SuperFreakonomics & Prostitution
Gotta recommend that you pick up the book SuperFreakonomics
([url]http://www.amazon.com/SuperFreakonomics-Cooling-Patriotic-Prostitutes-Insurance/dp/0060889578[/url])
If you read the original Freakonomics you know it's a fantastic read. This new one, four years in the making, just might be better from what I've read of it. The reason I post it here is that there's a chapter on prostitution, and it's extremely interesting. Some of the stats they quote and the stories and background that they use are incredible (ie: percentage of encounters that don't use condoms & what the average girl makes and works) and really destroy a lot of the myths and accepted conventional wisdom about the world's oldest profession. If think any regular here would find it more than eye-opening.
Highly recommended.
Here is an old link about the Bust
[url]http://www.kusi.com/internal?st=print&id=46869392&path=/news/local[/url]
Tiffany on Backpage - AVOID
I hate being a sucker and that is what I was.
Tiffany 619-573-9624 is just a "show" for $$$.
Always Good to Have Back Ups
Went up to OC for the first time in a couple of weeks. I wanted to try something different so I did a bit of research and came up with 5 names that I wanted to try based on ads and reviews. Some of the numbers I thought were fronts to AAMPs.
I thought it would be a slam dunk to get an meeting with at least one of the girls. One after another I called the numbers and didn't get an answer. The numbers either had no voice mail or the number had been disconnected. I finally connected with the last girl on my list and made a connection. She turned out to be an OK Latina non-GFE but it was amazing how difficult it can be to sometimes connect with an independent.
Sexual Aspect of Foot Massages
I am a fan of this forum, reading it to learn the virtues and vices of the black market. More so than to learn the ins and the outs (no pun intended), as I already have a very able wife for that. (I am a conservative, and it was Milton Friedman among others who observed that the black market *is* a free market.) When I do venture out, I find myself often out-foxed by the foxy ladies. I only do the FS market two or four times a year, so I tend to forget how to act street smart.
So, let me write about what I do know well, and that's the foot massage parlors. No part of this message is written in code, as all the action is legit. One major center of foot massages is Valley Blvd in San Gabriel, LA County. The other is Little Saigon (near Bolsa Ave and Brookhurst St) in Westminster, Orange County. I receive foot massages probably 70 times per year. Yes, I am hopelessly addicted. This is an A-to-Z primer for those who would like to get their feet wet. The appeal here is the question: "How much stimulation can I get for a low cover fee? "
What is a "foot" massage? This usually means foot/legs massage for 20 minutes, back massage for 20 minutes, and head/face/arms/hands for 20 minutes. You are never cheated on the minutes, and in fact, sometimes a masseuse will go over for five minutes or more. At the lower prices, you will find yourself sitting/lying on a chair in a big room with others. At the higher prices, you will get a table in a private partition, curtained off or walled off (where available).
Cost per hour?
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$10. Usually at this low price there is a catch. For example, you might find your feet soaking for a chunk of the hour. Maybe they'll do your feet *only* for most of the time. This is just the posted "bait" price that nobody is supposed to settle for.
$15. It gets legit at this price. A full 60-minute massage of essentially your whole body. In the open room, typically, your shirt comes off.
Some places will charge $20 to $25 for exactly the same massage regiment as a $15 place. Obviously, these places field a lesser volume of customers.
$25. $30. In this range, at certain select and better places, you will get a private area, curtained off.
Tip?
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$5 is a minimum expected tip. $10 is considered a good tip. If you get into private room situations and would like to stand out in the masseuse's mind, then I would tip $15 or more; the more you manage to offend the modesty of the masseuse, the more you should tip her.
Ethnicity? Language and rapport?
==========================
Of course, this is always complicated. I have had the most experience with Viet and Chinese providers. Honestly, although I am Viet myself, I try to stay away from them for a variety of reasons. (1) The providers tend to be FOB (recent immigrant) older women. (2) Their work ethic does not match that of Chinese providers. (3) They tend to be more gossipy, envious, etc. Disclaimer, I have no idea if my limited experiences are valid or not. All I know is that I have a higher satisfaction percentage with Chinese providers. To me, the Chinese uphold a premium on business reputation, which then bears fruit in their having repeat business.
