My Hobby History: Intro and Part 1 (The Pre-Internet Years)

I’ve been thinking about posting some of my own hobby history for some time. I haven’t done it before now, because I didn’t want to publish just another whitewashed version of how much better it was in the good old days. In many ways it was, but like most remembrances (hobby and otherwise), rarely is a person or time a thornless rose.

I include myself in the flawed category. Not just because of my continued involvement in an activity that many find immoral, but by my own naïveté and practice of situational ethics when my dick demanded it. That’s one reason I’ve looked forward to growing older: I can avoid some of the more problematic aspects of our hobby by just not hobbying.

So, this personal history, which I plan to post in parts (and may end after just one post...I’m not completely committed to this), is going to be as honest a history of my experience in the DFW hobby scene as I can make it. I’m even going to name names in a few instances, although I’m not going to throw any current known active members under the bus. Indeed, some guys of whom I am critical may look at others with whom I have associated and say, “I’m better than that guy”. Yeah, you may be, but that doesn’t make you any less an asshole.

The audience I really want to reach are the younger guys who may still suffer under the illusions I did when I started that it’s all fun and games. I’m not condemning situational ethics in the hobby, I’m just hoping you’re honest with yourself about what you’re doing...and maybe try to be at least a little bit better tomorrow than you were yesterday.

Now, Part I: my hobby experience before I discovered the internet....

I began P4P not long after I moved to the area in the mid-80s. I didn’t know anyone, no girlfriend, and very horny. I started how a lot of guys started back in those days: cruising the streets. Lancaster in FW was convenient to me, and my most frequent place to locate talent. Every once in awhile I could make the trek to Dallas - this was when Harry Hines was at its peak (from what I read, post-BP, pre-vice squad HH may be challenging that rep).

What an eye-opening experience a trip to Dallas could be! On a good night, traffic would slow to a near halt as the women would strut their stuff. Most weren’t great beauties, but every once in awhile....

I remember one young blonde who marketed her wares along the boulevard. She was beautiful. Said she was 18, and back then I believed everything these chicks told me, because they said it with sincerity. I took frequent trips to HH, searching for blondie, and we managed to hook up 2 or 3 times. I learned to immediately stop if I saw her, as if I waited for the turnaround, some other shopper was going to pick her up.

In addition to her physical attractiveness, blondie was memorable for two things: she introduced me to Executive Spa Club, and taught me Greek, both on the same day. ESC was a local legend: until it burned down in 2010, this place off of Walnut Hill was the perfect setting for quick hookups. They put so much chlorine in the hot tubs, though, that even if you didn’t use the tub (some rooms had massage tables), you would smell like you’d been swimming when you left. At least I felt comfortable that the chemicals would kill whatever was floating around in those tubs.

I remember blondie suggesting I fuck her in the ass. I was so excited to try this forbidden activity I didn’t stop to think there may be a practical reason for the offer: she was likely on the rag and could still meet her pimp’s quota (I probably paid an up charge to boot).

I don’t remember much IOP, from blondie or anyone else I picked up off the street. I didn’t care, I just wanted to get my nut. Blondie disappeared after a month or so...I always wondered what happened to her. I’m hoping she escaped whatever pimp brought her to Dallas and somehow found a normal life.

It’s the street where I found out not all the girls were girls. It was my good fortune that the only time I got pulled over with a hooker in the car was a policeman who asked me if I realized the gal who was fondling my junk was actually a guy. The look of shock on my face tickled the officer so much that he let me go after taking “her” off my hands. Separately, I also learned not to bring anything to the dive hotel room but car keys and the donation after my watch was stolen by one hooker.

Driving the streets of HH, I frequently passed the AMPs and jack shacks in and around the area. I don’t remember when or how I figured out what the protocol was for AMPs, but I did eventually take the plunge. I didn’t find the women attractive, perhaps because I would go once, get the oldest, lumpiest woman there, then not bother to inquire about any other talent that might be around. As best as I can recall, the really good looking young Koreans didn’t start showing up regularly until the mid to late 90s. My AMP days, however, didn’t really begin in earnest until I joined ASPD in 2001.

I did get to experience the studios around 121 and Preston before progress caught up to them. It was a long trip for me, and I didn’t get to go often, but the ladies were nice and seemed better treated than the street whores I’d been frequenting.

I finally began to realize the street was a dangerous place, for me and the women who resorted to that life. I noticed the bruises, the zoned-out looks, and other signs of bad management and poor lifestyle choices. Once I discovered the internet groups and Usenet (Part 2 of this saga), I was finally able to find alternatives that were safer and seemingly less “immoral” (as I was beginning to define it) than those midnight cruises.

