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NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Monday. S«pt#mb«r 14.1H5 Pogo S Nation AIDS is changing the gay economy • * • Bar, bathhouse revenues decline; home spending up By Ellis E. Conklin UPI feature writer LOS ANGELES -- It's a subdued happy hour at the Wellington, a gay bar in North Hollywood. About 15 well-dressed men are having a drink amid the warm, quiet wash of conversation. The bartender, a wiry young man with short brown hair, breaks the weeknight rhythm and asks one of / the men about Greg. 4 He is still in critical condition. "Might not make it," says Greg's lover. • . , • , The bartender shakes his head, pours himself a brandy/and the two men exchange a secret gaze of grief. The sickening, fearTStriking spec­ ter of AIDS -- the incurable and deadly disease whose victims are mostly male homosexuals and bisex- uals -- has made another visit to the Wellington. Jim Kerlktn and his friend, Jef­ frey, agree to dine at home this night and discuss Use wine they'll share together. "We've left the alleycat bars and those godawful bathhouses," Ker- lian later tells a man seated next to him. "I mean, if Rock (Hudson) can't kill it, nobody can." A few miles away, One Way Bar owner Larry Tagney talks about how he recently put up the "Fight AIDS" posters the former proprietor tore down, thinking them too depressing. "Business here is down, way down," Tagney says. "People's friends are dying. It's getting to the }Lii point where we're looking at each j, other and saying, 'Who's next?' Jc' "AIDS, that's all anyone here is r talking about. But I'll tell you one ' thing, it's not good for business." "Everyone is suffering now," said Melinda Tremaglio, owner of Engle- "'*** bert's, a trendy gay restaurant in :<• • West Hollywood. "The guys aren't li partying or drinking as much now. ^;, • The beer distributors tell me most-of it] hi i s&t) /• l A > ' ! • i}u the bars have gone from 100 cases to 60 cases. "The guys aren't coming out and I don't blame them," Tremaglio said. "No amount of advertising will change that either." " ' The virtual hysteria that today envelops AIDS, believed transmitted by sexual contact, has altered the **•)* living and spending habits of gay < >• America, perhaps permanently.. - The San Francisco AIDS Founda- tion's recent survey of 500 gay and •4t bisexual men revealed that since ;;August 1984 respondents having more than one sex partner declined ; 4 from 49 to 36 percent. ' Further, the number of two-in- come gay couples has increased from 52 percent to 61 percent in the 'i: last year, according to the Gay Mar­ ket Report, a quarterly financial n«. survey conducted by the The Advo- g! cate, the nation's largest gay '(i; magazine. A surge in the numbers of men in "committed relationships" has sparked changing spending pat­ terns, the report concluded. "Travel, entertainment, real es­ tate and home entertaining are only a few of the market sectors in which ... gay couples are concentrating their relatively high discretionary incomes," says the report. With male monogamy in vogue and "safe sex" the new exhortation from the medical community, the gay economy has witnessed some strange twists and turns. "Some kind of community re­ sponse to AIDS, I believe, is under­ lying all the changes in patterns, they way people conduct relation­ ships, the way people see relation­ ships," said Ed Nicholas, president of the Greater Gotham Business Sa !• Council in New York City, which has more than 200 gay-owned firms as members Although bathhouses are shut­ tered and gay bars are sagging, male dating services catering to "long-term relationships" are gath­ ering momentum, and telephone sex services are on the rise. "Business is up, way up, and AIDS is definitely a factor," said Mark King, owner of Tele-Erotic, a hom- sexual phone sex firm in Hollywood. The service costs $36.60, for which the client secures an erotic 20-min- ute conversation with another man. "The most common comment we get is, 'With this AIDS scare going on, I figure this is a better idea than going out tonight,'" King said. At the same time, manufacturers of prophylactics have reported a brisk increase in sales over the past six months, responding to warnings against the exchange of potentially infective bodily fluids. "This (AIDS) has given us a real shot in the arm. We're up 7W per­ cent in sales over this time last year," said Milt Bryson, director of marketing for the largest condom producer in the nation, Young Drugs Product Co. in Piscataway, N.J. Beachgoers