The language barrier is always an issue, especially when you want to establish a rapport with a masseuse. 90% of them appear to be on limited visas and have very limited English. Only a precious few are multi-year residents of the US.
Woman or man provider?
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Do not be shy to ask for a woman. But make the request up front, before you are assigned a male masseuse. Otherwise, you create an awkward situation.
Woman provider, the pros:
- Most understand that you consider it a plus to have them rub against you.
- Most are strong enough to hurt you with their bare hands. In other words, lack of strength is not an issue to your getting a great massage.
Man provider, the pros:
- They have bigger hands, which means stronger pressure to a slightly larger pressure point. Depending on your taste, this could mean a better massage.
Upsell?
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The only upsell I am typically confronted with is whether I'd like to go 90 minutes instead of 60. Especially if you have been aroused, it is hard to say no. Even if they are too persistent, I would say no as nicely as possible.
At some unscrupulous parlors, they will play games with breaking your $20's. For example, they will give you two $10's instead of $10 + $5 + $5. The idea is to encourage you to tip $10 rather than $5. So, bring exact change unless you know the business practices of the parlor you are dealing with.
Cultural turn-offs?
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Here are the typical turn-offs or caveats.
1. The hardness of the massage. The short-term solution is to try to communicate your needs. The long-term solution is to find a compatible masseuse, and request her. My personal motto is, "That which does not kill me makes me stronger. " A hard massage generally promotes health.
2. The odors (ointments), humidity and ventilation, etc. You might notice these, or might not. You might get used to them, or might not.
3. The hygiene of the masseuse: I find that maybe 20% of them have noticeably bad hygiene, typically a stale exhalation from the lungs that's a sign of over-work or stress. But this is more common among the males.
4. Health standards: Do they provide clean towels, etc? They all claim they do. If you feel itchy, go home and shower, lathering generously with soap.
5. The open room: Customers who are used to private rooms will find the open area of the $15 places uncomfortable or odd. It's also a bit odd that in some places, the female customers are willing to strip down to their bras! (Only at rare places are "private rooms" offered.) However, consider that the customers are faced down for most of the massage, not looking around.
6. Are they licensed? Honestly, I do not know if some or most of them are licensed or not. I just know that at the busy parlors, most of the masseuses are well skilled. The low-skilled ones do not last long.
7. Head and face massages: Many Americans don't care much for this. You might feel weird about it the first time (especially the head massage, or perhaps fingers entering your ear canals), but stick with it. It is a big key to becoming very relaxed. For the facial, NEVER let them touch your *inner* eyelids! It happens very rarely, but if it does, it should be a health concern for you.
Sexual teasing?
============
You'll get some teasing in both open-room and private-area situations. First, open room:
1. Many girls will climb on your back. But not all. It depends on what you can tolerate and how much they weigh.
2. Some will droop their hairs on your bare back.
3. While they're on your back, some will rock on your buttocks. An obvious turn-on, but due to the open room, they never do it long.
4. A very few will make breathing sounds (albeit low volume and discreet), as if they are having sex, while on your back. It's a huge turn-on, but very rarely have I had it done. Again, they need to be discreet while others are around.
5. Most women will rub their crotch against your head for a few sways while you're lying on your stomach. Or, at least, it feels like the crotch. Most likely it's just the bottom of their stretchy pants, not their actual crotch. Still, it makes you think good thoughts.
6. About 20% of providers will bring your arm or your hand (usually the back of the hand) in touch with their breasts for one or two times within the session.
7. Similarly, some percentage will let you "accidentally" touch their inner thigh or butt for a limited number of times during the session.
8. Most of the masseuses, even the guys, will massage your upper thighs so as to brush your cock indirectly. Typically, you're on your back and there is a towel over your waist and thighs. By stretching the towel, they're essentially rubbing the towel against your pants. While you're on your back, there are related maneuvers they'll perform on your legs that will stimulate your willy.
