Ctn: This story ntas d spoilers for the first episo of “Hollywood.”Ryan Murphy’s limed seri “Hollywood” is a mixture of fictn and fact, wh s fictnal characters set agast actual events and people the movie dtry durg the years after World War II. And bee of the way the Netflix limed seri approach s story, n be tricky to tell the tth om the fantasy, particularly sce the whole ia of “Hollywood” is to tell a story of what uld have been, not what that alternative history real history as a jumpg-off pot, so viewers are bound to wonr about some of the events and settgs picted the miseri — particularly the first few episos, before the story veers to obv of the prime settgs for the seri is a Hollywood gas statn n by a suave operator named Ernie Wt (Dylan McDermott). Ernie has hired an array of good-lookg young men to not only pump gas, but also supply sexual servic to both women and men who e to the statn and say they’d like to go to “dreamland.”And the gas-statn scen are certa to get viewers askg if an rt service was really n out of a gas statn that tered to the Hollywood answer to that pends on whether or not you believe Stty Bowers, who is clearly the mol for the Ernie Read: Hollywood Gets a Rewre Trailer for Ryan Murphy's New Netflix Seri (Vio)Bowers was an Illois-born former WWII serviceman who moved to Los Angel after the war – and his 2012 memoir, “Full Service,” and the 2017 documentary “Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood,” he said he lnched what would be a 30-to-40-year reer as a genial Tseltown flh-peddler when Walter Pidgeon me to a gas statn where Bowers was workg and offered him $20 if they uld spend the afternoon together.A naked swim Pidgeon’s Beverly Hills pool turned to a torrid sexual threome wh Pidgeon and a iend. For years after that, Bowers said, he did ed n an rt service out of a gas statn on Hollywood Blvd., supplyg men to women, men to men, women to women and women to men. (He didn’t take a cut — money only passed between Stty’s employe and his ctomers.) Bowers said the sexual enunters sometim took place at the ctomers’ hom, sometim a trailer loted the back of the gas statn, both of which are picted the miseri,“Over the years more Hollywood personali secretly ngregated at that ltle gas statn than anywhere else town,” Bowers wrote. “It was a scene that saw as much fur actn as the bit stud back lot. The place beme a mag for those qut of rnal thrills and pism of every kd. A val of movie stars and others were attracted to the statn like the proverbial moth to a flame. I beme the go-to guy town for arrangg whatever people sired. And everybody’s needs were met. Whatever folks wanted, I had . I uld make all their fantasi e te. No matter how outrageo or offbeat people’s tast, I was the one who knew how to get them exactly what they were after. Straight, gay, or bi; male or female; young or old – I had somethg for everyone.”Also Read: 'Hollywood': Netflix Shar First Look at Ryan Murphy Limed Seri (Photos)Bowers’ book, which is full of gossip about the sexualy of long-ad ins like Cary