Ode To Our Now Closed Gay Treasures.

[PozSlime]

The (infamous)Bijou Theater in Chicago closed for good in Sep '15. I hurts my heart when I hear news like that about my favorite venues closing down for good. I had so many hot memories at the Bijou and what a nasty fucking pigpen that place was. Two floors of wicked sin. A real den of debauchery. Gloryhole booths with holes large enough to crawl through in some booths. Smaller GH's on other booths. Some of the booths had large 3 side holes. There were community slings in the dungeon fetish area, fuckbenches and a St Andrews cross.

 

A real throwback-type gay sex emporium. I've had so many hot and nasty encounters there that I should've forgotten but can't. I don't forget hot encounters. I can JO to my memories from the Bijou.

 

One of the many rows of GH booths. I've had hot encounters in every one of those doors!

 

The community slings in the fetish room. Was it called the mine shaft if I remember?

 

The bathroom. It always reeked of piss but that made it so hot to get fucked in. Like inhaling poppers. I remember getting fucked by a big black uncut dude through this hole among many other hot encounters.

 

 

These are probably some of the only pics left that show the inside of the place, I'm hoping someone here may have some to post. Worth a shot. I get lost looking at these pics because of the memories.

 

I know many here on this site have been to the Bijou at some point in their life. Any hot stories to share?

 

I may write about it more in the fiction section.

 

Do you have a favorite venue that closed sometime recently? Another for me was Man's World bath in Chicago. Closed in 2005. Too many hot memories to remember there as well.

 

Sad that we lose many of these hot places over time. I thought it would be cool to share our memories at the lost and gone forever places.

 

The Bijou and Man's World will always live in my heart and memories!

 

[einathens]

I miss Mack Folsom in San Francisco. 

[KindaBasic]

<sigh> So many places are going the way of the dodo bird.

[C10H15N]

The sling in SF is on my list.

[fuckrogerbb]

Do you know what will replace the Bijou in that space?

[PozSlime]

Do you know what will replace the Bijou in that space?

 

Good question. Wish I had a better answer. From what I understand, the building has historical significance and that could save it from being demolished. But I've also heard the plan is to demolish it and the surrounding buildings as well.

 

Those who know the neighborhood will remember how that stretch of Wells St used to be rather quiet at night. Starting around 2000, that all changed as the street began gentrifying and becoming more lined with corporate sanitation. We all know that likely led to the Bijou closing.

 

I haven't been in that neighborhood since it closed but will drive by soon out of curiosity. I'll give updates here soon.

 

Here's a YT vid from their 40th anny about 5 years ago. Funny story about how the owner secured the building permits from the city. The birthday cake at 16:50 is hilarious!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrOlhjm_TvfTI9E3dgP61ow

 

I managed to dig up a few more pics. Man, I'm overcome with a heavy sense of nostalgia from looking at these. The memories..

[cannero]

To give an English perspective, I often think fondly of the Coleherne which I discovered in the 90's and was aware it had left its hey day. Always cruisy and although the clients looked hardcore and tough, always friendly. Times were different then so sex in clubs wasn't tolerated as much, but I always managed to pick up and take home. In the evenings a couple of bouncers would often patrol and keep it clean, although they weren't often that committed to their role. But in the afternoon and early evening the toilets could get pretty fun. I remember one saturday afternoon, after far too much beer, being pulled into a cubicle in the main bogs by an american tourist. Jeans, leather waistcoat, balding, with a huge grey hair chest. Started begging me loudly to shoot over his chest while the bouncers are banging on the door to get out now. When the door opened, they just used to sigh and go, guys, guys.

 

The small toilet when no security was on was great. Drinking on the side bar, you would see one guy go in, then another, then another. Eventually you'd get in and find 6 or 7 guys wanking off, fucking. blow jobs in an area the size of a postage stamp.

 

Times were different in other ways and in the years I went I never saw as much fucking as you would expect, and condom use was the normal thing.

 

But if I had one regret in sleazy London locations, I wish I had got to the Fort at least once. I remember fucking an absolute pig one night who was a pretty no limit sort of guy, and when he said the fort was too sleazy for him I got interested. it pretty much closed soon after before I could get there.

[RawLeather]

I miss Mack Folsom in San Francisco. 

Yes, I too miss Macks.  Is Natoma any good???

[PozSlime]

To give an English perspective, I often think fondly of the Coleherne which I discovered in the 90's and was aware it had left its hey day. Always cruisy and although the clients looked hardcore and tough, always friendly. Times were different then so sex in clubs wasn't tolerated as much, but I always managed to pick up and take home. In the evenings a couple of bouncers would often patrol and keep it clean, although they weren't often that committed to their role. But in the afternoon and early evening the toilets could get pretty fun. I remember one saturday afternoon, after far too much beer, being pulled into a cubicle in the main bogs by an american tourist. Jeans, leather waistcoat, balding, with a huge grey hair chest. Started begging me loudly to shoot over his chest while the bouncers are banging on the door to get out now. When the door opened, they just used to sigh and go, guys, guys.

