The Combat Zone Of Old

[Cruiser D]

Why The Departed a couple of years ago. I remember going for a cruise doing the Oak - Tyler loop when I made the left on Tyler and was confronted by a mini version of the Sun at 3am. It was about 80' in the air on a lift. It was as bright as day. They shot the CT cinema that night then edited all the brightness out of it. Never did see Leo or Jack but I think I caught a quality date or two that night.

[Phat Bastard]

I was flipping through channels earlier and on one of the Military/History channels, the movie "The Last Detail" was on. Without going into it too much, Jack Nicholson and his shore patrol partner decide to show their prisoner, Randy Quaid, a good time on their way to Portsmouth N.H. and pass through Boston on the way, including an all too short segment in the Combat Zone, circa 1973, which I think I missed most of. Of course they made the mistake of leaving the Zone to get him laid for some reason.

Anyway, I don't think it's a long enough segment to rent the movie for but it was nice to see it.

Does anyone know of any other movies or TV shows (other than Spenser For Hire and it's rare gratuitous shots of his Mustang in front of The Naked I) that had the Zone in it?

[Soshoreman]

Featuring the Pussy Galore Stag Bar.

What ever happened to Princess Cheyenne? I know she was in hot water for practicing pyschology without a license -- did she beat that rap?

Here's the latest chapter:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/cit..._celeb_st.html

[Viejo]

I remember the HPP's all to well but none of them ever got too close when I was on foot. They used to do their thing to me over on Harrison, on the downhill part from Essex to Beach st. Damn...

Yep...that was right in the middle of the free fire zone. It was a target rich environment for the HPP's in that area almost every night. It might not have been so bad if LE confined them to that area, but when they started rifling the crotch and pockets of middle-class gentry taking their ladies out on the town for dinner and a show on Tremont, Stuart and in Park Square, that was a bit too much.

I remember one night, walking in towards the zone, encountering an HPP who had a victim accompanied by presumably his wife. As she was groping and grabbing, she was saying "Wassamatta, honey, you liked how I sucked your dick last week!" The expression that came over the wife's face was priceless...

[Phat Bastard]

That all said, I feel deprived I missed the heyday, but as I said before, the club scene for a single 20ish guy in Boston was unbelievable back then. The Zone was for the married, older or just "not wanting to make the effort" guy. I could should use it now.

Ouch!!!!

[Phat Bastard]

It was really lousy policy formulation and execution by the mayor and the police commissioner. The whole "laisez-faire" attitude taken by police with respect to what was going on guaranteed that sooner or later something serious would happen. Also, that people coming into the area were being terrorized by the HPP's was building serious pressure from all kinds of sources. Having the PD ignore what was happening was actually incredible - unless you were there to see the marauding groups of HPP's doing their thing right in front of the cops it's hard to appreciate just how bad it was.

After about 11:00 PM you could from almost any point see at least 3 pairings or groups of 3 to 4 HPP's. It actually got scary in the Zone.

I remember the HPP's all to well but none of them ever got too close when I was on foot. They used to do their thing to me over on Harrison, on the downhill part from Essex to Beach st. Damn, I remember having no a/c and having to keep the windows down during hot summer nights and they used to pounce on me like wolves doing the crotch/wallet thing and also reaching in the passenger window, unlocking the door and hopping in. Finally I had to unscrew the knobs for the doorlocks so they couldn't unlock them.

[Boston Monger]

After the 70's, America took a very conservative turn. Add on real estate going through the roof, AID's, crime, war on drugs, etc. The Zone never had a chance. But it wasn't just Boston. I was stationed in DC during the early 80's and DC had it's own "Zone" (I can't at this time remember it's name). They had model agencies, strip clubs, etc. Same deal. I went back in the 90's, all gone. Look at NYC. Yep, America cleaned up and forced us on the internet. To what end? Is it a good thing? For those who have the cash, things are still good. But to Joe Six Pack, he is now forced to discover new avenues to relieve his urges. I truelly feel that some men are so weak, morally and mentally, that they go rest areas, become predators, etc. Just like the war on drugs, the war on prostitution isn't quite working the way the government thinks.

That all said, I feel deprived I missed the heyday, but as I said before, the club scene for a single 20ish guy in Boston was unbelievable back then. The Zone was for the married, older or just "not wanting to make the effort" guy. I could should use it now.

