Features Apr 6, 2006

Bleak House

Sex, Meth, Love, and War, and the Long-Lost History of a Hundred-Year-Old Building

by Christopher Frizzelle

Comments

1
Excellent article! I almost get a feeling of wide-eyed dis-belief from your descriptions. On a side note, I know that horrible feeling of ennui the boyfriend of yours you mention feels, I miss the nihilistic transgressiveness of the dark halls and red-lit stares of my visits to sex-clubs in my city. Maybe I'll do something about it when exams are over.
Peace out =)
on May 20, 2009 at 3:06 AM · Report this
2
This is really an excellent piece of journalism. So in-depth and haunting. You really did an honor to this strange place.
on June 26, 2009 at 4:46 PM · Report this
3
Fascinating read, very thought provoking.
kim in portland on June 28, 2009 at 6:37 PM · Report this
4
Really? I wasn't sure of a few things through out the entire article. I mean, what I got out of this article was about some poor Japanese man who was relocated to a horrible part of our history and that the building is owned by a woman who is apparently, 3 years later, still not doing anything about a business that is painted as a cancer on society in this piece.

To me it seems as though the author is attempting to connect this one place in particular to methamphetamine use, anonymous and unsafe sex, and the spread of HIV, which, quite honestly, are things that, myself included, many gay men do (hell even heteros partake) without the aid of a public place. People are people. Environment it seems has very little to do with what a person will do or is doing.

The tone of resentment and anger seems to proliferate through the entire article and sort of made me wonder who is stabbing who in the back.
on July 7, 2009 at 1:48 AM · Report this
5
First i liked the article even tho some of it was kinda miss leading and i totaly agree about the use of drugs i dont use them and never have and never will its all in the head for the ones that say they have to have drug to man to man sex hell im not ashamed of the fact im a bisexual male and im also a bottom im also into being fisted but i dont have to get high to do it im also into being gangbanged to but there is things out there now called condoms i use them but it not up the me to say that there should be a law saying that every one has got to use them good sence should tell ya that i guess what im tring to say people should stop looking down on others just because that like a different kind of sex than they do and as for the bathhouses i have never been to one but i have always wanted to go to a bathhouse but try to find a way to keep the drugs out first but try getting drug out of the town but leave the bathhouses open and if the guys that go in them dont want to use condoms then hey thats there mistake not ares like i said anything and every thing that goes inside me has a condom on it be a toy a cock are what even a hand is going to have a rubber glove on if its going in me but any way i think that the bathhouses sould stay open but have more stiffer rules and some one to carry out those rules sorry if i pissed any one off by posting this comment but as my dead mother used to tell me the truth hurts and people this is the truth beleave it are not thanks and have grate day
bimale50tn on July 28, 2009 at 9:18 AM · Report this
6
Awesome writing. Sad realities. I've known too many who died from these diseases, of AIDS and of meth. It continues to astound me that so many people engage in what seems to be suicidal behavior. And yet, so many feel this risky, hot, sexual activity is one of the few freedoms they have. And its hard to deny someone freedom, especially when it is so hard-won. Like the manager of the old hotel... perhaps the building has a history of offering freedom, but only delivering a facsimile of it. Thanks to the writer who provided this opportunity to reflect. Good job.
on August 2, 2009 at 6:22 AM · Report this
7
Nice try at self-justification number 5
brandon on November 4, 2009 at 12:13 PM · Report this
8
What a very well-written article. I loved the history of the location itself but also the descriptions of the building's final purpose.

As a person who knows we all make our own choices in life but is still sad about losing his best friend, I appreciated this perspective. The week before I left Seattle, my best friend discovered Club Z and while I was homesick for my former town, my friend regaled me on the phone with interesting stories about the place and the people he met there.

A year or so later, he was HIV+ and denying an addiction to meth. About a month before I intended to go back to check on him, I received a call that he had died.
on November 8, 2010 at 12:36 PM · Report this