AIDS 1- Summer 1986 (between Junior & Senior year). Part One. The Piers & The Cure.Two Lives Continue.

The Hudson River waterfront in the 80's was nothing like it is today. There were piers that were collapsing into the river, others in varying states of decay. The Intrepid was a new attraction and I believe became part of the Smithsonian while I was in high school. I recall a handful of years later attending a huge Gay Pride event that included I believe my first foam party. This doesn't sound like a big deal now but it was hugely symbolic at the time we were fighting for the right to serve in the US military. Hell's Kitchen in Midtown Manhattan was mostly still hellish with gentrification in its early stages. I lived there for a brief period in 1990 and will write about it in a future entry.

Crime in New York City was also on another planet. There were 1,907 murders in New York City in 1986 vs. 562 murders in 2018. The homeless population was out of control and the smell of defecation and urine in subway stations sometimes made it nearly impossible to not vomit before the next train arrived. The subways were endlessly tagged until sometime in the late 80's. Most cars were not air conditioned and stations were definitely not so you could go from over 100 degrees and humid waiting in the summer and if you got into an air conditioned car you were very likely to develop a "summer cold" and if you didn't have an air conditioned car you were guaranteed to need a shower before you got to your destination.

Photo: NY Daily News

Laura, one of my best friends, and I went to see The Cure in concert on July 8, 1986 on Pier 84 (this is a "love the internet moment - my memory to this much detail is far from that good). It was my only concert on Pier 84. Concertarchives.org reports there have been only 19 concerts there from the 80's to now; it was one of many fortunate circumstances (as opposed to many unfortunate) that I can remember where I just happened to have a rare opportunity. It was also the first time I ever wore eyeliner. The weather was hot and sunny and I remember it just being an exceptionally great time and I was not even a huge fan of the band.

I even found their set list and a copy of the ticket. The Christopher Street Pier in Greenwich Village is across 10th Avenue crossing at West Street. It references what are a few piers and has been completely re-done since the 80's. It is also conveniently by the Christopher Street PATH train for people like myself who lived in New Jersey. The PATH Train was always your guarantee to at least get to Hoboken, NJ, one stop away, as it runs 24 hours a day and Hoboken was the absolute hub then and is still a major one today for most all trains. I never cruised the Pier there or anywhere else in Manhattan. Murder and crime in general was rampant and that just seemed like you were asking for it. As this homo history blog I found explains, "there was  the ever present threat of being robbed by drug addicts, attacked by gay bashers or arrested by the NYPD."

But there were the gay adult "bookstores" and video stores. There were two, if I recall correctly, right before the entrance to the PATH Train. The train often ran only every 30 minutes late at night and in pre-Grndr, pre NJ Transit or PATH app world, running down the stairs to see when the next train was going to be and then deciding if you had time to pop into a store to see if you could get your dick sucked or just watch some gay porn and jerk off was your best option; one I partook of frequently.

Pier photo by: Matt Weber

New York City Crime Rates 1960-2018