[Viejo]

I agree, that's what I meant by "beginning of the end". .....

It was really lousy policy formulation and execution by the mayor and the police commissioner. The whole "laisez-faire" attitude taken by police with respect to what was going on guaranteed that sooner or later something serious would happen. Also, that people coming into the area were being terrorized by the HPP's was building serious pressure from all kinds of sources. Having the PD ignore what was happening was actually incredible - unless you were there to see the marauding groups of HPP's doing their thing right in front of the cops it's hard to appreciate just how bad it was.

After about 11:00 PM you could from almost any point see at least 3 pairings or groups of 3 to 4 HPP's. It actually got scary in the Zone.

[Phat Bastard]

While all of us who knew the old CZ well, feel the same way you do, the stabbing was really just the final straw.

I agree, that's what I meant by "beginning of the end". And coincidentally I literally sent this as part of a PM last night when talking about other murders:


"Many more and not just the ones that we know about but many others too. But we both seem to agree, his was the straw that broke the camels back."

[Viejo]

One stabbing....One....And it leads to the beginning of the end of the Zone.

While all of us who knew the old CZ well, feel the same way you do, the stabbing was really just the final straw. It was so bad that parties walking down Tremont St. going to the theater district were getting accosted by the hopickpockets - we called 'em HPP's - every evening. Guys walking down the street with their wives would get the hand in the crotch while the other groped for a wallet, along with "Hey honey, can I suck your dick?"

Club owners were talking about hiring private security firms to keep Washington, Beach, Essex, La Grange and lower Tremont clear, but they just could not agree on how to do it, and the BPD wasn't supportive. If they had been able to do something, the Zone might be alive today.

The pressure to do something was building rapidly, and when the Puopolo incident occurred, it was a short time before DiGrazia, the police commissioner, who had been in charge during the whole Deadwood phase of the CZ, was shuffled out and a new guy brought in. I think DiGrazia went to Baltimore, and the new guy put TPF members on every street corner in the Zone, and it was over on the streets. It took years for the action to return to what a lot of you remember in the 80's and 90's.

The clubs and bars weren't hit bad right away - business actually got better for them as guys realized they did not have to run the gauntlet to get to the clubs. However, pressure on the hooker bars from the vice squad gradually increased.

It was funny to see Washington Street barren...and the change happened over a couple of days!

[Phat Bastard]

It was an incident like yours that triggered one of the most significant events in the Zone...Andy Puopolo, the Harvard football player, was chasing one of those talented street hookers with his buddy. When she led them to her pimp, a scuffle ensued. Puopolo died of a stab wound, his buddy was wounded. That event caused a major policy change by the city concerning the management of the adult entertainment district that Mayor White had created.

One stabbing....One....And it leads to the beginning of the end of the Zone.



Now there's roughly a shooting a day in the city and it barely rates a mention in a newspaper and that's only if the person dies or is a sympathetic figure.

I guess the city thought it was okay to legislate Pimps out of existence but doesn't feel the same way about Pimpz.

[Phat Bastard]

Was poking around on the Internet looking for pics of the combat zone and found a picture of the Trans-Lux from 1947 (although marquee shows "Give Me a Sailor" playing, which was released in 1938, so it could be an older pic, or movies had much longer runs back then.)

Apparently the Trans-Lux was previously "Minsky's Burlesque" which was one of the early stripclubs. I also found a review of a "Swedish erotica" flick shown at the Trans-Lux circa 1957, but minus the double-penetration closeups now der rigeur. Actually, I prefer it that way -- today's porn has taken all the titillation out of tits and ass.

The pic is too big to post so you have to link to it here
http://rfi.bostonhistory.org/boston/full/003487.jpg


And P.B. you are the master of Boston sex industry lore. I had forgotten your post from last year, but I never cease to be amazed by your command of such matters.

The only time I was clipped at the Naked i was *outside* the club. I was a 20-year-old college student with a fake I.D. and thought that if I hid cash in my front pocket, outside my wallet, it would still be there when I left the club. Then this horribly skanky BSW comes up and does the "old let me feel your juicy dick" and obviously cleaned me out during the misdirection. I didn't know it was gone until I got into the club. Those women had such talent -- I story about them cleaning out guys who were just waiting at the stop sign is totally believable. If you had money anywhere on you -- they'd find it. Would love to see the TSA hire them as airport screeners.

