Hustlers I Have Known

Yeah, I know this is generally a pretty PG-rated blog, and I'm not about to go into lurid (though sometimes rather interesting) detail, but for some reason I had occasion to think of hustlers, and to be reminded that prostitution--nor, contrary to popular belief, anything else in the world--is not strictly the purview of the heterosexual majority. It is an integral part of the gay community as well as the straight, and I got to thinking about the hustlers I have known through my life. I've admit I've always been somewhat fascinated by them, though far more from a lifestyle rather than a business standpoint.

In the course of my travels through life, I've encountered a number of both male and female prostitutes and gotten to know--not necessarily in the biblical sense--a number of them, though none very well. Hustling, like female prostitution, is not a glamorous lifestyle conducive to making casual friendships. It is, in fact, by and large a hard and frequently dangerous life.

My Dick Hardesty mysteries is perhaps as a result peppered with hustlers, and Dick's partner Jonathan was in fact hustling when they met, as was another major recurring character, Phil Stark ("Tex/Phil").

While I was in the Navy, I encountered several "ladies of the evening," though only in passing and from a totally non-involved standpoint. You can't be a sailor without running into a number of them. But until I moved to Los Angeles in 1966, I'd never really been aware of their male counterparts.

A very close friend with whom I shared a house in the Hollywood hills was in his mid 50s when I met him, and he collected hustlers like some people collect matchbook covers--not always for the services they provided but because he was, as I became, intrigued with them as people. He was never judgmental and always treated them with respect. As a result, he developed several long and sincere friendships with them. When I first, in my middle-class, middle-west righteousness, asked him how he could frequent hustlers, he said simply: "When I want a hamburger, it is much easier to go out and buy one than kill a cow."

I have talked several times before about one of his hustler friends. Jimmy was in his mid twenties at the time and not only strikingly beautiful but one of the sweetest, most innocent people I can ever remember meeting. He was different from most hustlers I came across in that he did not become hardened over time. He realized he would not be hustling forever, and while I'm sure he never finished high school--he would never even try to play Scrabble--and his exact plans for the future were nebulous, he carefully put one-half of everything he earned from hustling into the bank, against the day when he, whether through choice or necessity, stopped hustling.

It probably wouldn't occur to most people that hustlers are just as prone to danger as their female counterparts...perhaps more so. I had a friend whose roommate hustled, and who went out one night to "go to work" as he put it, and never came back. They found his dismembered body in several Dumpsters around North Hollywood. His killer was never found. (The deaths of prostitutes, male or female, have historically and tragically warranted less attention and concern than "respectable" people.) I based the character of Billy in "The Hired Man"...a book about male escorts...around him.

However, certain hustlers can also be dangerous themselves. Gay men's fantasies often revolve around very masculine men, and many hustlers play on that fact. Most do it just as part of the game, but some play for real. Robberies and even murder of their clients by hustlers is not unheard of.

While I was editing In Touch for Men, I got to know a number of hustlers, many of whom applied to be models for the magazine and, because many of them were extremely attractive, we occasionally commissioned photo shoots for them. One I remember distinctly, and when we did his photo shoot, we did so at my home. He turned out to be the inspiration for the continuing character of Jared Martinson in the Dick Hardesty series. Though he didn't like to talk about himself, I learned he was exceptionally well educated. He was fluent in Russian and, I gather, had a degree in it (as does Jared).

And thus does a writer transfer parts of himself and his experiences into his work.

And why have I devoted an entire blog to a subject largely unknown or of very little interest, and possibly considerable unease, to most people? Because the world abounds in the different, the unusual, and the strange, and we owe it to ourselves to know a little something about as many variations on the human condition as possible. Even if one is not happy with what one discovers, knowledge expands the mind and perhaps gives us a better appreciation of our universe.

New entries are posted by 10 a.m. Central time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back...and bring a friend. Your comments are always welcome. And you're invited to stop by my website at http://www.doriengrey.com, or drop me a note at doriengrey@att.net.