Weary of seeing more than they cared to in the shrubbery, of being propositioned on the street, of having to clean up used condoms, residents demanded that something be done. “I’d have guests over and guys would be having sex” in the bushes below. “In no way am I a moralist, but it would be embarrassing,” said one exasperated condo owner who regularly got an eyeful from his third floor balcony. A nearby sex club had drawn crowds, as did the boulevard’s mention in gay guides. In the enduring subculture of men cruising for sex with other men, a few pleasant residential blocks of Griffith Park Boulevard had become hot. They were there to meet and flirt, to party and take drugs, and to have sex-in cars and sideyards, and, as Farr discovered, occasionally even on a front stoop. on the weekend his street was as noisy as an airport terminal during the holidays, rowdy with men driving back and forth, hanging out on the sidewalks.
Another night, he came home to find two men engaged in sex on the stairs to his second-floor duplex.Īt 2 or 3 a.m. Once he awoke to the sounds of police making an arrest in his yard. Soon after moving to Silver Lake last year, Keith Farr realized the daytime serenity of his neighborhood was deceptive.
