Guess this means when the bartenders at one of the last rent-boy bars in town tonight announce "last call for alcohol," it really will be the last call for booze, and boys, at Kimo's!
Your demise tonight is the end of an era for the Polkstrasse neighborhood, but many of us will remember the good times had at the bar and in the bathroom of Kimo's.
Kimo's on Polk Street, which opened in 1978 and is one of the oldest gay bars in town, is closing today.
Owner Kimo Cochran bought a house by the river in Guerneville and just decided it was time to close. There will be food and Champagne "and probably a lot of tears on my part," Cochran says.And "does anyone know if great bars go to heaven?" e-mails Jim Schock upon the closing of the Washington Square Bar & Grill. "If there are no bars up there, I'm going to have to rethink dying."
De Cecco (pronounced duh-CHECK-o), is 82 now, a bit physically diminished but vigorous in his curiosities. He edits the Journal of Homosexuality, an academic peer-review journal that comes out eight times per year; is a member and sponsor of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society; and still finds huge fascination in the subject of sex -- its practices, its permutations, in particular the windows it provides into the human psyche.
But sex is more than an abstraction -- it's also an active pursuit. De Cecco doesn't date, per se, but frequents Polk Street, where he cruises for male hustlers and goes to Kimo's, a bar that caters to older men and rent boys. Most of the men he hires are in their 20s or early 30s, often homeless or living in fleabag hotels. Many of them use crystal meth or heroin.
It's the pursuit, the mystery of the man as yet unattained, unconquered, that motivates him. "It's going out on the street and seeing who's there, who's available, and meeting someone about whom you know nothing. And just having this very intimate act with a stranger. ... It's partly the unpredictability of what's going to happen."
My buddy Peter Cashman, longtime activist down in Los Angeles, sent along this message:
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was first in SF exactly 25 years ago - early February 1983. The big flood and storm of 1983 trapped me in SF for an extra week as all rail lines etc were closed.
The Queen had to fly rather than sail into SF.
Despite all the rain SF turned on a welcome for Her Maj the like of which I have never seen anywhere else (e.g. Australia and the UK).
Huge crowds and much, much hilarity and excitement.
Kimo's was particularly memorable as they were staging a drag "Queen" pageant with all and sundry dolled up as HRH QE II.
The place was packed to the rafters including media. A film crew from the BBC video-ed the proceedings for their coverage of the Royal Tour.
Just down the street from Kimo's on the same side, the liquor store had altered their marquee normally displaying specials etc to read: "Queens We Have. Send Us Randy Andy'!
At the Castro Theatre "Pirates of Penzance" premiered starring Kevin Kline. What better film to showcase the Castro's magnificent theatre organ.
Those days will not be entirely forgotten - this past week filming finally began in the Castro on the major movie on the life of Harvey Milk who was killed in 1978. Sean Penn is playing the lead role...... Castro street has been made over to restore it back to the 70's... Chronicle story and pics here....
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/01/30/MNUBULUI1.DTL
pete
=
I honestly didn't think there were any rent boy bars left in San Francisco, just as all the bathhouses are gone. I've been in SF five years and never thought of Kimo's as a hustler bar. Of course, I've only been there once.
ReplyDeleteI was commenting to a friend not long ago that the bar scene generally isn't the scene it used to be. Mostly it's friends hanging out, or people out to celebrate something, or people meeting in person after meeting online. The days of going out to meet people, while not entirely gone, seem to be waning as the internet has taken over and changed this aspect of life, too.
I don't know how anyone can wax nostalgic for the opportunity to rape and exploit some of the world's most vulnerable people- homeless, troubled youth. Do you really think the young men involved cared for these old slobs or felt genuinely excited over what they were doing? It sounds hideous, desperate and pathetic to me. May "clubs" like this vanish forever. "Rent boys," how much more dehumanizing and self-absorbed can we get?
ReplyDeletethe guys working in bars are "hustlers" "rent boys" are guys woring from the internet or out of publications. its aother word for "escort" i preferr escort over "rent boy". either way star trek is on sooo
ReplyDeleteand as an escrt i have to say i made a choice to do it while going to school so i can have free time for a social life, and money. im not "exploited" or on "crystal meth" and i wouldnt live in the tenderloin if i were PAYED to
id sooner go back to honolulu
its sad to see its closing,rent boys r not all down & out guys or drug adicks ,i have met & become friends with lots of them mostly gay & nice guysc... Tarzan
ReplyDeleteI would just like to know when anderson has really ever cared about those he pretends to champion....he is part of the problem of driving the poor and undersirable from their communities so starbucks can open another cafe. That is really what is pathetic!
ReplyDelete