Will your local ABS survive this shut down?
 

Here in California all "non essential" business are closed due to the Covid 19 virus.

It makes me wonder - how many adult book stores might go under from being forced to be closed for a couple of months? The staff is all laid off - but the rent will continue. Even if businesses get a tax break next year because of the virus do you think your local Adult Book Store will be able to reopen? We have a couple around here that I am not sure of - it seems like they are hanging on by a thread now.

I wonder the same thing about the restaurants, gaystores & bars in West Hollywood, Los Angeles (like the Eagle, Fautline, Akbar), San Diego, Palm Springs & San Francisco

A lot of these businesses do not have the cash reserves to survive a long shut down - and because of their "specialty" probably would find it difficult to get loans and funding.

Some here in Houston are relatively new or are operating on a shoestring. Several are doing virtual events -- drag shows on social media, etc -- to support performers with an online tip jar, not to mention publicity and goodwill. Some are adding food service so that they can operate as take-out or delivery, food plus alcohol, under the way the #stayhome orders are implemented here. And of course, many organize GoFundMe's, food drives, etc., including funds for (unfortunately) laid-off employees as well as the general public efforts here.

Local sentiment is that we all want to step up, just as we did with Hurricane Harvey.

Food service from your local adult book store?

Oh that leads to some perverted ideas! :-)

It's actually food from local gay bars, although I read a news story a week or two ago about a Portland, OR strip club that was sending their scantily-clad ladies out to deliver food, like GrubHub or DoorDash with an extra thrill.

Arizona
 

Our ABS are still open for the most part here in Arizona.

Mojavebottom - WOW!

Here everything "non essential" is closed - especially anything with close contact.

Irrational fear has gripped the nation. Those in the target population need to isolate. The rest of us move on.

Although this virus is scary - but the economic effect is scary as well.

It seems clear that most businesses will be told to remain closed at least through May - and possibly longer.

Some estimates say 30% or more of restaurants could go out of business because of this.

The local ABS for me re-opened when the Governor opened the state back up. I stopped in the day after and got a fat one by chance. I got messaged on another site by a guy that asked if I wanted to meet there since I was in the neighborhood. I figured since it just opened the place my be safe still, having set empty for a month and he and I had sheltered in place at our respective homes. I haven't been back because I know that the virus can linger for days on certain surfaces. But I know it gets regular business. And it is owned by one guy so I think it will stay in business for a long time or at least until he sells or dies. He is a miser and sometimes when I am paying I see his computer screen and he has his investment portfolio open. I should see if he would sell the business to me. LOL

FWIW, here's news from USA Today - today! - with recent CDC guidance. The headline says a lot, but check the story for details: The CDC says coronavirus 'does not spread easily' on surfaces or objects. Here's what we know.

I wonder if cities will use COVID as a justification to shut down more adult businesses - bookstores with booths, theaters, bathhouses.

The bookstores have been opening back up - but not all of them have opened the video arcades yet.

I am hearing reports that a couple of the bathhouses in the Valley may be gone forever. Once confirmed I will update the Cruising listing - but the extended shut down is not easy for a small business to survive.

Thanks jonn, for any updates you can provide!

I read that the 1350 bathhouse in Wilmington (near Long Beach) is closed for good as well as the Gold Coast bar in West Hollywood.

Governor of California has once again closed dine-in restaurants, beaches, bars, etc.

I see that a few of the adult book stores have opened up - but many of them still have the arcades / theaters closed. I can't imagine they can stay in business without the arcades.

I just found out that both Roman Holiday clubs (Van Nuys and Venice) have closed.

"Roman Holiday Clubs

Please note we are now closed.
Thank you for a wonderful 52 years!"

The Secrets near me is open. They closed every other booth and have a limit for "social distancing", but I was still able to suck 5 cocks this past Saturday. :D

Closing every other booth for COVID? I am guessing there must be glory holes between each booth!

Nope! Just leave the door ajar to see if someone wants head.

That is great!

So many of the ABS are real sticklers on the "one to a booth" rule - I know it is not usually by choice - they have to do it to avoid the cops - but there are so many real problems to deal with I don't see why they are about 2 consenting adults wanting to have sex.