The open-room situation is such that you must be passive. For example, you must not reach for the masseuse. She would probably recoil. Establishing a rapport with a masseuse, by tipping well, will make her like you more, but will actually gain you no favors. Again, the hard limitation is the open room.
Now, for the private-partition situations:
1. At certain places, they are more intentional about "accidentally" putting a hand on your butt during the massage.
2. Along those lines, often your butt crack and balls will be teased (very lightly touched), just as at regular massage joints.
3. You can keep your underwear on, but most guys would prefer to take it off. Between your boy and the masseuse is a towel or perhaps a very thin sheet. Your erection will show through. (I often close my eyes and visualize the masseuse naked in order to get an erection, just to see how the masseuse handles it.)
Now, the following are off-limits in general: (1) Requests for HE's. You will be politely refused, given that the curtains would never provide sufficient privacy. (2) Touching of the masseuse; and her grinding you. I suspect you need "cred" and rapport with the masseuse before she will let you touch her. As for her grinding you (for example, when you are on your stomach and she grinds against your gluts), it highly depends on the masseuse and also what "boundaries" you have established with her.
Excellent post on foot massages
I have had several, but only at three places so far, Happy Feet on Bolsa and Dream Life on Beach Bl. Both are Vietnamese places. The third place was a Chinese place on Westminister Blvd that has since closed.
I'd heard about the bumping, but have not yet experienced it yet. However I did get a suggestion to extend my massage to 90 min at Dream Life.
Thanks for giving us a better glimpse at this little talked about world.
Reminds me about Dream Life Spa
[QUOTE=Greenhornet57]Thanks a lot for the excellent primer. I think I'm ready to go back into the foot massage world again, now that I know that 'semi' private rooms exist![/QUOTE]
During my first and so far only visit so far to Dream Life Spa, I saw a curtained off area that seemed to have a single EZ-Boy chair in it. A Vietnamese looking customer who arrived at the Spa after me was quickly whisked away into this area.
My 3 favs for foot massages
Here are three places that come to mind for foot massages. Disclaimer, I have no affiliation with any of the businesses or individuals. All of the places below are staffed by Chinese. 'Ancient' appears to be Chinese-owned, while the other two appear to be Vietnamese-owned.
My Happy Feet (Little Saigon Village, where there is a Lily's Bakery), Westminster. This is my favorite place of all the places that have just open-area reclining chairs. You can find reviews on Yelp. Some reviews date back to when they were under different management. What I like most about Happy Feet are their sound business practices. So, inept masseuses do not last long and they have a relatively low turnover among the good masseuses. I like Crystal, Yuki, and Louis (male) the most, in that order. Crystal's English is pretty good and she is quite professional, but her pressing can be too hard for some. In the same strip mall is King F. M., but their business practices are not as sound, in my opinion.
Ancient Chinese F. M., 529 E Valley Blvd, San Gabriel. Also reviewed on Yelp. Here again, I like the current management. Ancient has chairs for foot massages as well as private tables for body massages. $25/hour. Most of the masseuses are 30-ish or younger. They tend to be attractive Chinese girls.
SH Health, 9211 Bolsa Ave, Westminster. They have private tables for body massages. $28/hour. Some tables are more private than others, in terms of sound barriers and visual barriers. Walls versus glass versus curtains. They have a few attractive women working there, but you may want to give Angel a shot. (I don't know how long she will stick around though...) She has decent English, long legs and long fingers, good looks, a personality, smarts, and skill.
[QUOTE=Rocco D]I've been to a few foot massage places in my past. All have been open room, but luckily there has normally been only maybe one other person in the room at the time and they will situate you so that you're turned away so there is a hint of privacy to what is going on. What I am curious about is where there are private room joints. I'd love to give one of those a try. Any advice on where to hit that has some nice looking women? The few places I used to frequent, the gals would normally bring there chest into contact with my hand, I used to open my hand and cup their breast which they would allow. Again, as previously stated, depends on the rapport you have. This is not gropey time, it's all very subtle and low key, very teasing. If you're looking for a finish, look elsewhere.[/QUOTE]
Went back to Dream Life today
Things have changed a little since I was last there about six weeks ago.
