Gay of A Certain Age - One For the Books

I'm saddened today.  I just read that Circus of Books in West Hollywood is closing.  I don't even live in New York, but the erosion of 8th Avenue in Chelsea upsets me, now I feel it happening where I live.  It's been a little while since I shopped at the store, but I have popped in a few times to see if there was a book I couldn't wait for Amazon to deliver, or a naughty man calendar for the year, or an issue of Fangoria edited by Bryan Fuller

 or a spare Starrfucker magazine I wanted to gift someone...

Even if I didn't go in every week, I felt its presence and constant reminder of a time when I first came to California, a new Gay, and feeling as if I had found the Mother Ship.  My first time in there, I was amazed by the multitudes of magazines- there used to be so many! I bought my first (and later, probably my last) issue of Attitude there!  There was Genre, Out, The Advocate, TeTu, Edge, Bent, In Touch, Frontiers... so many!  I also bought general entertainment magazines there, too! And that was the non-porn list.  I was delighted by the amazing choice of porn magazines, videos, toys and novelties to be had.  I would often top of an unsuccessful bar night with a visit, just to see what was new or suddenly appealed to me. Heck, I even met delicious porn actors, Carlo Masi and Adam Champ there!

I guess its demise was inevitable, if not because print & porn are not prevalent enough to sustain the business, but because the gays don't need specialized places to find their stuff much anymore.

Even though it makes sense, it still makes me wonder how new Gays will ever know that feeling of walking into a new world where they suddenly feel like they finally belong.

As a Gay of A Certain Age, I know that experiencing that feeling has made me aware of a gratitude that I carry with me all my days and a sense of loss, because that landmark will no longer be there.

READ ABOUT IT HERE

And my buddy, KENNETH IN THE (212)'s take

Gay of a Certain Age - Plowers In the Attic 2; If There Be Porns

I have so much crap piled in my home, it's time for a yard sale.
Sometimes that means saying goodbye to stuff that you are still fond of,
but that there's no room for in your life.  You know, like seasons of REVENGE.
Since it finally went off the air, my DVR is a little cleaner and so is my life.
I love you Emily Thorn/Amanda Clarke, but enough.

As a Gay of a Certain Age, I think I am almost ready to let go of my DVD porn.
I've done it before. At a West Hollywood yard sale, I packed several nice bags with 9 or 10
gay porn DVDs and labeled each one "Bag O Porn" and sold them for $5 or $3 depending on my mood.  It was a little difficult to see them walk off with horny strangers,
but luckily and unfortunately, they were fully replaced with new movies & stars within a year or so.
Now, I've come to embrace the internet before bedtime and I have a good stash of DVD
and few favorite VHS porn that are largely ignored.  They've sat in my closet, unwatched for at least a year.
I must say that the idea of selling off or >GASP< giving away my Chris Rockway movies is
making me tremble... I might keep those.

I've had a mad crush on Chris Rockway since I first laid eyes on him at L.A. Pride 2008.

Yeah, I'll keep those...

and my Paul Wagner movies... I might keep those.

He just seems like a sweet guy, you know?

Yeah I'll keep those.  But I'm getting rid of the others!

I need more space and less clutter, so this Gay of a Certain Age is saying 

goodbye to the physical and hello to the naughty stuff in the air!

Mostly...