Who here remembers "The Piers"?

I was too young but one of my co-workers showed me photos of himself in a bikini bathing suit among the ruins in the 70s. Earlier than that he said there was a 'beach' of landfill leftover from the construction of the original WTC (where Battery Park City is now) that the gays used to flock to for sunbathing. Ah, the wilder NYC.

This clip might help stimulate some memories.

This is a comment from the video in r2.

[Quote]Greenwich Village was "Mecca" for gay men in the 1970's and 80's, particularly before the Aids epidemic really hit hard in the 90's. Christopher Street was an outside party....24 x7 and the piers was a congregating place in warmer weather; to sunbathe, read a book, socialize and enjoy the day. By night....it became a "cruise" zone to pick-up men for anonymous sex.(As if heterosexual men do not "cruise" around and look for sex !)The old West Side Highway was still standing and the infamous "Trucks" in the meat packing district....a few blocks South was also a notorious gay hang out after dark for sexual escapades. Along West Street in those days were popular gay bars like the Ramrod, Sneakers, Peter Rabbits,the old Keller Hotel and a few porno video shops, too. This area has been gentrified and replaced today by upscale restaurants, boutiques, and high-end condos.

It was a hot cruising area and the sex was HOT! That was back in the pre-aids days.

I used to ride there on my bike- with a can of Crisco in the basket.

I remember "The Piers" but as something that was dangerous. I saw a documentary years ago about "The Piers" and the police were fishing a nude man's body out of the water, and they said he meant the wrong guy (their words). I can remember them fishing this gorgeous nude body out of the Hudson River, and I thought, "Thank God I trusted my instincts."

The trucks and the piers for sex was before my time but in the mid 80s - my time - we would go their during the day and sunbathe and socialise. No big deal. It was nice to be out on the river.

go there

[quote]I became an adult in 1984

Was there some sort of ceremony? Did you have a Bat Mitzvah?

The danger was a part of the allure. Fantastic orgies/group sex, especially after 4am. Hundreds of men cruising for sex and very little attitude.

I lived too far east. It was easy enough to pick someone up along University Place or at Jefferson Market.

Oh, and you don't need initial caps for the trucks or the piers.

Or quotation marks.

r7 Okay, before your time. All the sex at "The Piers" happened in the 1970s, so good for you in the 1980s when it was just for sunbathing and socializing.

R8 You're an idiot that doesn't have a clue.

r10 And how many are dead now?

[Quote]I can remember them fishing this gorgeous nude body out of the Hudson River

I'm sure there are plenty of untold stories like this from that time period. Maybe a quick mention about it in the Daily News. People tried to keep these things hush-hush in those days.

Looks filthy in that movie. What is it about bodies of water and filthy locales that attract most gay men?

A walk to the piers in 1988, the guy at the end explains what happened to the piers.

I was always afraid of falling through.

R17, is your caftan an XXL?

"the guy at the end" is legendary downtown documentarian Nelson Sullivan and producer of this video.

Not now, r18, but certainly not then.

The woman was irritating.

Looks like a great place to catch an std.

I think there was a gay porno in the '70s called "Pier Groups."

Films of change like this make me nostalgic and sad. Plus happy Blackout dog long dead.

I wish I lived back then. To buy up that cheap real estate that is now worth a fortune.

Hot guy at 00:57 mark. Wonder if he's still alive.

I can't watch it without thinking of what storm was brewing, waiting to sweep all this away. That ghostly seagull at the end seemed like a messenger of death.

Watched a documentary once called "Gay Sex in the 70s" where the piers were mentioned. One man after another said what people forget was that there was an exhilarating innocence to that time because all they remember is what came after. All those guys whose young manhood was radically different from men who were only a few years older, getting to live openly, be with who they wanted, because there was a place they could go to, leaving their stifling little towns behind and have the carefree adolescence they missed out on.

At the end was a shot of one of them, older and probably not as wise as he should be, walking past the pilings that were all that was left of the piers, the only surviving member of his circle of friends.

I used to take the Erie-Lackawana train from Madison NJ (I was in university there) to Hoboken then the PATH to Christopher Street. Oh god it was heaven. Non-stop erotic cabaret. On the train back to Madison, my well-fucked ass quivered and throbbed

R27 did you use rubbers?

No one did back then

And then everyone died...the end.

I knew a girl who went to the Piers. But then she was ignored.

R26 Purple Prose

Hindsight is always 20/20 you faux moral prisspots. Clutch you pearls, watch your porn, imagine a world where sex was celebration.

I barely remember Piers Morgan.

It must've been fun to fuck and only worry about curable STDs.

The Riverside was still going strong in the nineties. Lots of hustling and pay-by- the- hour hotels were happening downtown near the west side highway. Around 14th St there were kind of makeshift asphalt crumpling piers and lots of people would cruise. I don't know if that fits the criteria but it was happening every night especially in the summer time from the lower east side to the 20's. Fixtures were rough trade a bit but every own mixed around sunset. By sundown you either had your hookup or left. I remember girls, but mostly harsh types. Maybe lez. But tended to hang around the hustlers having street parties. It was a mix of different people who had at least one thing in common.

R15 Nostalgie de la boue, it was said.

Bump for more tales of The Piers!

WW to R31 for a witty twist on one of DL's tiredest memes.

It was all over before I got there. But one night my then boyfriend and I made out on the piers at the foot of Christopher, because history.

Are the Piers still there? I'm assuming not but is it land now or just different nicer piers.

They look like this now, r41. Gay guys still go there, and you can check out the cute boys, but it's nothing like in its seedy heyday. Straights and families hang there now, and the piers are closed at night. For any action, you would have to take any guy you've just met someplace else, like to your apartment or his.

Ooh la la. Looks like a college campus. But where is the frisson, that certain je ne sais quois? That thing that one comes wandering into a big bad beautiful city for... Something is lost. Strangely, an innocence?

It makes you wonder why so many gay men are exhibitionists.

The Piers were infamous back in the day and everyone knew it was a popular, pre-AIDS cruising spot

Man, I haven’t thought of the Piers since high school, but even high schoolers knew about the Piers.

Lol.

[quote]It makes you wonder why so many gay men are exhibitionists.

It makes you wonder why so many gay men are Bump Bitches.

Bump.

OMG! Never mind the danger of meeting Mr Goodbar or a cop - the whole place looks like it would collapse on top of you in a light breeze! Is this picture making it look worse than it was?

As I recall them, the piers were dangerous because you could step on a nail.

I fell in love down at the pier.

I lived on Christopher Street (about one block from the river) in the early 70s. Checked it out but it looked kind of seedy (and a treasure trove of wooden splinter accidents waiting to happen).

1984 was the year somebody got his cherry popped.

Now he's a [italic] real man !

Last year the NYT ran an amazing set of photos from the beach described by R1, the site that's now Battery Park City. Hard to imagine now.