Grant, Rock Hudson (a major character “Hollywood”), Charl Lghton, Kathare Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, was greeted upon s publitn wh some skepticism, particularly for the way which Bowers claims to have sex wh or supplied sexual partners to so many famo his stori have also been backed up by a number of people who were around Hollywood at the time. Several Hollywood bgraphi, cludg on on Vivien Leigh and Kathare Hepburn, scribe the Richfield statn more or ls the same way Bowers do. Matt Tyrner, who directed “Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood,” said he found at least anecdotal nfirmatn for “almost everythg” Bowers said. “It all adds up,” Tyrner told the New York Robert Hofler, a journalist whose book “The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson” chronicl s of gay life Hollywood, had many nversatns wh Bowers and found him credible. “Stty knocked down more legends than he nfirmed,” he “Hollywood,” the Ernie character retas some of Bowers’ own bgraphil tails, but he is fictnalized several ways. For one thg, Bowers was his early-to-mid 20s durg the time when the film is set, while McDermott is more than 30 years olr than that. And Ernie’s life go a directn very different than the real Bowers, who beme a bartenr after he left the gas statn, and who died last Read: Stty Bowers, Sex Procurer for Gay Stars Old Hollywood, Di at 96The miseri also chang the name and lotn of the gas statn, llg Goln Top Gas and lotg at the rner of “Normandie and Cs” – an tersectn that don’t actually exist, sce Cs and Normandie are north-south streets that never tth, the gas statn where Bowers says he ran his rt service was a Richfield statn, and was loted at 5777 Hollywood Blvd., at the rner of Hollywood and Van Ns.A fire statn occupi the property now – and cintally, if you look south om the statn you’ll be starg at the big, new Netflix buildg, which ss directly across the Hollywood eeway, about a third of a e origal story ‘Hollywood’ Fact Check: Was a Gas Statn Really the Front for a Hollywood Esrt Service? At TheWrap
Contents:
- NETFLIX’S HOLLYWOOD: THE TE STORY OF STTY BOWERS, REAL-LIFE L.A. PIMPRYAN MURPHY’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS SET LARGELY AT A GAS STATN BASED ON THE REAL-LIFE ONE N BY HOLLYWOOD PIMP STTY BOWERS.BY JULIE MILLERAPRIL 30, 2020STTY BOWERS AT THE ABBEY WT HOLLYWOOD ON JULY 25, 2018.BY TASIA WELLS/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETWO YEARS AGO, STTY BOWERS—THE LOS ANGEL HTLER WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE HOOKED OLD HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS UP WH WILLG SEXUAL PARTNERS, GAY AND STRAIGHT—WAS THE SUBJECT OF A FASCATG DOCUMENTARY, STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. IN , THE WORLD WAR II VETERAN TURNED PIMP DISHED ON THE ALLEGED SECRET SEX LIV OF KATHARE HEPBURN, SPENCER TRACY, CARY GRANT, ROCK HUDSON, CHARL LGHTON, RAYMOND BURR, VCENT PRICE, COLE PORTER, AND VIVIEN LEIGH, AS WELL AS THE LEGENDARY GAS STATN—ON THE RNER OF NORTH VAN NS AVENUE