most of which were barely disguised ads for sex.

I would start calling and maybe find one in ten where someone would pick up the phone.  You had to be ready to come right over - the two call system of going to a nearby store and calling them from a payphone would be the screening.

Amazingly I would often find a very good provider (at least by the standards I had then, it was still almost always one pop and goodbye.) but it worked.

There were also MPs around but those results were more hit or miss.

No question about it; the internet and TER have made the hobby 1000% safer and more fun.

I have a question for some older hobbyists out there. How did people do this before the Internet?  I know strip clubs have those magazines  with ads in them but how did one confirm photos, activities , and donations?  I feel very lucky to be doing this in an age where I have a wealth of resources to choose from on the Internet.

Back then there were "whore houses". They advertised in the paper. They would have anywhere from three to ten woman at any given time. You called, they gave you the rate and a street corner from which to call from a pay phone at your appointed time. Then they gave you the exact address. When you entered you were led to a room where you could view all the girls and pick whichever one you liked. Sometimes you were even offered a drink. From there on in you had a code by which you identified yourself for future visits. There was no TER with which to find out what services were provided. It was a shot in the dark. While there were no photos, you got to see them in person first. Yes, it is better now, but it wasn't bad then. It was what it was.

That was exactly my experience in the late '80s and early 90s.  There was no GFE, either.  But I had some damn good sex.

Times Square in New York City was a beehive of streetwalkers long ago before they cleaned it up. Cops looked the other way because they didn't have any jail space to hold all of the ladies if they decided to arrest for solicitation.  There were tons of ladies asking guys "Looking for a good time, baby?". That is where I lost my hobby virginity.

.. that was when I was doing it also. One of my favorite places was on Lex at around 28th St. Yeah, no GFE but quite frankly both then and now when I see someone new it is 50/50 as to how it turns out, research or no research.

The houses I went to were just north of 34th St. and 2nd Ave. and a few more in the low 50s near 2nd.  That fuck Giuliani busted them all.

Unless you found one you liked and repeated. Yellow pages, Personals in the pennysaver, massage parlors and streetwalkers. No reviews, no websites etc. You kids are lucky lol. Well us old timers are lucky too for the internet, ter, etc. but some of us paid some dues before. New hobbyists starting out now, can go in knowing exactly what to expect. The internet also obviously has had a huge impact on the provider side too.

Once I found about 4 different houses I liked I could be pretty sure I'd be able to walk into one of them and find someone I'd like.  If I knew in advance who I wanted to be with I'd call in advance and reserve her.  But, damn, it was fun walking in not knowing exactly what you were gonna get and finding about six hot looking girls who'd fuck your brains out.  Since there was no GFE it was hard to miss what you weren't expecting to get.
I did have one regular who'd give me a BBBJ.

My old days were in Thailand.  If they had yellow pages or newspaper ads, they wouldn't have helped much since I couldn't read them.  Bangkok Post was in English, but I don't think they had any provider ads, and I wasn't often in Bangkok, anyway.  Either word of mouth with other troops in the bars or advice from a friendly cab driver led you to a bath and massage parlor.  There, you would pick out a girl behind a glass wall, or maybe from a parade across a stage.  Still, they didn't have performance ratings or a check list of activities.  Some would provide a happy ending and others a very happy ending.  Just like today, some menus were more open to repeat customers.  

Beyond the AMPs, there were street-walkers [who were usually the dregs of the profession] but in my days most of them had been taken off the street to conform to the demands of the UN so that some of their agencies would be based in Bangkok.  Bar girls were available everywhere, but just like today, everywhere, they might soak you for a fortune in cherry cokes with vey little to no action, or you might find yourself upstairs on a trip round the world.

I recall one book for tourists that recommended various bars/clubs/AMPs around the country, but like any other guide it was frequently out of date.  And it never had info on individual providers.

My most extravagant 3-hour date cost all of $15.  Many were freebies, and I once had a night of wild debauchery with most of the girls in a particular bath house in exchange for a quart bottle of Phisoderm, that I got in trade for developing a roll of film for one of the medics on base.  A gift of a bottle of Johnny Walker Black got me a book of 20 hour-long sessions in another AMP.  That part of the good old days is gone forever, I'm afraid, but I still find that gifts open many doors that money won't.

Way way back they did have a newspaper of sorts with reviews in them hand written by gentlemen (you had to be in the loop to get it.
Madame's would give gentlemen a lapel pin to let other madame's know he was ok to see.
Much like our TER and reference sites we rely on today.