RIP SMB.

[James K]

It has been said before that Santa Monica BLVD is dead. It has been
said it's dead and buried. So let me just say I revisited to lay a
rose on the grave--because make no mistake, it's d-e-a-d.

I've actually cruised it several times over the past months, but
having nothing new (positive) to report I didn't see much point in
spelling out how dead it was again. If you look very hard and spend a
while going up and down you might see a god-awful looking trannie or
two. But most passes, nothing. Well, nothing working... the area's a
lot more vibrant and there's plenty of 'civilians' but nobody taking
an interest in passing cars... Going down past Vine, all the way to
Western doesn't help, trying a street up or even a street south
doesn't either (even the crowds of homeless have been missing
lately).

The closest thing to a working guy I've seen is a late 30s+ guy with
long hair working the parking lot near Circus of Books all the way in
WeHo.

Now I haven't spent much time at Digits or Numbers lately, but I can
tell you there's fuck-all on the boulevard.

So the question becomes, is there anyplace left for instant
gratification? Have working guys been pushed somewhere else? There's
been intermittent talk of guys near Roman Holiday in Van Nuys (Victory
and Van Nuys) but I haven't seen that either. Maybe the MacArthur
park area? Dunno. Please give me a heads up if you've seen anything
of interest anywhere.

It's too bad because while there is fun to be had on CL I often miss
the variety that once existed on SMB.