AND HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD—WHERE HE AND HIS LIBERATED IENDS, MALE AND FEMALE, SERVICED MANY OF THEIR A-LIST CLIENTELE. RYAN MURPHY’S LATT NETFLIX SERI, HOLLYWOOD, A FICTNALIZED HOMAGE TO 1940S HOLLYWOOD, PAYS TRIBUTE TO BOWERS BY FEATURG S OWN GAS STATN AND CHARISMATIC PIMP (ERNIE, PLAYED BY DYLAN MCDERMOTT).THE REAL-LIFE BOWERS CLAIMED HE WAS WORKG AS A GAS STATN ATTENDANT AT AGE 23, SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR, WHEN ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON PULLED UP AND ASKED BOWERS TO HOP TO HIS R. IN HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, BOWERS RATNALIZED THAT HOOKG UP WH CELEBRI FOR $20 WAS EASY, LUCRATIVE WORK. AS PIDGEON SPREAD WORD ABOUT HIS REPUTATN, BOWERS SAID, THE PIMP EXPAND HIS OPERATN—SETTG UP TWO KG BEDS A PARKED TRAILER AND ENLISTG GOOD-LOOKG MEN AND WOMEN TO HELP HIS SECRETIVE E. AMONG BOWERS’S RACIT CLAIMS: THAT HE TRODUCED KATHARE HEPBURN TO 150 WOMEN OVER SEVERAL S; THAT HE SET UP CARY GRANT WH AN EARLY-REER ROCK HUDSON; AND THAT HE PROCURED SEXUAL PARTNERS FOR WALLIS SIMPSON AND EDWARD VIII. BOWERS ALSO SAID HE SLEPT WH BOTH SPENCER TRACY AND VIVIEN LEIGH; HAD A THREE-WAY WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER; HAD A THREOME WH CARY GRANT AND HIS ALLEGED LOVER, RANDOLPH STT; AND CLAIMED THAT HIS SEX LIFE WAS SO UNHIBED THAT SURPRISED EVEN SEXOLOGIST ALED KSEY.IN HIS 2012 MEMOIR, WRTEN WH LNEL FRIEDBERG, BOWERS WROTE, “I WAS SETTG UP AN AVERAGE OF 15-20 TRICKS A DAY. THIS WAS A 24/7 OPERATN, EXTENDG OVER A PERD OF, SAY, 30 TO 40 YEARS. AS FOR TRICKS THAT I PERFORMED PERSONALLY, I WAS OFTEN SEEG TWO OR THREE PEOPLE A DAY.”PRR TO HIS MEMOIR, BOWERS WAS FASTIDLY DISCREET. HE NEVER KEPT A BLACK BOOK OF CLIENT NAM, REFG TO SPEAK ABOUT HIS FAMO CLIENTS UNTIL AFTER THEY DIED. HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT LEGALIZED CALIFORNIA UNTIL THE 1970S; BOWERS’S OPERATN ALLEGEDLY HELPED UNTLS MEN AND WOMEN DULGE SEXUALLY WHOUT ENDANGERG THEIR REERS, REPUTATNS, OR, SOME S, MARRIAG.“THERE ALWAYS WILL BE SECRET LIFE HAPPENG,” BOWERS TOLD THE GUARDIAN 2018. “PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHAT PLEAS THEM AND THE OTHER PERSON—SOME PEOPLE JT PLEASE MORE THAN A FEW.”IN AN TERVIEW WH VANY FAIR, DYLAN MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HIS CHARACTER WAS CERTALY SPIRED BY BOWERS—BUT ALSO BY CLARK GABLE’S CHARACTER THE 1961 FILM THE MISFS. “I HAVE A POSTER OF THE MISFS STG MY BATHROOM AND LOOK AT EVERY DAY,” MCDERMOTT SAID, CG GABLE’S MTACHED AGG PLAYBOY AS A “ME” FOR ERNIE. “THERE WAS A CERTA QUALY HIM I WANTED. HIS HAIR, HIS MTACHE, THE WAY HE RRIED HIMSELF, AND HIS OPTIMISM, IF YOU WILL. IF STTY BOWERS AND CLARK GABLE HAD A LOVE CHILD, WOULD BE ERNIE.”DYLAN MCDERMOTT (LEFT) HOLLYWOOD MOLED THE CHARACTER'S LOOK AFTER CLARK GABLE'S THE MISFS (SET).LEFT, URTY OF NETFLIX; RIGHT, OM THE EVERETT COLLECTN.MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HE LOVED THE NTRADICTNS OF HIS CHARACTER. SURE, ERNIE IS A PIMP—BUT HE’S ALSO A SEXUALLY