Did your hometown have a Cruising Spot?

HOW WOULD I KNOW

Not that I'm aware of honestly.

I did not expect this to be about Visalia

I didn't even know this was a thing until I moved to the city.

And here I thought you were talking about streets named gay. There was a literal gay st. where I grew up.

PersonAndStuff said:

I was listening to The Dollop's Stonewall Riots episode and was reminded that between Visalia(my hometown) and Tulare (Devin Nunes' hometown) there was (and probably still is) a notorious country road where gay people would go for anonymous sex. I would assume these places mostly existed for closeted folks and I wonder if they're going away.

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These places existed everywhere but they're not gonna be roads/rest stops in metropolitan areas.

I live in a coastal Florida town and the mangroves were (and maybe still are) a known place where gay men go to cruise. So much so that the police would patrol there sometimes. I wish society was as accepting as we like to say we are so places like this don't have to exist. I remember growing up kids parents would tell them to stay away from that area.

Can sex really be anonymous?

you're talking about Cruising spots. Calling them Gay Roads is only going to confuse people.

Kids today...

west hollywood. basically a gay city unto itself.

Is this something I google or...?

All our roads go both ways

Montreal doesn't have any road like that that I know of, but there are encounter spots.

EvilChameleon said:

Can sex really be anonymous?

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I know a fair few people who will have sex with people without either person even knowing the other's name. I've never understood it, but it's a thing.

there is a police brutality and social pariah status portion to the whole reason cruising exists. especially since gay clubs weren't even necessarily safe spaces.

I was told by a friend like a decade ago that such a spot existed in Central Park NYC. Don't know how true that is.

Uhh Montreal has an area called the Gay Village. Does that count?

Huh, I'll have to check out that episode. I worked in Visalia and Tulare a lot in my 20s and never heard that. I think the park in my hometown was a hook up spot but I don't remember for sure.

No.

Vancouver does though.

Wait what? This reminds me of that one episode of Always Sunny that I just saw.


Split me open like a coconut

We have a lot of forests in Chicago.

EvilChameleon said:

Can sex really be anonymous?

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What would you call it if you don't know anything about the other person aside from what their face a genitals look like?

LOL at "Gay Roads"

My suburban hometown didn't, but Toronto has Church Street.

Edit: Didn't fully read the OP. If we're talking about that, in the '90s there was a police raid on public washrooms in a specific park in my town.

Steeped in a Sea of Games said:

And here I thought you were talking about streets named gay. There was a literal gay st. where I grew up.

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My town had a Gaylord St

13 year-old me got a lot of laughs out of that sign

sydney has the wonderfully rainbowy oxford st where the stonewall hotel is, big centre for sydney's lgbt scene and focus for the mardi gras. wasn't expecting op to be so blunt lol

loneliestwizard said:

LOL at "Gay Roads"

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Yup. I won't name names but there is a beautiful park area sort of on the grounds of a notable local business, and the reputation was that dudes would park there off to the side looking for hookups. And I know there is some truth to it, because when I was a kid(a young kid, this was like 25 years ago), it turned out that our pastor was goin for hookups and was found out. Being that this was a christian church in SC in the 90s, he did not get to stay. They didn't tell me anything at the time of course as I was like 8, but my parents told me later in life. Sort of an initiation to repressive religious BS for me, you might say.

Never heard of a "gay road," but I've heard of "gay trails." Back when I was in high school the trail at our school(thats now a greenway) was notoriously known for its debauchery. It was so known everyone knew not to go out there past a certain hour. Anyway, it ended when some kids I went to school with thought it would be a great idea to go out there and beat someone nearly to death. I was trying to find a news source before posting this, but I can't find anything. I live in TN though, so not so hard to believe.

EvilChameleon said:

Can sex really be anonymous?

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What else would you call it when I suck a guy's dick through a hole in the bathroom stall?

Yup, think there's one in every small, bigoted town.

Spork4000 said:

Yup, think there's one in every small, bigoted town.

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There wasn't one in mine in West TN. There were a few cruising areas in the bigger city 20 minutes away, though.

TaterTots said:

Never heard of a "gay road," but I've heard of "gay trails." Back when I was in high school the trail at our school(thats now a greenway) was notoriously known for its debauchery. It was so known everyone knew not to go out there past a certain hour. Anyway, it ended when some kids I went to school with thought it would be a great idea to go out there and beat someone nearly to death. I was trying to find a news source before posting this, but I can't find anything. I live in TN though, so not so hard to believe.

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A hate crime?

Rover said:

A hate crime?

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Yea. Nearly everyone knew about it. It's no secret as to why they did it. I'm just surprised I can't find anything on the internet about it 14 years later. I remember one kid being named "Dustin." lol

Thought this was going to be about roads where people just hung out by the hundreds in all the store parking lots up and down the strip.

PersonAndStuff said:

I was listening to The Dollop's Stonewall Riots episode and was reminded that between Visalia(my hometown) and Tulare (Devin Nunes' hometown) there was (and probably still is) a notorious country road where gay people would go for anonymous sex. I would assume these places mostly existed for closeted folks and I wonder if they're going away.

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From the title this was not a good what I thought this was going to be about. Not that i am aware of

Hecht said:

That was a weird title, edited it.

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Except that now it is just a trap for people who don't read the OP.

When I was in my mid/late teens Friday and Saturday nights consisted of all sorts "cruising the ave" in their cars and trucks and doing laps for hours while occasionally meeting up and hanging out in a parking lot just off the main drag which is quite a bit different than cruising for gay sex.

TheGhost said:

Thought this was going to be about roads where people just hung out by the hundreds in all the store parking lots up and down the strip.

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sven said:

The town square was our cruising and hangout spot.

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See what I mean?

The town square was our cruising and hangout spot.

I know there were at least two in my general area but not really sure the locations since I was never looking for sex with men. I do know where the gay bar was that was always fighting being shut down from zoning bs to threats but stayed open for years. Was too young to have gone even if I wanted to however.

It's crazy to think that even with the amount of current bigotry and conservative efforts to roll back the clock how much things have changed for the better, though there is still a long way to go and what looks like it might need to be a fight to get where things should be.

Not to my knowledge, but I guess I wouldn't really know

Hecht said:

Great it'll fit in with every single other thread on this site now

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Damn I laughed.

I mean, it was the 1970s but I believe a concrete public toilet on Edinburgh's Gorgie road, near the Banana Flats, was THE spot. At least that was what my more or less Scottish Stand By Me crew believed.

Lol, I know what a cruising spot is. No idea what a gay road is hahaha.

I remember a highway I dove down when I was younger had an exit for an actual Gay Road, no idea if it was good for cruising though.

First time Ive heard of that definition of "cruising".

Rizific said:

First time Ive heard of that definition of "cruising".

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It's gay slang, but it is common. It's the fourth definition in Webster's dictionary.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cruise

lenovox1 said:

It's gay slang, but it is common. It's the fourth definition in Webster's dictionary.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cruise

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There's also a slightly objectionable but possibly well meaning Al Pacino movie of the same name and subject.

1980.

It;s actually. Asuper tense and suspenseful crime thriller, but it would look clumsy nowadays.

It did until police started entrapping people there. I've yet to be notified of where the new one is, if any.

wait, that is what cruising means? huh

Is it true that cops catch gay people by going through with it and then arresting them after the fact?