Our ABS in Lincoln with 5 theaters never closed. Our county never had a shelter in place order either although a lot of businesses changed things and some did close temporarily. They never reduced hours. I think we were one of 7 or 8 in the entire Romantix chain that stayed opened the whole time, although business was way down in the arcade as well as the retail area. FYI, each store is different but while the arcade is the bread and butter for them, it's not the money-maker you'd think--it's actually a small percentage, like less than 20% of what they bring in. Sure, it's pure profit for the most part, but this day in age arcades aren't popular like they were a generation ago (in most spots), and ours sells quite a bit of toys and lube and pills and cleaners, and more but those are the popular sellers. Sometimes I'm worried they won't justify the cost of the theaters, actually. But since they're already built and operational, and it's a big store as it is, there's nothing to be gained by a remodel is my guess.

On a related note there are ordinances that govern what's allowed and not allowed when operating an adult-oriented business. Lincoln has a "no private viewing booth" ordinance, so we have 5 theaters with multiple seats, and the doors can't be closed. Other places actually have ordinances not allowing gloryholes--really--and most have the "one person per booth" ordinance when private booths are allowed. If the cops come in and find 2 people in a room, even if you're not having sex, you can be slapped with a fine. It's like a traffic ticket, you pay the fine and that's it. I heard years ago of this happening and it was like $125 where they were at. It's not criminal and there's no record, it's just a fine. That's usually why there are signs--it's a requirement, not a "cover your ass" move. Enforcement may or may not be adhered to, that's up to the business and staff on duty for the most part. Other spots have a "no expectation of privacy" ruling, which means your doors can't be floor to ceiling, or have to have a window in them. (Wichita has this I think). Other places have a "no doors on the booth" law, or an "open booth" law (Des Moines city limits has this). That's why it's all over the board as to what store has what, and allows what, etc. Just because a place doesn't have gloryholes doesn't mean they're not allowed, it might be that the business chooses for some reason to not have them at that location

Anytime I'm in a new ABS I just take stock of the place, the lay of the land, and watch what people are doing before just diving in. Sometimes it easy to see anything goes. Other times not so much.

One store I used to frequent didn't care if you were dropping money in the booth or not (and some had GHs), they just didn't want you hanging in the hallways. They wouldn't bother you to drop money, but they would walk the arcade yelling "get OFF the walls and into a booth". I guess they learned that if you were in a booth you'd most likely spend money anyway and it looked better for them if the cops came in and there weren't guys just lining the walls. This was back in the 80s when raids (in FTL) weren't uncommon. Apologies for going off-topic.

This is a prime example of over reach by local authorities that are usually counter productive to any public purpose. If you do not give a safe place for straight and bi guys to hook up and get a quick nut then they will start going to parks and public bathrooms. Recognize the realty of human behavior and accommodate it, don't try to suppress it. Outlawing human behavior serves no purpose if no one gets hurt and no one gets ripped off. Arizona is actually quite libertarian on these issues. The realize guys are going to go for quick sex and do not try to suppress it. Adult book stores are a place where guys can safely hook up out of sight of the general public. Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubens) types of busts are rare if nonexistent here.

I have never understood why the ABS do not operate their back room arcades and theaters under whatever laws allow bath houses -

Make it a "membership" type of private club that you can join - rather than having it be something open to "the public" where "public decency" laws apply.

Anyone going into a porn theaters knows what goes on there and no one should be surprised or offended by what they see.

Well, problem number one is this: you are actually thinking and using reason to find a solution to a problem. Laws are written by politicians. They are simply reacting to what ever gang of usurpers happen to be funding them at the moment. Do not expect reason from the unreasonable. Do not expect justice from the unjust. Expect politics from politicians.

There's some bookstore/spa places in Missouri where you have to have a membership just to get into the arcade theaters, so they are getting around the stricter laws MO enacted a few years back. In the 80s FTL tried that as well but it was rarely enforce by the clerks. Pretty much if they didn't recognize you or thought you were undercover, they'd do it to try and cover themselves. It was like $1 membership for 30 days. It didn't work because they'd still raid the places and almost no one could produce their "card" (which was nothing more than a slip of paper none of us really wanted to have to keep track of).

I heard in some places that if you got a lenient judge, they'd actually rule that a place wasn't considered public if you had to pay to enter and be buzzed into an area behind a closed locked door. I wish more people had that sort of common sense and understanding.

I saw an interview years ago with a cop or sheriff who came right out and said "almost any time you have an establishment like that, you're going to find evidence of sex on the premises". His examples of "sex on the premises" were a little far out there, including beds, but I've seen it in one place that used to exist but doesn't now.

