I very much agree with you that 'opportunistic cruising' continues to exist, and that it even may be going on pretty strong at specific locations across the country. Yet, I am afraid that the gay mainstream, as in your 'out and about' metro gay guy hooking up for sex now relies mostly on online resources for his daily hookup needs. No doubt, some of these hook ups may then physically take place at one of the known cruising areas, too.

I also agree that a number of people of whatever sexual orientation may be using some of the cruising spots for their DL encounters, too. The fact that some bars, spas and clubs survive confirms that they, too, must be having some sort of public, too.

I have been traveling on both business and pleasure throughout Europe extensively over the past several decades. Both the public and the commercial based cruising continue to exist. Yet, I have seen a very significant reduction on at least three levels.

First off, many even relatively popular bars and clubs have closed, mostly because they stopped being financially viable. Formerly very popular public parks are now largely empty with one or two guys looking around, where we used to have dozens of folks cruising on the popular nights.

Second off, the surviving clubs, bars, etc., are mostly barely making it. You go there, see three guys sitting and talking; you have a drink and you move on. The three dudes are still sitting there... I guess. You need numbers in order to get the game going.

Third off, many sites are now open for everyone, and frankly are not really that gay anymore. Cruising at such spots is a very different animal altogether.

KD

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KD, agreed on all points for the USA too.

It's hard to quantify how much the action has changed at public places, and I still see reviews from parks, public toilets, even department store fitting rooms from coast to coast. Many do say they arrange to meet online, some just show up at, say, Prospect Park in Brooklyn - documented with photos in the 2015 book In the Vale of Cashmere - or in Meridian Hill Park in DC, known as "Malcolm X Park."

It's interesting that both of these places seem to be frequented primarily by men of color, but I see others that attract a wider demographic, such as Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. A report in XTRA: Do gay guys still cruise for public sex? had a reporter in this park. He seemed to think things didn't live up to his hopes (the men were "boring") but then again, he'd visited the City for Dore Alley, the Folsom Street Fair. A park just doesn't compete. Still, his conclusion was "public cruising is still alive and well in San Francisco."

What I get from all this is it depends on the city, the people, the time, and especially one's expectations. Given that, the overall amount, context, and methods associated with public cruising have evolved - just as society has evolved.

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Recently I was in Phoenix for a few days and my hotel was not in the best area - right across the street was an adult bookstore with "preview booths and theater" (according to the sign) - and there were always cars in and out of the parking lot and on Friday and Saturday the lot was totally filled!

I could not believe the traffic this place had!

Unfortunately I was not alone so I had no chance to check it out - but I guess in some places the old school cruising is not dead.

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I, too, am sure that the 'old style cruising' will never really disappear. Think of a city like San Francisco, as pointed out by Bob here. There are very many openly gay men in the city. Quite a few people are, well, 'open minded' and tourists and visitors flock the city, too. It is really hard to imagine that no one will ever try to cruise the GG park, the dunes, the area around the mill close to the Ocean Beach, etc. Or the Buena Vista Park or whatever other cruising area there may be.

Yet, if you contrast the numbers of the guys, and the relative intensity of the cruising at such places these days with the pre-net times when we were all reading the ads at the Sentinel or at the the Bay Area Guardian in order to get ourselves a suitable date, and when most of us flocked to either the SoMa bars or clubs or to the Market/Castro locations for the NSA hookups, you do see a tectonic change that the modernity has brought about.

I, too, see this as an evolutionary process. Think of the AOL m2m chat rooms, IRCs across the country, etc., all the way to the apps of these days.

On some level, and at some locations, at least one more factor worked against the 'old style cruising' - the drugs. I know of quite a few popular bars and clubs across Europe that used to be your prime cruising spots. The places were kept reasonably nice, clean and inviting. Their business used to be good, probably because they had loyal regulars who would be bringing in good cashflow. These guys saw cruising as a bit of a social interaction with other like-minded guys, too.

Only too soon, the dealers discovered the convenience of such, well, dark, limited access places, and started running their business along. A formerly good neighborhood bar with an active backroom degenerated into something very different. Many regulars left, and soon enough, the place closed down...

KD

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I have always found it interesting that bath houses were legal but adult theaters or activity in a ABS is not.

In both cases you have to be over the legal age to enter so why can one get away with it and the other still gets busted?

As I have said I understand why the cities do not want guys fucking in the bushes in the parks - not everyone in the park is there for sex (that does not say I condone entrapment) but if you are not in a public setting - and you are in a place (ABS) where everyone knows what goes on - why do the police care?

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It's funny - I found those old chat room very liberating. It was the first place I "publicly" (yeah right - no one knew who you were) talked with other guys about the fact I liked guys -

It was very freeing to be able to openly discuss the fact that I liked sex with men - it was not just "there are no girls around" like my buddies and I used to say as an excuse for why we were doing it - I could actually admit liking it.

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Wow, the AOL m2m used to be functioning like the proximity apps in San Francisco in their time and day. I doubt that anyone of us ever envisioned the apps per se...

I used to live on Pacific Heights, so I was mostly looking in the PacHeights & Nob Hill Room. Sure, we all explored all the way to the Ocean Beach, too! Yet, most of us were after a FB in the hood. You wanted it easy, simple and regular. The less footwork the better...

The pix were being exchanged. Dudes not sporting the latest fashion of the day or showing themselves in their fishing gear or whatever used to be seen as possible fakes even in those days...

No doubt, quite a few people were out and about. Many were more on the DL side. Some were cheating on their partners... But everything went nonetheless...

KD

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Here's a follow-up, Class-action suit filed against Long Beach over stings targeting gay men. You can click through to read the story. I'm also attaching it as a PDF if you'd rather read it without ads, cookies, tracking, etc.

~ Bob S.

Attached Files

Class-action suit filed against Long Beach over stings targeting gay men - Pages 1-2 - LA Times.pdf (983.5 KB, 107 views)

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