Thanks for the compliment but I'm far from that knowledgable, I just throw in a little info every now and then. Guys like Viejo are the masters. He was enjoying the place long before I ever brightened it with my shadow.


But I do have to throw something else in: That pic you posted has the Hotel Avery in the background (zoom in to the black sign above the "Y" in society) which I remember but I read recently that Joe Perry of Aerosmith has a huge sign from it that he's for some reason really proud of.


"An enormous hippopotamus skull is on display in a hallway. Billie Perry bought it from an antique store in neighboring Kingston as a Christmas gift for her husband. A huge sign from the Hotel Avery, which Joe Perry describes as an architectural artifact from Boston's Combat Zone, hangs on a wall."

http://everythingaerosmith.bluehosting.com.br/english/

[Viejo]

...Then this horribly skanky BSW comes up and does the "old let me feel your juicy dick" and obviously cleaned me out during the misdirection. I didn't know it was gone until I got into the club. Those women had such talent -- I story about them cleaning out guys who were just waiting at the stop sign is totally believable. If you had money anywhere on you -- they'd find it. Would love to see the TSA hire them as airport screeners.

It was an incident like yours that triggered one of the most significant events in the Zone...Andy Puopolo, the Harvard football player, was chasing one of those talented street hookers with his buddy. When she led them to her pimp, a scuffle ensued. Puopolo died of a stab wound, his buddy was wounded. That event caused a major policy change by the city concerning the management of the adult entertainment district that Mayor White had created.

[WebDog]

In 1960, the Trans-Lux became the first Washington Street theatre to show sex films.

Was poking around on the Internet looking for pics of the combat zone and found a picture of the Trans-Lux from 1947 (although marquee shows "Give Me a Sailor" playing, which was released in 1938, so it could be an older pic, or movies had much longer runs back then.)

Apparently the Trans-Lux was previously "Minsky's Burlesque" which was one of the early stripclubs. I also found a review of a "Swedish erotica" flick shown at the Trans-Lux circa 1957, but minus the double-penetration closeups now der rigeur. Actually, I prefer it that way -- today's porn has taken all the titillation out of tits and ass.

The pic is too big to post so you have to link to it here
http://rfi.bostonhistory.org/boston/full/003487.jpg


And P.B. you are the master of Boston sex industry lore. I had forgotten your post from last year, but I never cease to be amazed by your command of such matters.

The only time I was clipped at the Naked i was *outside* the club. I was a 20-year-old college student with a fake I.D. and thought that if I hid cash in my front pocket, outside my wallet, it would still be there when I left the club. Then this horribly skanky BSW comes up and does the "old let me feel your juicy dick" and obviously cleaned me out during the misdirection. I didn't know it was gone until I got into the club. Those women had such talent -- I story about them cleaning out guys who were just waiting at the stop sign is totally believable. If you had money anywhere on you -- they'd find it. Would love to see the TSA hire them as airport screeners.

[Viejo]

...Do you remember who the announcer was on the P.A.?

That voice is still in my head to this day: "Next in our Pussy Galore Stag Bar, the love-ly Jas-mine"...

I've been racking my memory for that name and so far have failed to bring it back - I am assuming you are talking about the older woman who used to do burlesque in Boston. She had a gravely voice, and before she did the announcing at the I she worked at both the Pink Pussycat and Boston Bunnies.

She used to say "And now for your viewing pleasure, here's Calamity Jane, direct from her engagement in Las Vegas!" - or direct from any one of several well known flesh pots around the world. And, of course, everyone who knew anything was aware that the girl was from Chelsea, and had never set foot outside the Commonwealth.

In your quote you used the name "Jas-mine" - I knew a woman who used that name at the 66, Picadilly, the I and then at the Glass Slipper - she was in the business for 17 years...a real hustler, and one of the sexiest looking dancers in the zone. It hit me that you might have been familiar with her - she did work at the I during the time frame you're referring to.

By the way - that old trick with the beer is now done with bottled water in lots of clubs. It can be really funny when some fool gets the wrong bottle size - one not carried by the club - and gets tossed because of his inattention to detail.

PB, it sounds a bit like we might have rubbed elbows one one or more occasions...