I do remember my last street experience, which occurred not long before I joined ASPD. I picked up a Hispanic girl outside the motel where she had her room. She was clearly uncomfortable when we first got inside. Being a seasoned pro by this time (ha!), I engaged in conversation to try and get her more relaxed. We sat on the bed, fully clothed, and talked for 20 minutes. She told me she had a day job as a nursing home attendant, but had recently had a baby and turned to hooking to help support her new family. She was loosening up and really showing her personality when we were both startled by the phone ringing. She picked it up, and her demeanor turned serious again, just like when we first walked into the room. She said little (“he’s still here...we haven’t finished yet....), then hung up the phone and informed me we had ten minutes left.

I knew exactly what was going on, and what she was likely facing. I felt awful. I certainly didn’t feel like fucking. I stood up, counted out the full donation and left it with her. She was at first confused, then thankful (I presume because she didn’t have to fuck another stranger, and she wasn’t having to tell her pimp she was short on the donation). She offered one more time to get me off, but I refused.

I wished her luck and walked out. As I was driving away that night, I’ll always remember glancing into the motel lobby and seeing the darkened figure of her pimp watching me as I left.

I never got the urge to pick up a streetwalker again.

The tl;dr version: I’ve fucked a lot of hookers, even when I shouldn’t.

Hope you continue to post these stories.

Thanks for the history similar to mine but I was New England NYC Boston and in between, hobbying without the internet was a hole different ballgame. My playing field was the strip clubs. The streets where way to mean backnin the 80's not much better in the clubs.

TinMan: A pastor once said during his intense church sermon "Don't quit cheating after your junk doesn't work anymore" I thought really hard about it, why would I quit any sooner? Hope you didn't run into this pastor and you've been brainwashed or did your junk stop working?

For me the hobby was best around 2010-15 when BP was jumping off, lots of great tender talent coming out of there, some made it here and went from $50 up to $400 hr, not telling who they are

The streets has always been a good place to find talent, I filter out the bum looking talent and always on the hunt for the talent out of place. I've met some prime good looking women this way, kept a few for myself without sharing here

It still works...just not as needy as I once was. I’m very happy with that, as my dick ran my life for several decades.

I do miss the days when I could down four large martinis, remain rock hard, and fuck for hours. That was fun.

Very well written. Thanks for posting and I look forward to future additions.

I have started something similar to your story that I hope to post soon. I titled it: "The Hobby-1996 to the Present". Certainly not a creative name, but I started it about six months ago. My, have things changed.

Looking forward to Round 2, TinMan. I tell that to all the ladies, but, if a completely different way, of course, it applies here too.

Looking forward to your contribution, Jim. I know we have shared history beginning in 1996. It will be interesting to see how we view that period after all these years.

Sounds like we ran a lot of the same tracks. I started in Dallas in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and had very similar experiences on HH, in the studios, out on 121, and in AMPs. I’ll chime in to add one more piece of data from that era.

Hobbying on the road. I spent two nights a week, on average from 1977 on, in other cities, mostly within Texas on business trips. That meant the yellow pages and an escort agency. And with no reviews, that meant a total crap shoot. After a half dozen or more trips to wavy city, you kind of identified a good agency in each town that you liked and mostly used. But the turnover, both in girls, and ownership, was high. One technique that I, and a few others used, was to use marginalia in the hotel’s copy of the yellow pages to leave notes for the next guest.

And the first eight years or so if this period was spent in a era where penicillin would cure anything you caught. So bareback full service was the norm. I had a really good agency in Houston that I used that had really good looking gals, multiple shots, hour and a half for $150. And in those days I could get off three or four rounds. Great times, once you got an agency you could trust.

But rip offs were common. You’d call, and girls would show up and say all they could do was talk. Go they wouldn’t show up at all. Or weren’t even remotely what was advertised. Or were all but unconscious for any number of reasons. Of worse, hopped up. And because the hobby was so unreliable, you kept an closer eye out for civilian pussy in the hotel. I wasn’t as lazy as I am now, about that.

What a long strange trip it’s been, as someone once said.

I started a little later, after AIDS hit. The Montrose area of Houston became a ghost town.

I made sure I hit the convenience store for rubbers before I hit the streets. Most of the girls had them, or at least asked.

And the AMPs were a lot different then in that regard than they became later. No cover, no fuckee. Their talent for applying condoms with their mouths without you knowing was amazing. A lot of times I wouldn’t know the rubber was on until I looked.

I didn’t encounter bareback sex in the hobby for many years. I’m sure I could have found it if I had asked, but the AIDS scare had a big impact on me. It’s a shame it’s going to take another health catastrophe like that before we learn those lessons again.

"Long May You Run" - Neil Young

Looking forward to your contribution, Jim. I know we have shared history beginning in 1996. It will be interesting to see how we view that period after all these years. Originally Posted by TinMan

Yes Sir, we have indeed. Love your post so far. Most of my fond memories are about The Guild and TSML. My fondest hobby memories. This is a young man’s game. We were young back then. Yes, Sir. I will finish my story and post it.

You guys have had a long run of tricking. I'm about 15 years in, I've learned a whole lot and thought some being on this site. The new guys have a lot of information available