Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2008)
iustiout out out out out Love Is in the Air Cruising for community in PDX eu nife Open -Seven Sbatp a if'««/ S4appy Sour . prom 5-6 pm Ltjon.- ßinqo * Sue i.- Sert/ice Industry WJ-- Privia PL (yreat cjLocaLSrtists on SSplatj. 301 S£. Wlor^on 503.234.1324 monla^eportParul. com I 'm in the mood for love. So are the other 30 or so guys tonight at Oregon Theatre. Huh? Hold up.. .what year is this? I simply didn’t think big-screen pom movie houses still existed, much less were patronized, in the 21st cen tury. But 1 suppose if they’d be thriving anywhere, it , would be here in Portland, as we defend our unoffi cial title of Primo Dirty Porno Triple X City USA. Valentine’s Day is right around the comer, after all, so a trip through Portland’s most notorious adult bookstores and movie theaters seemed neces BY STEPHEN MARC BEAUDOIN sary for finding the pulse of modern gay male I’amour in the city. Sure, Craigslist, Manhunt and Adam4Adam (there’s more, much more) are the of sparkling white sneakers. He sets the clothes down standard stops for online cruising, but 1 laid aside on a couch and meticulously selects a pair of athlet my laptop to hit the old-school haunts. ic shorts to doff. He prowls the room again, sets down First stop: Oregon Theatre, Southeast 35th the clothes, repeats the process. This continues for at and Division. 1 wait for the traffic to clear (Who least an hour, before I leave. would see me? What sort of judgment would be Another stop on the circuit is Fantasy, a video passed?) and dart inside. There’s a handsome-ish rental and hookup spot with several squeaky-clean man, short with a full head of close-cropped gray shops in town. The one on West Bumside seems to hair, taking admission (6 bucks) and checking favor white-collar types shuttling through down town. The Northeast Sandy Boulevard shop is more egalitarian, with a heaping of middle-class gays-about-town. Skulking through the black-light hallways of the store’s “preview booths”—eyes and shirt lint glowing with an eerie fierceness—I spot a server from a downtown gay restaurant here, a barista from N0P0 over there. Conversation is nil, so you learn to read a lot from a cock of the head or the way a guy breathes when he cruises past you. I stop to talk with the waiter. He’s older and part nered. He says he comes to Fantasy for escape, for release. But also, very simply, to be around other men. Why bring all this up? IDs. He looks about as excitable as a library assis People often talk about the lack of community tant. There’s a wall of X-rated DVDs (Anal in Portland gay life. Young gays, especially, berate Destruction, Major League Bitches), a fully stocked bar culture—I do it myself—but find themselves snack bar (Snickers, 75 cents) and a creatively unable to escape it. Conversation after conversa defaced bathroom upstairs. One of the entries in tion, I hear the same poignant needs from queer black magic marker dates from Jan. 3, 2008, and men here: We want fellowship, we want shared reads, “Looking for a good looking guy 25-40 YO experience, we want community. STD free with pencil prick.” While lingering at Fantasy, at Oregon Opening the heavy wood doors to the theater is Theatre—and at additional places like Fat Cobra like slipping into a black hole, and I suppose that’s or Mr. Peeps—I was struck by the real sameness of all part of the idea and the appeal. Rickety sofas and these desires. Young or old, gay, bi or unclassifiable, stuffed recliners extend the length of the theater; Stark Street or Killingsworth, we’re craving this sense there’s peeling paint on the ceiling and walls. The of coming together. Social outlets and cliques become lights are low enough to provide just the brand of increasingly fragmented: the hyper-masculine N0P0 mystery appropriate to such encounters—and to bears vs. the gentler Faerie bears; the inner Southeast cast faces and bodies in the type of half-light that hip young queers and their wealthier, downtown hides wrinkles and rolls. It should be noted that bar-hopping gay brothers (whom they scorn). Pretty Oregon Theatre is—to speak generally—not for soon there will be nowhere left more comfortable, the beautiful people. and where we can unassailably be ourselves, than That didn’t seem to matter to Dave, a 27-year- plopped down on the sofa in our living room, alone old graphic designer I met at the theater. Lean and in the flickering light of the TV. I know many gay handsome with the type of scruffy messenger boy men who spend their Saturday nights doing just this. look that’s almost de rigueur for Portland gays— Before leaving Oregon Theatre, I watched a tru knit cap, two-day unshaven face, baggy zip-up ly memorable encounter. A heavyset white man hoody hanging loose over a fitted graphic tee— and another chubby man of mixed race enjoyed Dave sidles up, sniffs me out. He smells like sweat. each other’s company in the back row. After each “1 haven’t been here in a few weeks,” he says. “Most had climaxed, they let out heavy sighs. And then of the guys here are a little scary.” So why come one man extended his hand. “I’m Chuck,” he said, back? “I’m horny,” he says. And then, almost and smiled. “I’m Tom,” the other replied, and took unknowingly: “I’m lonely.” his hand. And then they embraced. There are other lonely creatures lurking in the theater. A man in probably his late 40s with an S tephen M arc B eaudoin writes about Portland arts athletic build stalks the aisles with a small pile of and queer culture at fromeverycomer.blogspot.com. He welcomes feedback at stephenmarcb@yahoo.com. clothes in his arms. He’s fully naked, except for a pair Corner View F Adobe Ros e LUNCH 11:30'2:00 Tues. - Sat. & DINNER 5:00'9:00 Tues. ' Sat. Cafe CLOSED Sun. & Mon. FULL BAR Experience The Flavors of New Mexico 1634 S.E. Bybee Blvd. • (503) 235-9114 We love diversity. open seven days a week happy hour 3-6 mon-sat, all day Sunday 3955 n. mississippi ave—portland 503.287.lupa Conversation after conversation, I hear the same poignant needs from queer men here: l/Vfe want fellowship, we want shared experience, we want community.
