Are The Central Park RAMBLES still a thing?

Is it really the granddaddy of urban public gay sex? Hyde Park London, Jardin des Tuileries Paris and Tiergarten Berlin once were legendary gay stomping grounds.

Does RAMBLES mean cruising?

Griffith Park was great when I was a gayling in the mid 90s.

Got some nice daddy cock there.

R1 - yes, the Rambles fit into that category.

🎵 I’m just crusin, down this highway of life…

This is very disgusting and un-Christian!

Now where, exactly, are these so-called Rambles?

[quote] This is very disgusting and un-Christian!

I disagree. I’ve never been closer to God than when servicing cock.

[quote]Now where, exactly, are these so-called Rambles?

Just follow the dripping cock road.

R1 the typical Datalounger doesn’t consider “foreign” places - American Exceptional cruising, ya know?

I’ve never been there, never nope not even…

[quote]The Central Park RAMBLES

There's more than one now? Perhaps closer to Fifth?

I don't know her.

One of my closest friends is there roughly once a week. Apparently, there’s been a recent resurgence of activity.

I was last there in the fall but the presence of so many tourists nearby put me off.

I take long walks through Central Park in the mornings about a couple of times a month. Sometimes I do the walk/hike through the Ramble area for a change of pace, but I never looked for or noticed any actual cruising or sex activity. Perhaps I'm a bad gay? Maybe other people here know better?

This is sick! Please give me the address, so I can go lecture the sinners there!

The T-Birds and Pink Ladies are very active.

Does this involve any Larry Craig kind of footwork?

I’ve never seen any shenanigans in the ramble but I only walk in the park during the day. A lot of bird watchers though. And European families.

My apologies to the Datalounge and to the entire gay community. This elder gay, until now, never actually realized that it is "Ramble" (not "Rambles"). Never really gave it much thought, actually.

For that, I am truly sorry.

*I always preferred Fort Tryon Park, personally.

Back in the early 90s it was out of control. There was dock 24/7. And it was very unsafe.

^there was DICK everywhere, that is.

R23 I’m sure there was a lot of docking, too.

I thought R22 was referring to the Christopher Street Piers.

Prospect Park in the 80s and 90s was reliable and safe during the day. There was a bit on the perimeter at night but inside the park it was sinister. In pleasant weather I would take morning runs through the grassy fields and paths in the woods and several times found fresh Santeria sites. No joke.

I have to insert a true story here. When I was a young gay man in NYC, around 1982 or so, I was strolling through the Ramble and made the acquaintance of a very thin but very well-hung guy of Puerto Rican ancestry. It was a cool and showery day, and we were able to do some very innocent fooling around without interruption. But he was very fun and wanted to hang out afterwards, so we sat on a bench talking. We noticed a young Hassidic Jewish guy in full ultra-orthodox regalia walking quickly and nervously through the area. After he circled around about 10 times, he finally came up to us and asked us if this was the place called the Ramble. We said "why yes it is". He left us and walked around again for 5 minutes, then approached us again. He said, "I've heard that a person can meet men here" . We glanced at one another and didn't even dare answer him for fear that we'd start laughing. Then he said, "My specialty is circumcised- how could I find someone like that?". Well, we were floored. I think I said, "probably you could just ask". But inwardly I was thinking, "you're not going to pick someone up dressed like that". We were shaking with laughter as he walked away, but part of me was also crying for him. I can't even imagine how much courage it took for him to even walk in that part of the park, never mind asking two gay goyim such explicit questions.

I just pretend I'm birdwatching. If I see a 'fish' I'll get thisclose and start filming her.

R27 I think you didn't get out much? it was not unusual to see a horny Hassidic in sleazy places. In the mid 80s I worked midtown and sometimes went to the peeps in Times Square. Just a short dash from the diamond shops. I remember 3 different Hassidic guys and one was cute so I fooled around with him a couple times. One was insane and would sit on the floor of peep show booth with the door open. Each time I saw him he had a paper bag of bagels and bialys and he would repeat "wanna a bagel?" "wanna try the hole?" in an exaggerated yiddish accent while he would do lewd things with the bagel hole. I'm not sure why he had the bialys. It must have been a back up fetish that I never witnessed in play.

In the early 80s I would see Hassidic guys sometimes in the grungier bars and art spaces in the East Village and at CBGBs there were some teen hassidic kinda punk kids.

#27, maybe that was Boy George?

I recently walked across the Park through the Ramble (Bird Sanctuary). I didn’t see a thing going on. Much more fencing off of areas, park maintenance etc. I figure times change- hookup apps- and the generally much more rigorous park care and management have had their effect.

In the late 70s right through the 90s the Ramble was pretty wild, day and night. I never ever went there after dark in those days - indeed anywhere in the park. Recently I have cut across corners in the park with friends. Despite what Republicans want you to think, the City and Park are much safer than back in the day.

Of course, this being Datalounge and its anti-sex posturing, you Eldergays don't know about Sniffies. With a couple of swipes on your smartphone, you can see who's cruising where and how far they are from you.

