Lots of agency ads to choose from back then. Mostly B&S because of the lack of accountability and reviews, but I did have a few good experiences.

...back.  No pics,so it was hit or miss.  After that came the LA Weekly, still going strong.

It was in the massage section of the Weekly about 10 years ago that I saw an ad for 'The LA Reviewer' which eventually changed its name to 'The Erotic Review'.

I'm just curious what the hobby was like before the Internet.  Can some of you old-timers give us a feel for that?  Aside from taking a chance on any streetwalker, what other options were there?

Word of mouth: Dave takes Lulu BCD, enjoys himself and then tells Frank, who goes to see her, and then tells Travis, who goes to see her, etc.

And men think women gossip? LOL

When I first started, I was barely on the internet. I had no knowledge of the boards or sites like Eros. So I worked hotel bars.

I carefully picked the bar, day of the week and even the "client." Conversation was easy and natural, and set up everything perfectly.

I imagine before the internet there was more violence and busts. Those who are not savvy had a lot of trouble. Girls probably picked guys rather than the other way around. Personality was way more important because a lady couldn't use a professional photographer, web designer, and copy writer to sell herself. Also, a girl had to have moxie, street smarts and good connections (Cool LE, hotel staff/concierges) as the vail of cyberspace wasn't there to protect her.

That's how I did it. Lot's of moxie, charm, smarts and sex appeal.



Kisses,
Vanica

Step 2: Read the ads and decide whose fake pictures you like best.
Step 3: Call a # and get the address.
Step 4: Arrive at the address, push the buzzer, smile into the security camera and get buzzed in.
Step 5: Walk into a room with 5 or 6 gals in it.  Pick one.
Step 6: Get fucked.  No GFE but had some great sex.
Which do I prefer?  The present/Internet

As a hobbyiest how do you find/approach providers in a bar type setting? Is there a secret handshake with the conscierge, or do you just have to have special vision like the matrix or something? I'm curious how that dance goes.

Shit if you are going to put that much time and effort into P4P then might as well just date girls civie. Thank god for the internet.

Back in the early 80's, there were free local magazines that included classified personal ads in the back (that's where 'Backpage' got its name).  The acronyms were a bit different, like "WM seeking WF"  (white male seeking white female) or "GWM seeking GBM" (gay white male seeking gay black male), along with a phone number.   There were ads by escort services with a phone number that was often disconnected by the time you called.  

AMPs were around back then.  And finally there was the Yellow Pages that listed 'Escort Services' and 'Massage Parlors'.  --z

and go down to the watering hole and hope to get lucky.

The Yellow Pages in every city had had listings for "escorts".
Also storefront operations (massage parlor, etc,) were common.
I also ran across some women who would work bars (strip clubs, etc) where men were likely to be.  

Each method had some disadvantages.  With the YP you were trusting they would send what you asked for, and some were just out to rip you off.  It was best to find one you could trust and work with as a regular.
MP's were nice to satisfied your needs without planning ahead, but attracted attention of LE.
Finding girls in the bars was not common in my area, but I did have a few great encounters this way.  

The internet has changed the business in some ways, but in other ways it is the same.
As long as men have the means, this business will always find an outlet!

You buy a sex tabloid and make a few phone calls.  Do it a few times and you found several houses in the same area with a string of hot ladies.  That's it.  Today you have a much better idea of what you're going to get but there's still lots of B&S.  If you're really going to do your homework today, it is quite time-consuming, especially in the beginning.  All kinds of terms to learn, etc.  It's still great today, with BBBJ, DFK, etc. that didn't really exist then.  But it was good then, too.  And not as hard as it sounds.

I never had a GFE no-rush session before I started using reviews.
Most I would rate as performance 3-5

I went to the legal brothels in Nevada....
still a good place to go if you want to overpay for a zipless fuck...

Yes, we also had the local 'Isthmus' newspaper, where in the back, were a ton of ads for 'Adult Entertainment'... just for kicks I looked at it last week, & there's only 2 ads back there now, lol. That, & besides our 2 local MP's, we had an additional 4-5 that were eventually shut down before I even got started in 04...

There were ads in City Paper; certain massage parlors were full service. As others have said; word of mouth. The 14th Street thing never interested me. There were "neighborhoods" were you could find action. Not like in Europe but you could find your way.

All the brothels advertised.  You just had to find the right ones through trial and error.  Just like today, if you don't see something you like, you can walk out.

Interesting info, all!  Thanks for the tutorial.    

Seems to me that one big difference is the "safety" factor (for both sides), as there were not the reviews, etc., that we enjoy now on TER and other sites.

og

This Q comes up every now and then: an FAQ.

LET'S TAKE IT WAYYYY BACK! (5/18/2011), TER General: http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=448779&boardID=12

Precedent to TER, Eros and other such websites.... (3/24/2011) TER General:
http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=440432&boardID=12

One version of the story of the Stock Ticker is that Thomas Edison originally offered his invention to wealthy stock brokers as a way for them to quickly, privately and secretly exchange telephone numbers, addresses, reviews and up to the minute PRICES of Providers who would be identified by secret code names ("GE", "IBM", "MSFT", "GM", "XOM", etc.). It became very popular very quickly but someone soon realized that it could be used to transmit up to the minute information about STOCK PRICES, too. The rest is history.

That, of course, was a service only available to the wealthy. The hoi polloi had to make due with things such as printed guides: A Guide to Houses No Gentleman Would Dare to Frequent
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/on-the-records-a-well-preserved-roadmap-to-perdition/

It is very difficult to authenticate this Stock Ticker story anyplace other than TER but if you read it on the internet, it must be true.

It did the trick.  We also would buy an alternative weekly newspaper and even in the back of some legit magazines.