Talking To Adam 13 - Part 5

Cruising Hong Kong In 1985

An Oral Gay History Of Hong Kong 

Written in 2016 For The First Time

A GWM IN HIS MID-60s REMEMBERS:

NOTE:  We do not encourage any form of public indecency or illegal behaviour.  We are simply reporting one person's recollections from 1985.

8. Hong Kong 1985:  Cruising Harbour City

1.   In 1985, Harbour City was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT to what it is today. Many younger guys have no idea that it has been renovated and expanded 2 or 3 times since it opened in about 1982.  Hell, many younger gay guys in town, weren't even born in 1982 or were just toddlers in 1985.

2.   What really made Harbour City famous for gay guys in the 1980s, was Ocean Centre.  This opened about 1975 and what you see today inside, looks nothing like the original.  The interior, whilst still keeping its circular shape was narrower, cramped and the ceilings were pretty low.  Although it had good quality shops, it was not as high end or glam as it is today.

3.   But it was the toilets in Ocean Centre that had gay men and tourists talking in 1985.....they were massively cruisy.  They were getting the office crowd from Star House, Ocean Centre, the offices of Harbour City like World Finance Centre and of course the tourists not just from the hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui (who already knew about Middle Road Park) but also the tourists from the then Hong Kong Hotel, The Marco Polo Hotel and The Prince Hotel.  There were all ages, nationalities and body types and the action was incredible.

4.   What made Ocean Centre and Harbour City so popular with gay men in 1985 was the fact that there were so many toilets to choose from on the different levels.  If you met someone in Ocean Centre, then you would head to the very discreet and isolated toilets of Harbour City.  The standing joke was that those toilets had been deliberately designed by gay men for gay men.  It is no exaggeration to say that in 1985, every toilet in Ocean Centre and Harbour City was seeing action.  None of the toilets there had full time Attendants like they do now and they were open till about 10:30pm.

5.   Not only that, but you would meet cute guys who had the keys to their office toilets upstairs and of course around 8:30pm onwards, that would be the perfect time to go upstairs with them  to their toilets because the entire floor would be deserted.  I did that several times and on some occasions, there were groups of us.  It was very safe and discreet.

6.   Unfortunately, there were no mobile phones then and so it was very hit and miss whether you'd see them again.  Not everyone was comfortable giving out their office number, but some were.

7.  It's hard for some people to imagine or believe just how hot some of the guys were in 1985.  Since the gym culture was taking off, there was no shortage of local and overseas muscle boys and personal trainers who were cruising around Ocean Centre and Harbour City, plus gym built white guys with seriously good bodies.  Of course, the local Chinese knew all about the place too and at the time, were really into foreign guys.  One time, I met this amazing muscled Chinese dancer in his mid-20s.  This boy had the body of a god and was turning heads as he was walked through Ocean Centre in skimpy gym shorts and a tank top, showing off his hard work in the gym.  Turns out he was a dancer from the City Contemporary Dance Company and a Total Top.  Fine by me.  Whenever he would show up at Ocean Centre, there would be this line of 7 or 8 guys just following him around into every toilet in Harbour City.  Of course, he frequently got invited to the more private office toilets upstairs where he was a total exhibitionist while several guys serviced him.  It was like watching a porn movie.

8.  Those were really amazing times and the guys you would run into were less flaky.  There was this unwritten code of discretion. It's no exaggeration to say that many gay men were grateful that Ocean Centre and Harbour City existed.  Frankly, it kept them from going absolutely insane.

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