Who was in the hobby before the internet?

[dtymh55]

I see lots of newbies. Thinking everything is easy before it was all at your fingertips. And I believe some would never try if they didn't have an idea of what they are getting beforehand. Do you think the hobby was as plentiful before the internet? Were you in it before the internet? If not why?

Curious hobby discussion :)

I started in this "Game" in the late 1970s Then you could visit Modeling studios , Ads in the Yellow Pages. I also did street walkers back then.

[Anandaman]

Wow - what we take for granted now - I feel like men "chanced it" and the choices (throughout 80's) were A. work the clubs for OOTC action (feel like we had more club choices in Houston back then plus oilfield was booming in early 80's); B. the Yellow Pages for Escort Agencies; C. "Massage Parlors/AMP's" - which were located on east side of downtown (before redevelopment), SW Freeway, 45 North; And D. the street walkers could be found on South Main near Dome, Airline Drive. Bissonet was still a thriving suburbia with an active Westwood Mall (Sharpstown not so much). Telephone Road has always been "Telephone Road"......Never chanced the "Personals" personally.

The scene is much better now for the client and I would think for the provider too with advent of the internet, screening, etc.

Yes. All true.

But, there was choice. I'd go to strip clubs a lot - Friday after work on the way home typically. Houston has had mucho strip clubs for many decades. Once in the club, you can intermingle, talk to ladies walking around and at the bar, find someone you liked and asked to go to a booth. In some ways, it was more direct and "hands-on" (pun intended).

For me there was a progression to AMPs. When you walked into an Amp they would bring 3 to 6 girls out and you could pick which one - by actually looking at them.

In both cases you "lived and learned" and either stayed with a girl you liked on the next visit. Or, went on to the next.

In the "practical" way, not that much different... except no computer screens in between.

A girl in the strip club told me about ASPD. Then it all changed for me... The way to contact, communicate, etc, but not necessarily the process itself of interacting and having experiences. "living and learning..."

A'Man

[Warpt]

Once a year in Boys Towns, hunting trips starting in the mid 70's.

Many dates in Houston and New Orleans. Those places had alternative newspapers in bars that had ads in the back section for escorts.

[shoogdon]

Houston use to be loaded with walk-in service "tanning salons" and "modeling studios", many even open 24/7. You could even call ahead and ask who was working or ask about girls' schedules. Weekly free rags like The Public News, and even the Houston Press, had local escort ads printed in the back section or personals. There were a lot of adult book stores and adult video stores around, and most of these had newstands filled with escort flyers, adult trade ad magazines with independent photo ads, and color printed publications and glossy brochures from local escort agencies and studios. I never did the SW thing, there were just too many better and safer options even pre-internet.

[Easy Does It]

I certainly was. My first hobby experience was in 1993 or so. Lexington, KY. I was 25, marriage breaking up, no sex in months (at 25!!) and I stumbled into a massage parlor. Pretty much a typical AMP setup, but with Hispanic talent. I actually bailed the first time I walked through the door. The young lady who greeted me only said "Do you want to stay?", I got nervous and split. Pretty funny now, looking back. Later that same day I went back and got my Table Shower, Massage, BBBJ and CFS from a beautiful little Latina hardbody who could not have been over 25 herself. I can still close my eyes and see the view of that perfect little heart-shaped butt in the K9 position..... I was hooked.

Back then, it was Massage Parlors, some strip clubs (if your pockets were deep), newspaper classified ads, and the yellow pages.... Also the streets for those brave enough. Over the years I have tried them all pretty much. Most Escorts operated through agencies. If you were traveling, the Hotel Concierge could usually hook you up with an Escort, taxi drivers could usually tell you where the Streetwalkers hung out, and the Yellow pages would point you to the agencies. No reviews available, it was either word of mouth or take your chances.

When I first started using that new-fangled internet for the hobby, I was living in Sunnyvale CA. There was perhaps the greatest hobby website of all time back then, SFRedbook. It was a game-changer. Forums, reviews, private area for providers (MyPinkBook), and categories for just about anything and everything you could ever want or imagine. It was a real community too. I met and got to know some truly wonderful providers in my time there, some that I kept in touch with after i moved back east. I got to sample some legendary SF Bay providers of the era, "Lisa the Head Doctor", "RollerGirl", and others whose names I can't remember. Many firsts for me because of that site. My first Greek session. First time doing strap-on play, first BSDM experience, and my first and only Pornstar experience with none other than the incomparable Uber-MILF Ms. Nina Hartley. It was, for me, a golden age of fucking and sucking.

Sadly, a couple of years after I left, the Feds shut down and seized that site. Many providers who had been using that site to be safer in their work were suddenly out in the cold. Most were forced back out onto the streets, and several, some that I knew, lost their lives as a direct result. It still makes my blood pressure shoot up thinking about it.

I was terrified that post-FOSTA/SESTA all the sites like this one would suffer the same fate. Sure am glad they haven't.

[ffflowerman4]

Does listserv ASP count? or a private email group by same name hosted by DOS?

[RoboCock]

I came to Louisiana in '72 & hooked up with a stripper in the back room of the club. That was my first hobby experience, and I learned that was pretty common, plus picking up SW's or girls in bars. I think the "hobby" as we know it now wasn't nearly as prevalent then, but those were definitely better times than now, too.

The ladies had much more of a negative "stigma" then than they do now. Then, they were simply labeled wh*res & prostitutes, while nowadays, it's become a mysterious, enviable, and somewhat admirable trait if you're known as an escort because you're such an attractive lady that men will pay well to spend time with you! Obviously wives will steer their hubbies away from you at gatherings, but men will, of course, want to know more.....

It's also become more common and acceptable for single moms, bored housewives and the college crowd who are struggling to pay outrageous tuition, etc.

[Reddy12000]

I recall walking into this MP on harwin by gessner. It had a window and as soon as you walk in the girls would line up. I was so intimidated I hurried off but was always curious... i had thought it was like a strip club... so one day i saw the MP on 6 and briar forest and went in. I remember this amazing looking spinner who told me to get comfy and leave her donation on the stand... i left 4 bucks..... she was laughing so hard when she returned that i almost fainted... she was naked of course n i only got a bj and left but i was curious... found ASPD and met Andrea from Maria Spa off Hilcroft near Coco Loco....

MPs were great, you had a lineup so it made things easier. I even hooked up with a few Escape ladies and times were fun but needed the internet to really find info. About the hobby.

[Anna Nikkole]

I'm referring to people not really thinking about ******s. With the internet it's popped up as "fuck a horny escort now". The clients are more plentiful and younger and younger. Where it use to be for few of y'all, most would not have ever gone that route in the 80's. I have 20 year olds, it's so easy compared to the way it use to be with the "unknown".

It's just normal that 2/3 husbands are stopping by their favorite atf on the way home.

[Cabletex7]

Not in before internet. But I recall seeing ads in alternative papers. Always thought they were some sort of scam. Don't think I'd be in if there was no internet.