LIBERATED AND TOLERANT GUY WHO TAK RE OF HIS WORKERS AND FACILAT SATISFYG SEX FOR HIS CLIENTS A REPRSED ERA. “YOU’RE EXPECTG ERNIE TO EXPLO THE GUYS…BUT THE GREAT TWIST ON THE CHARACTER IS THAT HE’S NOT EXPLOG THEM. HE ACTUALLY LOV THE GUYS AND TAK RE OF THEM,” THE ACTOR POTED OUT.DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER—WHO IS ALSO A FORMER VANY FAIR WRER AND EDOR—HAS SCRIBED BOWERS G SIAR TERMS. AFTER SPEAKG TO SOME OF THE MEN WHO WORKED FOR BOWERS, TYRNER TOLD BUZZFEED THAT THEY SEEMED TO BE “HAPPY HOOKERS.… IT SEEMED TO BE VERY OL WH EVERYBODY WHO I TALKED TO.… THIS SEEMED TO BE HIGHLY NSENSUAL. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO HAVE A PROBLEM, WHETHER THEY WERE GAY, STRAIGHT, OR OTHERWISE, WH WHAT STTY WAS ASKG.”SPEAKG TO VANY FAIR EARLIER THIS YEAR, MURPHY SAID HE ED THE GAS STATN AS THE BACKDROP OF HIS SERI BEE HE WAS FASCATED BY THE FACT THAT “THERE WAS A MOMENT WHERE PEOPLE HAD TO GO TO THIS GAS STATN TO BE THEMSELV, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR SEXUALY, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR FANTASY.” AND THAT’S APPARENTLY JT WHAT BOWERS TEND. IN A 2012 TERVIEW, THE HTLER SAID THAT HE NEVER JUDGED HIS CLIENTELE. “SO THEY LIKED SEX HOW THEY LIKED ,” HE TOLD THE NEW YORK TIM. “WHO R?”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— BEHOLD DUNE: AN EXCLIVE LOOK AT TIMOTHéE CHALAMET, ZENDAYA, OSR ISAAC, AND MORE— HOW TO WATCH EVERY MARVEL MOVIE ORR— DAVID SIMON ON THE WIRE AND HIS EQUALLY PISSED-OFF NEW SHOW, THE PLOT AGAST AMERI— BEYOND TIGER KG: 8 TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARI THAT SPARKED A SEND LOOK FROM THE LAW— DOWNTON ABBEY’S JULIAN FELLOW ON HIS NEW SERI AND THE BETY OF A SCHEMG WOMAN— ALL THE NEW 2020 MOVI STREAMG EARLY BEE OF CORONAVIS— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE NOTOR RIVALRY OF HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, HOLLYWOOD’S DUELG GOSSIP COLUMNISTSLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHRED, WHE & ROYAL BLUE MAY BE “THE MOST EXPENSIVE B OF FAN FICTN EVER”BY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE CAST OF OPPENHEIMER AND THE REAL PEOPLE THEY PLAYBY HILLARY BISJULIE MILLER
- HE CLAIMS TO HAVE PROCURED GAY LOVERS FOR CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN. NOW HE’S THE STAR OF A SURPRISGLY TOUCHG DOCUMENTARY.
- TELLG TAL ABOUT GAY HOLLYWOOD
- GAY MOSW · CY GUI
- GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
NETFLIX’S HOLLYWOOD: THE TE STORY OF STTY BOWERS, REAL-LIFE L.A. PIMPRYAN MURPHY’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS SET LARGELY AT A GAS STATN BASED ON THE REAL-LIFE ONE N BY HOLLYWOOD PIMP STTY BOWERS.BY JULIE MILLERAPRIL 30, 2020STTY BOWERS AT THE ABBEY WT HOLLYWOOD ON JULY 25, 2018.BY TASIA WELLS/GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETWO YEARS AGO, STTY BOWERS—THE LOS ANGEL HTLER WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE HOOKED OLD HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS UP WH WILLG SEXUAL PARTNERS, GAY AND STRAIGHT—WAS