 

The small toilet when no security was on was great. Drinking on the side bar, you would see one guy go in, then another, then another. Eventually you'd get in and find 6 or 7 guys wanking off, fucking. blow jobs in an area the size of a postage stamp.

 

Times were different in other ways and in the years I went I never saw as much fucking as you would expect, and condom use was the normal thing.

 

But if I had one regret in sleazy London locations, I wish I had got to the Fort at least once. I remember fucking an absolute pig one night who was a pretty no limit sort of guy, and when he said the fort was too sleazy for him I got interested. it pretty much closed soon after before I could get there.

Thanks for the story and the perspective.

 

Any place with a reputation of being 'too sleazy' sounds like my kind of place!

 

Oink!

[Guest bbbearlover1]

One day, we might finally be comfortable savings places like this for the purpose of maintaining our history.  These types of places are huge for those of us who were around before the Internet, and they deserve our respect.

[Treehugger]

I miss the Club New Orleans. That place was heaven on earth. I don't think I ever encountered a condom in that place and I did a hell of a lot of fucking there. I would get a hard-on just walking by the front doors. You could smell that heady aroma of sex and disinfectant from the street.

[Guest Dickmagnet]

When i was younger i remember the colherne well especially the small toilet on the side of the bar, Always liked the crowd in the afternoons. I remember many horny afternoons in that place. But yes in those days condoms were the norm. I remember also a place called the copa's on earl court road a club which had it's share of horny corners & toilets, Sadly a place that has been closed for a long time too + i remember a place further away direction islington & a bit further away just can't remember the name of the club but that was a horny sleazy place with a dance floor in the basements & lots of cruising going on in the toilets.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Dickmagnet
adding more information

[paskin]

2 hours ago, Dickmagnet said:

When i was younger i remember the colherne well especially the small toilet on the side of the bar, 

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me. The Colherne was the first place where as a teenager I picked up and went "back to his" (in Chiswick, I still remember... we were still in bed when his bf got home and joined in  ) ... I also remember that toilet as being the location for one of my sleaziest fucks for quite some time back then. 

You might be thinking of the London Apprentice ("the LA") at 333 Old Street... big venue, banging dancefloor in the basement, and those toilets were insanely cruisy, sometimes an orgy-like grope-fest!

 

[tallslenderguy]

As others have alluded to, I think cruising places have fallen out of favor because of the smart phone/cruising aps and the net. I was living in Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads (VB and surrounding areas like Norfolk VA) during the cruising hey day. That area is built on the Chesapeake Bay and has the largest Naval base in the world, so lots of military.  There were several very cruisy places in the 80's and 90's.  

Ocean View Beach would have at least 10 guys cruising during slow times and 40 or 50 was not unusual. It was a social gathering as well as a cruising place. Across the bay was Grand View natural preserve, you had to hike back almost a mile on sand dunes, but there was nude 'sun bathing' the further you'd go, and sex out in the open... sort of. Lots of mall rest rooms where you could go pretty much any time where fucking and sucking happened under the stall walls and through GH's.

This was Virginia and there were always vice cops to worry about. I got arrested in '98 for asking an undercover cop to fuck me. It was always total entrapment. They'd pretend to be gay and cruising and were usually hot. I got charged using a 100 year old sodomy law that made sex with another male a felony. The attorney general at the time was a religious right winger who used fear of gays as a platform to further his career, so he instructed his DA's to go for blood. I hired a very expensive lawyer who knew the game and it took about a year to come to trial in '99. Thankfully things had progressed enough, even in the south, where it was no longer considered to be evil to be gay, and the judge immediately lowered it to a misdemeanor. He asked my lawyer what he wanted to do and he said back to the judge "I don't know, what do you think?" He 'reduced' the "offense" to indecent exposure. Thing is, there was no exposure involved, just conversation. I was so scared out of my wits, I just gratefully took it and paid the fine. I was still married at the time and closeted, so I had the stress of trying to hide everything. I'm in healthcare, and to this day I have to explain this to every place I apply to for a job, because they do a criminal background.  This is a part of the past cruising legacy that I don't miss. I live in Oregon now, and it is actually totally legal to have sex at an ABS or bath house. 

[latinocumwhore1]

Recently it was announced that Mans Country in Chicago, another place that dates back to the golden age of bathhouses (Bette Midler performed there!) will also be closing. The owner has gotten older,  the place isn't as popular as it once was,  and the area has gentrified a lot