not to mention all those other Apps and web sites, too.

~ Bob S., Manager/Editor

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Nope. I did not have the Damron's Address Book. This was quite a bit before I started cruising.

But I do remember the Spartacus Guide Book(s) which I have already written about on this board.

I also remember the xeroxed, mimeographed, carbon paper copies of similar 'address books' that my friends and I exchanged in the pre-internet days.

True, we all knew where to cruise in our respective towns. And we exchanged this information rather readily, following the idea 'the more the merrier'. Yet, when traveling abroad, most of us were pretty ignorant, had not time to waste, and wanted to connect with local guys for some fun ASAP.

Few people I used to know made it no secret that their main motive for foreign travel was looking for some fast, NSA m2m sex. They were going to do their fair share of the churches, castles, museums, etc. once they get old. Some have been managing to get old. The others are sadly gone.

Small reciprocal services like exchanging the custom-made address books usually helped develop friendships, maintain contacts and teach us all how much we all depended on each other for our gay lives.

The new age brought about the huge independent information access to all. The great upside here is that we all can get all the information everywhere and at all the time. The inevitable downside is that our fear that you really do not need anyone for anything anymore these days has been reinforced on a daily basis!

KD

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Not familiar with it as it was before my time.

The earliest "address book" I remember was the men's room stall wall in the downstairs of an old mall where I grew up ;-)

I love the color code for handkerchiefs - I remember when guys first started wearing earrings and they used to say "Left is right - right is wrong" (meaning left was straight - right was gay) and I thought how great that would be if it was so easy to know who was and was not into it!

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Jonn, I think you and I are actually almost the same age. I think I found it in a bar or gay bookstore in Austin when I was going to college. If not that, I might have ordered it from an ad in the Advocate. Or it might even have been in B.Dalton in the mall. They had Blueboy and Honcho magazines back then, right next to Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler.

Lots of things in the Advocate, too. I connected with a guy in San Francisco through their Pink Pages and went out to spend Spring Break with him one year. My first broken heart, I was so young and naive. Seems funny now.

I had always been so shy and introverted that I didn't really "put myself out there" in person till years later. It wasn't from a need to be closeted or a moral conflict; I was one of those oddballs who had to resolve all that before acting on my feelings. It was simply a deep sense of reserve that probably gave guys a sense I was unapproachable.

It got better when I started wearing tighter clothing that showed a bulging basket!

And oh, when I got into the leather world I did the hanky code, too. Just the other day I was dining with some friends and one mentioned his hanky always went on the left side because his wallet was on the right! Same for me, too!

No wonder people found me hard to read and got confused, since along with the "equipment" they've constantly expected me to be a top without asking or thinking about what I want.

That's gonna change now...

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Bob -

We are about the same age - so I guess the "before my time" was not the way to word it - maybe "before my courage level" would have been better!

Where you were accepting of your orientation back then I was still waiting to "out grow" it like many of my friends had.

So while you were in a big city going to gay bars and bookstores I was in a big closet still buying $30 in straight imagines in order to try and hide the gay magazine in the stack so the clerk would not think I was gay.

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jonn, I was should have explained I was more than shy and introverted. Through much of my childhood and teenage years, it was related to clinical depression and strong alienation. I've often felt like part of a small peculiar minority or sometimes an individual within the larger gay minority.

That's a bigger story than I can relate here and now. I don't mind sharing it, but I'm short on time and it's not relevant to this particular context and discussion. Another time, perhaps.

I never really an ABS guy, so Damron's book either really did come from B.Dalton in the mall or else from mail order.

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