THE SUBJECT OF A FASCATG DOCUMENTARY, STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. IN , THE WORLD WAR II VETERAN TURNED PIMP DISHED ON THE ALLEGED SECRET SEX LIV OF KATHARE HEPBURN, SPENCER TRACY, CARY GRANT, ROCK HUDSON, CHARL LGHTON, RAYMOND BURR, VCENT PRICE, COLE PORTER, AND VIVIEN LEIGH, AS WELL AS THE LEGENDARY GAS STATN—ON THE RNER OF NORTH VAN NS AVENUE AND HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD—WHERE HE AND HIS LIBERATED IENDS, MALE AND FEMALE, SERVICED MANY OF THEIR A-LIST CLIENTELE. RYAN MURPHY’S LATT NETFLIX SERI, HOLLYWOOD, A FICTNALIZED HOMAGE TO 1940S HOLLYWOOD, PAYS TRIBUTE TO BOWERS BY FEATURG S OWN GAS STATN AND CHARISMATIC PIMP (ERNIE, PLAYED BY DYLAN MCDERMOTT).THE REAL-LIFE BOWERS CLAIMED HE WAS WORKG AS A GAS STATN ATTENDANT AT AGE 23, SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR, WHEN ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON PULLED UP AND ASKED BOWERS TO HOP TO HIS R. IN HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, BOWERS RATNALIZED THAT HOOKG UP WH CELEBRI FOR $20 WAS EASY, LUCRATIVE WORK. AS PIDGEON SPREAD WORD ABOUT HIS REPUTATN, BOWERS SAID, THE PIMP EXPAND HIS OPERATN—SETTG UP TWO KG BEDS A PARKED TRAILER AND ENLISTG GOOD-LOOKG MEN AND WOMEN TO HELP HIS SECRETIVE E. AMONG BOWERS’S RACIT CLAIMS: THAT HE TRODUCED KATHARE HEPBURN TO 150 WOMEN OVER SEVERAL S; THAT HE SET UP CARY GRANT WH AN EARLY-REER ROCK HUDSON; AND THAT HE PROCURED SEXUAL PARTNERS FOR WALLIS SIMPSON AND EDWARD VIII. BOWERS ALSO SAID HE SLEPT WH BOTH SPENCER TRACY AND VIVIEN LEIGH; HAD A THREE-WAY WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER; HAD A THREOME WH CARY GRANT AND HIS ALLEGED LOVER, RANDOLPH STT; AND CLAIMED THAT HIS SEX LIFE WAS SO UNHIBED THAT SURPRISED EVEN SEXOLOGIST ALED KSEY.IN HIS 2012 MEMOIR, WRTEN WH LNEL FRIEDBERG, BOWERS WROTE, “I WAS SETTG UP AN AVERAGE OF 15-20 TRICKS A DAY. THIS WAS A 24/7 OPERATN, EXTENDG OVER A PERD OF, SAY, 30 TO 40 YEARS. AS FOR TRICKS THAT I PERFORMED PERSONALLY, I WAS OFTEN SEEG TWO OR THREE PEOPLE A DAY.”PRR TO HIS MEMOIR, BOWERS WAS FASTIDLY DISCREET. HE NEVER KEPT A BLACK BOOK OF CLIENT NAM, REFG TO SPEAK ABOUT HIS FAMO CLIENTS UNTIL AFTER THEY DIED. HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT LEGALIZED CALIFORNIA UNTIL THE 1970S; BOWERS’S OPERATN ALLEGEDLY HELPED UNTLS MEN AND WOMEN DULGE SEXUALLY WHOUT ENDANGERG THEIR REERS, REPUTATNS, OR, SOME S, MARRIAG.“THERE ALWAYS WILL BE SECRET LIFE HAPPENG,” BOWERS TOLD THE GUARDIAN 2018. “PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHAT PLEAS THEM AND THE OTHER PERSON—SOME PEOPLE JT PLEASE MORE THAN A FEW.”IN AN TERVIEW WH VANY FAIR, DYLAN MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HIS CHARACTER WAS CERTALY SPIRED BY BOWERS—BUT ALSO BY CLARK GABLE’S CHARACTER THE 1961 FILM THE MISFS. “I HAVE A POSTER OF THE MISFS STG MY BATHROOM AND LOOK AT EVERY DAY,” MCDERMOTT SAID, CG GABLE’S MTACHED AGG PLAYBOY AS A “ME” FOR ERNIE. “THERE WAS A CERTA QUALY HIM I WANTED. HIS HAIR, HIS MTACHE, THE WAY HE RRIED HIMSELF, AND HIS