Other locales are left alone and one clerk I used to know at an ABS told me there were 2 or 3 local cops that used to visit the place as patrons and use the GHs to get off.

Other law enforcement will tell you flat out they leave the places alone because they'd rather guys gather there discreetly so the parks and public restrooms are safe and clean for the general public without evidence or chance of seeing lewd sex acts.

Basically it comes down to how it's enforced at the local level, and it'll always be that way--varying from city to city or county to county or state to state. That's why we have the levels of governance in our country, so things can vary in recognition of different beliefs and values at different locales across the nation.

Victimless crimes................................ using the police power of the state, which in the end involves capital punishment/deadly force to prevent someone from getting his rocks off on private property is insane. Every time the state enacts a criminal statute the penalty is the death penalty. Think about it. How many people are killed each year resisting arrest. So is it worth a life? I think not. Thank 140 years of the Progressive Movement for this insanity.

I used to find ABS places that weren't necessarily cruisy or gay friendly. Visit a few times and get a good view of where and where not the cameras were aimed, then jack off and drop a load on the floor for some unsuspecting or mean clerk/owner to see and clean up. I didn't always gauge it correctly though. Once in a shop I heard the straight clerk (I knew who his girlfriend was) tell someone "I've been working and watching porn for 8 hours, I gotta cum" and then walk back to the gloryholes and let the first guy he ran across in a booth suck him off. Man I was mad I wasn't fast enough to get that bearded hairy clerk off. I guess when you're in your 20s you don't care what the rules and laws are, you just gotta get off good.

And the point is this: no one got hurt, no one got ripped off. Don't hurt other people, don't steal their stuff. Most of America really struggles with that concept.

Exactly - no one is harmed - and no one is surprised or shocked that it is happening.

Anyone going into the arcade or theater area knows what the purpose is and so how could they be offended?

I'm with both of you. No one has emailed, snap-chatted, messenger-ed, texted, inatragram-ed, facebook-ed, tweeted, or even called or snail-mailed me complaining about the guys I've sucked off, or who have sucked me of without abandon, or the messy loads I've left behind on floors and walls in any of the ABS plavces across the country. Basically they see a fresh load and go "fuck that HOT". Then lick it up or jack off and add to it.

And I am finally getting adventurous and covid social distance has me stuck with nowhere to go very sad

I'm naturally adventurous and in the same boat. I feel your pain, I share your disappointment. Better safe than sorry though. I love sucking guys off, but I'm not willing to get deathly ill over a load of man-cum, even if it's dripping all off my beard onto my chest and I add mine to it right there in the hall while others watch and coat me as well. Hot as fuck but I want the possibility of doing this multiple times down the road after a vaccine, not once as my last sexual meal. Patience. I know, one of the hardest things in the world.

It is VERY frustrating - I had been trying for a long time to get up the courage to try this bathhouse in the area -

And then COVID hit -

And now they are out of business.

I don't know if I want to just wait it out forever if my local ABS (2 hours away for me I guess) wasn't likely to survive.
Whether I use a site like this, plus Tinder, Grinder, etc..., I know this strategy will be more helpful than going to a sketchy venue that has dubious legality at best. If I fuck someone at their place or my place, then I know I'll (usually) be a lot safer and be more likely to enjoy myself.

MysticDick1018 -

I wish I lived somewhere with affordable hotel / motel rooms.

I would not want to bring someone to my house until I got to know them - but like you I am getting frustrated with no options.

jonn3: Obviously. It could just be chatting online or actually meeting each other for lunch. Just to know who we are. But I (usually) trust someone's house more than sketchy abs or parking lot.
However, I'll still try to find a good abs. A little bit of danger can be exciting. Just after the pandemic is tamed a bit.

Hope is on the horizon. At least three companies have developed vaccines, although due to the strict cold storage requirements of one, it will only be available in metropolitan areas. I'm not sure, but I think some require a followup shot. I'm hoping by summer we will have our shots and be out and about, putting our cocks through holes or playing with others.
Which brings up the question - will closed ABSs re-open? Some have stayed open by keeping their retail business of sales of toys, clothing, movies, etc. going. Some just closed their doors.

I have seen that a number of bath houses here in the Los Angeles area have permanently closed -

It is difficult enough for ABS's to stay in business - the cities do not want them - I am sure they were not able to get small business loans or PPP loans that easy (just imagine the articles if government funded grants were given to an ABS).

ABS were becoming rare even before the pandemic and shut downs