The first gal I got a foot massage from, Kim, has quit and moved on. In a previous ramble, I noted that I was asked to put on a wife beater undershirt so as to avoid skin to skin contact. Kim was the one who specified this.
Also, the curtained off area is gone. It has been replaced with a couple of areas cordoned off with Chinese style screens. Perhaps the curtains provided a feeling that was a little too intimate?
Anyhow, this time my masseuse was Snow. She is a late 20's early 30's looking Vietnamese gal with a nice spinner body. No hanky panky here, just a perfectly legit foot and full body massage. Oh, it was nice when she put my hand in her lap just before the hand massage, but that was as good as it got.
The last difference from six weeks ago is that Dream Life now has rollaway massage tables for the back massage part of the session. Instead of an accidental breast bump, where the gals used to lean over the back of the chair to massage your back, the gals now do a walking back massage.
Still a nice overall session for $20 plus tip.
Visited SH Health this morning
[QUOTE=Johniecumearly]He is probably impossible at these places that have curtains (although, as hinted before, SH Health does have at least two tables that are quite private). The best you can hope for is intimate touching; although, who knows, maybe one day I will try for an HE.
Sophia is solid as a masseuse, but I got a vibe with her that she will not go with the flow. I only tried her once, though. Angel is a smart girl, uses her brains, and will probably judge each situation differently.
[/QUOTE]
Right after voting, I got my cup of Starbucks and drove over to Little Saigon and SH Health. Parking even at 10:00AM in the morning is tough. I was able to find a spot and in the large parking lot and started my search for SH.
I went to the wrong building first, but across the way, I found SH Health. Carefully crossing the traffic, I went up the stairs and found the manager busy opening up the place. As per my usual MO, I went in and presented my foot massage coupon. Unfortunately for me, the expression on the manager's face told me that he really wanted to upsell me to one of the enclosed rooms. So I thought to myself, "What the heck" and went for the $28 massage.
The manager now had a happier expression on his face and summoned over Sophie. Sigh! Luck of the draw I guess. So I mentally resigned myself to a completely legit massage without teasing.
Once in the room, I noticed that there were two massage tables instead of the customary single table. Different from my experiences at other legit full body massage parlors. I undressed and got on the table.
Sophie walks in and begins covering me up with several towels. Wanting to break the ice, I introduced myself and we cautiously started a conversation. Since Sophie's English is not really good, I made sure that I was facing her whenever I tried to talk to her.
The hot stones it turned out were in some sort of bag that Sophie placed on my back. Then began a very nice but also very legit massage starting with my head, then going to my arms and back. When it was time to massage my lower back, Sophie got up on a stool and while she might have been surrounding either side of my head with her petite breasts, I'll never know as I was of course face down. She did go down under the towel to the upper portion of my buttocks but carefully stayed away from the crack and did not reach too much further. Next came a nice leg and foot massage.
It was time to turn over now and Sophie made sure that the towel did not allow any accidental exposure. She did press the towel down on either side of my jewels being careful not to actually brush mini me except through several layers of towels. Now it was time for the facial. By this time I could see her face clearly and discovered a very nice and pretty girl-next-door giving me a massage. We struggled with more conversation which seemed to put her more at ease. Next came more attention to my legs and feet and the massage was done. Sophie hurried out of the room and I dressed.
Wandering outside the room, I found Sophie and I tipped her $30 which seemed to please her and paid the manager the $28 full body massage fee. Sophie next offered me a cup of tea and gave me a business card for SH Health with her name on it.
All in all a very pleasant hour of time. When I was leaving, I saw several men and women getting foot massages in the floor area. These I presume were patrons who resisted the "enclosed" room upsell. I also saw another masseuse who gave me a glance as I walked out. As Johniecumearly has posted, HE is probably not possible, but maybe a little teasing might come with a lot of patience and many return visits.
Thank you Johniecumearly for the tip on this place. While I enjoyed the flirting at Dream Life Spa (and the lower overall cost) I could get to like this place as well.