OPTIMISM, IF YOU WILL. IF STTY BOWERS AND CLARK GABLE HAD A LOVE CHILD, WOULD BE ERNIE.”DYLAN MCDERMOTT (LEFT) HOLLYWOOD MOLED THE CHARACTER'S LOOK AFTER CLARK GABLE'S THE MISFS (SET).LEFT, URTY OF NETFLIX; RIGHT, OM THE EVERETT COLLECTN.MCDERMOTT SAID THAT HE LOVED THE NTRADICTNS OF HIS CHARACTER. SURE, ERNIE IS A PIMP—BUT HE’S ALSO A SEXUALLY LIBERATED AND TOLERANT GUY WHO TAK RE OF HIS WORKERS AND FACILAT SATISFYG SEX FOR HIS CLIENTS A REPRSED ERA. “YOU’RE EXPECTG ERNIE TO EXPLO THE GUYS…BUT THE GREAT TWIST ON THE CHARACTER IS THAT HE’S NOT EXPLOG THEM. HE ACTUALLY LOV THE GUYS AND TAK RE OF THEM,” THE ACTOR POTED OUT.DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER—WHO IS ALSO A FORMER VANY FAIR WRER AND EDOR—HAS SCRIBED BOWERS G SIAR TERMS. AFTER SPEAKG TO SOME OF THE MEN WHO WORKED FOR BOWERS, TYRNER TOLD BUZZFEED THAT THEY SEEMED TO BE “HAPPY HOOKERS.… IT SEEMED TO BE VERY OL WH EVERYBODY WHO I TALKED TO.… THIS SEEMED TO BE HIGHLY NSENSUAL. AND NO ONE SEEMED TO HAVE A PROBLEM, WHETHER THEY WERE GAY, STRAIGHT, OR OTHERWISE, WH WHAT STTY WAS ASKG.”SPEAKG TO VANY FAIR EARLIER THIS YEAR, MURPHY SAID HE ED THE GAS STATN AS THE BACKDROP OF HIS SERI BEE HE WAS FASCATED BY THE FACT THAT “THERE WAS A MOMENT WHERE PEOPLE HAD TO GO TO THIS GAS STATN TO BE THEMSELV, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR SEXUALY, TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS THEIR FANTASY.” AND THAT’S APPARENTLY JT WHAT BOWERS TEND. IN A 2012 TERVIEW, THE HTLER SAID THAT HE NEVER JUDGED HIS CLIENTELE. “SO THEY LIKED SEX HOW THEY LIKED ,” HE TOLD THE NEW YORK TIM. “WHO R?”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR— BEHOLD DUNE: AN EXCLIVE LOOK AT TIMOTHéE CHALAMET, ZENDAYA, OSR ISAAC, AND MORE— HOW TO WATCH EVERY MARVEL MOVIE ORR— DAVID SIMON ON THE WIRE AND HIS EQUALLY PISSED-OFF NEW SHOW, THE PLOT AGAST AMERI— BEYOND TIGER KG: 8 TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARI THAT SPARKED A SEND LOOK FROM THE LAW— DOWNTON ABBEY’S JULIAN FELLOW ON HIS NEW SERI AND THE BETY OF A SCHEMG WOMAN— ALL THE NEW 2020 MOVI STREAMG EARLY BEE OF CORONAVIS— FROM THE ARCHIVE: THE NOTOR RIVALRY OF HEDDA HOPPER AND LOUELLA PARSONS, HOLLYWOOD’S DUELG GOSSIP COLUMNISTSLOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHRED, WHE & ROYAL BLUE MAY BE “THE MOST EXPENSIVE B OF FAN FICTN EVER”BY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE CAST OF OPPENHEIMER AND THE REAL PEOPLE THEY PLAYBY HILLARY BISJULIE MILLER
In the new documentary Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood, former V.F. edor Matt Tyrner sh a light on the sexual fixer who tered to secretly gay Goln Age stars * gay hollywood gas station *
Picture a 1940s gas statn that doubl as a pickup spot, plete wh clanste hetero and homosexual enunters, a trailer out back for secret renz-vo, and young, strappg men offerg their “servic” for $20 apiece. Well, not if you’ve heard of Stty the Goln Age of Hollywood, Bowers, an Illois native, arranged sexual assignatns (both gay and straight) for some of the world’s biggt stars.
