"My mother was Jewish and my dad was Austrian. My dad was very abusive to me. It wasn't sexual abuse, it was being locked in the basement, beating me, not being allowed to eat with the family.
"He got all tangled up with a right-wing religious group and called me a demon and a devil, because I was going with boys at school.
"He was a minister. At the services I would have my arm around the boys, just hugging the boys, and he punished me for that because I was different. He punished me because I believed in magic, my whole life is magic and boys. I was abused on a regular basis and finally I bolted out of the house, and this guy picked me up on Rush Street and he took me home and sucked on my dick and I liked it. I didn't know there were places where you could meet other boys.
"I was down on Rush Street because I was seeing this old female prostitute. Her name was Rhonda. She taught me how to look for money. So when that guy picked me up, I just thought, 'Well, this guy's got a lot of money.' But he never paid me.
"When my mother died, my dad blamed me for her death because I was seeing a 26-year-old guy at the time, escaping out of the house to see him. He was my boyfriend. He was the one that told me I could turn tricks and make money. I was never really interested in the money because I've always worked. It was a Hollywood thing ... I tricked for love."
Las Vegas ...
"There was a time when I ran off to Las Vegas and I fell in love with a boy out there, and he said 'I don't want you prostituting yourself, we can make a life.' But I got in trouble with some people and had to come back. So I was a street hustler. I didn't have any money at the time. The boys I met back then were not tricking for dope, the heavy-duty drugs. The boys were tricking for clothes, cars, and nice places to live. They were interested in the good life, they weren't interested in putting shit up their nose. Of course there was a little marijuana here and there. This was '71, '72.
"At that time there were families, circles of older gay guys that would take the boys in and, sure they used them sexually, but they would take care of them. For the weekend they would take care of them, go out, buy them clothes.
"Early in the '70s I was working a bar called Shari's on Clark and Surf, I was working the Annex, and Broadway Sam's on Berwyn and Broadway. I was turning tricks there and taking them over to the Travel Lodge. Streetwise I worked Pine Grove and Diversey. If you worked Clark and Diversey on the corner, the cars would pull up but it was kind of hard to do the deal. You had your friends there and you didn't know if they were clocking you or the boyfriend or whatever. So I worked Pine Grove and Diversey, and I never had a problem there."
Bughouse Square ...
"My biggest problems were down at Bughouse Square, and at the Greyhound Bus Station. I had two problems at Bughouse Square and to this day I think it was the same guy. Once I got in this car at Bughouse Square, and the guy said, 'I live out with my mother in Cicero.' I said, 'I don't care, it's $50.'
"We drive to Cicero, get in the alley and he said, 'My garage door isn't working.' The next thing I know this son of a bitch pulls a knife on me. He said, 'You know what, you're a fucking freak fag. I'm going to kill you.' The guy put a knife to me and I freaked out. He said, 'I like it when boys cry. I got what I wanted,' and then he drove me back, and he gave me the money. He gave me the $50.
"Then sometime later, I'm sure this was the same guy, because the M.O. was the same. I went with the guy and I remember the alley, but this time we go to his house and had some cheap-ass sex. I get back in his car and he says, 'Would you like to drive my car back to the city?' I said, 'I'd love to.' You know kids, cool car ... I get in the driver's seat and the next thing I know this son of a bitch pulls an ice pick on me and said, 'I want the money back. You were a lousy lay.' I gave him back the money, and somehow I got out of the car, and I waved down this road truck and they called the police. I remembered this guy's number plate, so I say to the cops, 'I was hitch-hiking and I know it's against the law but I'm traveling cross country, and this man robbed me with an ice pick.' So the police got this guy and pulled him over and said, 'Empty your pockets.' So I got my $50 and whatever else he had.'
Gay groups ...
"I didn't know of any gay support mechanisms at that time, only the health clinic on Clark Street to help us with our clap and syphilis. Most of the boys on the street were not a part of anything, but we knew each other and we had a network. Then they tore all that shit out of there, they gutted the old Commonwealth Hotel, and the old Park Royal, around Clark and Diversey, and they were all houses of prostitution. It was strictly a red-light district.
"It was in the late '70s that the drug pimps got involved with gay boys, all of a sudden controlling them. It completely changed everything. Then you enter another era of the LA Connection and the New Flight hustlers.
"Hustling in the '70s was very dangerous, especially around Bughouse Square. I stopped in '83, '84, partly because of my age, and I was also tired of it."
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that-- memories-- and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times. You can leave a message on his voicemail at 773-871-7610. He interviews over the phone, in person, or via e-mail sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com