Old cruising spots like the Ramole are coming alive again. The best part is that you can turn any location into a cruising spot by adding it to the Sniffies map. A friend added the ground floor of his work building to Sniffies, and now he can cruise his spot during lunch.

*Ramble

Uhm ... yes, us Eldergays do know about Sniffies.

The problem with your generation and all your little apps is that you take all the adventure out by basically ordering up your next hook-up. With old-school Cruising, you never know what you're gonna get. Some nights are a complete bust - while on others you can hit the jackpot.

There is an art to cruising that is obviously lost on the entitled generation.

r32- I swipe right with my eyes.

We didn't need words, we had faces

The Ramble is still "a thing" because it's classic and gorgeous but it's different now. The landscaping used to be wild, the paths were unmarked, poorly lit and rocky and no one had GPS. The atmosphere was a lot sexier. Now it's brightly lit, completely paved and mostly fenced and the landscaping, though fabulous, had been designed to eliminate a lot of the places where people used to gather. Honestly, it's nicer and safer than it's ever been, though not as hot as it used to be. Uptown locations are better.

Uptown locations in Central Park? Do tell!

Another thread about New York City, there aren't many of those!

Are the leafy perimeters of the Wiener Rathaus still a late night Schweinefest?

Is this still a thing? Didn’t the invention of apps render this mode of meeting needless?

Today is the hottest day of the year, at 1pm. I just logged on to Sniffies and it showed 150 people in the Ramble last night. Currently more than 50 in Ft. Tryon and at least 30 cruisers each in the parks near Columbia, Harlem and Yeshiva University where there is a huge skateboard park. If fact, all the parks along the Hudson and East river have been cleaned up an it's they're all busy until after dusk. They've even made a couple of "beaches" along the way. My cruising days are over but I see hot mens all over the place. Now I'm a nature walker. This year, I've seen groundhogs, garter snakes, wild turkeys, bald eagles and vultures, all in Manhattan. There's a new walkway across the GWB and the park on the NJ side, FT. Lee, has deer, cannons, old forts and plenty of "tourists" walking around.

The Ramble? Two thumbs up!

I think you mean 2 inches up, Kevin!

"Used to Ramble through the park, shadowboxing in the dark. Then you came and caused a spark that's a four alarm fire now."

"I never cared much for moonlit skies, I never winked back at fireflies, but now that the stars are in your eyes, I'm beginning to see the light"

A long time ago, I was talking to a hot Sicilian American psychiatrist (or so he said) sitting on one of the park benches near that big rock formation. One of the biggest dicks I have ever seen was hanging out of his shorts while he stroked it. He complained about men objectifying him for his big dick while he begged me to suck it.

As much as I wanted to, this was the late 80s and I was not about to wrap my lips around any man's dick. But we did end up jerking off together in that round wooden pavilion closer to CPW.

I remember when Dick Button’s assault took place how the ABC network tried to play it off as if he was just jogging and was mugged. Even the frauiest frauen knew that the area where he was beaten up was a cruising spot and that several gay bashings had happened there more than once.

R3 what part of Griffith Park?

I got busted in the Rambles by an undercover cop. Baited.

I got busted by two cops. Ran away into the underbrush. Saved my career.

I was not so lucky.

A Swiss air pilot? Yum!

R50 - important update from March 2000.

R45 nobody told you that HIV isn't transmitted by blow jobs? How many years did you waste?

[quote]My apologies to the Datalounge and to the entire gay community. This elder gay, until now, never actually realized that it is "Ramble" (not "Rambles").

It's The Ramble, dear, not just "Ramble." Its full name is technically The Ramble and Lake.

“Who’s here. We’re here. I’m here” ( my friend Stewart would repeat that all the time as he cruised that area )

I would guess most have seen the modern American classic Cruising?

R48 what happened? They’ve started baiting with undercover cops in LA recently,, I saw chatter about it on Sniffies. Such poor behaviour by the cops (quelle surprise). Trying to ruin someone’s life bc they got a blowjob at nighttime in some bushes 🙄

Are you sure it’s night time? At least in other cities I read about 11 am busts. One former or ad cop arrested in a NYC area pickle park in the daytime not long ago and near balls fields. Not at all unusual most of those I know who have been busted in a cruise park were busted in daylight hours.

If civilians and moms are complaining to the police , and that is often why enforcement kicks in, it’s not about what happens at 1 am in your local Palmer Park that causes the complaints.

The Flyoverstan rambles are something out of Deliverance.

Huh, R58?

What is a Dick Button? Is it the same as a Tallywacker?

I don't know about Central Park, but the subway seems to be popular. In case the link preview doesn't work, just remove the spaces from this URL...

https : // streamable . com / qo60o4

A few years back I saw a couple of gay guys dry humping on a crowded train. It was truly absurd.

Is r60 being facetious?

A video from last fall.

I wonder if the conservancy geek in the video at R64 has an idea of the real history of The Ramble.