In the years followg World War II, was a crime to be gay. Hollywood, once an epicenter of sexual eedom, participated “straightwashg, ” or erasg gay sir and narrativ om s history and prent.
This forced gay men and women, pecially those the public eye, unrground and th brought about Stty Bowers. He garnered even more notoriety due to his iendship wh director Gee Cor, also featured Hollywood for his famed parti, rampant wh gay affairs. Two years ago, Stty Bowers—the Los Angel htler who claimed to have hooked Old Hollywood’s biggt stars up wh willg sexual partners, gay and straight—was the subject of a fascatg documentary, Stty and the Secret History of Hollywood.
HE CLAIMS TO HAVE PROCURED GAY LOVERS FOR CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN. NOW HE’S THE STAR OF A SURPRISGLY TOUCHG DOCUMENTARY.
* gay hollywood gas station *
Homosexualy was not legalized California until the 1970s; Bowers’s operatn allegedly helped untls men and women dulge sexually whout endangerg their reers, reputatns, or, some s, marriag.
And no one seemed to have a problem, whether they were gay, straight, or otherwise, wh what Stty was askg.
Tyrner tells Vany Fair that Stty’s brothel was equented by stars who were secretly gay or bisexual. At the time of his ath, Matt Tyrner, who ma a documentary about Bowers, said of him to The Hollywood Reporter: "Stty was a central figure the gay unrground of Hollywood and served as a tsted protector of his iends' and associat' liv when they had no alternative but to live the shadows.
TELLG TAL ABOUT GAY HOLLYWOOD
Gay Mosw Cy Gui for gay travelers. Review of the cy, gay scene, how to get there, travel tips, popular tourist attractns Mosw. * gay hollywood gas station *
In David Bret's bgraphy of Gone Wh the Wd star Clark Gable, for example, he alleg that the star was "gay for pay, " while other bgraphi of the star scribe him as a "stage gigolo" who had a number of affairs wh rich olr women.
In other words, Bowers provid a space for actors to keep their homosexualy on the DL.
GAY MOSW · CY GUI
Labelled "male madame to the stars, " a "sex fixer, " and a go-to "hook-up provir, " his servic were an open secret amongst the actg ele—specifilly for closeted gay, lbian, and bisexual stars. John Sprger Collectn//Getty ImagIn addn to arrangg liaisons for Rock Hudson—who lived as a closeted gay man until he died of AIDS 1985—Bowers claims to have both slept wh and arranged hook-ups wh the era's biggt nam. This was when most of the untry still thought of homosexualy as a mental disorr.
We only tly get a feel for Stty's pth of character when we meet some of his former tricks, strappg gay men who were eager for the work and grateful for the kdns of their protector.
GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
Straight, gay, or bi; male or female; young or old – I had somethg for everyone. And Robert Hofler, a journalist whose book “The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson” chronicl s of gay life Hollywood, had many nversatns wh Bowers and found him credible.
He worked at a gas statn on the rner of North Van Ns Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, out of which, he says, he and a dre of his male and female iends serviced Hollywood celebri—many of them closeted homosexuals. They provid a safety zone for people whose reers would have been ed if the tth about them emerged the s before gay rights and the AIDS crisis.
Fans of Goln Age stars might regnize his name as the man who, while workg at a Los Angel gas statn the 1940s and 1950s, set up gay trysts for a st he claims clud Cary Grant, Randolph Stt, Kathare Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Loosely based on Bowers’s 2012 memoir “Full Service, ” the film tch up wh the thor at var book signgs and parti, terspersg toasts and hugs wh geo shots of Hollywood s airbshed heyday, when overweeng studs, aggrsive vice ps and tsive sndal sheets threw homosexual actors and craftspeople to the shadows.