beaches in New Jer­ sey and Long Island, regularly ac­ costed by airborne advertisements plugging soft drinks and suntan oil, this summer watched planes tug­ ging "Plan Ahead With Ramses" banners. They are sponsored by Schmid Laboratories Inc. of Little Falls, N.J., the country's second largest manufacturer of condoms. Seme health insurance companies are considering special supplemen­ tal AIDS coverage while others, like Nationwide Insurance Co., have started extra screenings of single male applicants from New York, New Jersey, California and Florida in an effort to avoid financial losses from the spread of AIDS. Coastal Insurance Co. in Santa Monica, Calif, began last January to offer a supplemental policy, adver­ tising extensively in gay publica­ tions and medical journals. About 800 policies have been sold at $194 a year, said vice president Jim Hotinger. One policyholder has died and two other AIDS claims are pending. "Gays are spending their money in other ways now," said Robert Silver, managing editor of The Advocate. "Our readership survey shows gays are coupling like never before and spending money on home vid­ eos, home furnishings, food -- cou- ple-type things -- rather than going to bars, movies and stuff," Silver said. The Gay Market Report noted that 55 percent of the 500 men it interviewed owned video recorders, and that half of the remaining 45 percent plan to buy one in the next 12 months. Advocate sales director Larry Kaufman said the magazine has had a large increase in vitamin, nutrition and health club advertis­ ing, while nightclub and restaurant ads have dwindled. "And the Club Baths that are in every major city are now calling themselves Club Body Centers," Kaufman said. "People just aren't socializing now. I just had lunch in a gay restaurant, and it was me and an­ other table," said Gerry Goulet, owner of the Hollywood Spa, a once renowned bathhouse now being marketed as a health club like many other bathhouses across the country. "No more group sex. It's just a place to meet now or get in shape," Goulet said. SAVE!! BUT FACTORY DIRECT!! Hurry in now for great values from the Verio Mattress Factory! Get fast, free delivery, complete in home set up and free removal of yobr old bedding. Be sure to see the Verio vs. name brand comparison and find out why more people arc buying their new beds from the Verio Mattress Factory! FREE FREE FREE Delivery In Home Set Up Removal of your Old Bedding TWIN FULL QUEEN KING ea. pc. ea. pc ea.pc. 3pc.set *49 & U p ~o9 & up *89 & up *258 & up IO COMFORT LIMBS TO CNOOSC PROM "From Our Factory to Your Home" Vtrio FrM 0«V*«ry f rn 90 Of flMMdnf f ttt ••«••»ai OlOMltMMil mattress factory f f*>'r C OOt'fH) unct I9ii CRYSTAL LAKE HWY Mat P INGREE RO* ( Unnl. W of Rto. 3D (115) 4S5 2570 "Gays are much more health con­ scious now," said San Francisco AIDS Foundation director Tim Wolf red. "The real popular gay bars are really losing business, but in the Castro District (a gay strong­ hold in San Francisco) we're seeing lots of vitamin stores popping up, and the gyms are doing a strong business." Harry Boymjin, owner of The Am­ bush, a gay bar near San Francis­ co's Haight Street, said his business is down 20 "percent over the past three months. "Ever since the Rock Hudson thing, it's really gotten bad," Boyman said. Gregg's, a bar in Hollywood, insti­ tuted a "straight night" last month. three months ago after learning he had AIDS. Dating services are apparently picking up some of the lost bar business. "The people that come to me don't have sex right away. They're more careful, wanting to be more monogamous," said David Kulman, owner of David the Match Mater in Los Angeles. Although there is a $400 annifel fee attached, Kulman said his busi­ ness has grown steadily the last two years because his AIDS-frighjtened gay clients are serious about finding the right person. "AIDS had to change the way we look at ourselves because it's such a serious thing," Nicholas said. "It's "We needed to do something to a threat to the health and well-being improve sales," said owner David of so many people that I don't see Esses, who purchased the bar when how it could not have changed us. its former owner committed suicide And it has." The house you 're looking for may be in todays Real Estate Section HOURS Men Wed * $. Thufi 1 f r < * I S«< • J. 114 7, / / / / / / t / / V NEA grapMc Americans say that education Is their No. 1 worry: school crime, dropouts and standards concern them more than crime, drags and economic issues. (Source: American Values Oenter/Yankeknfltch, SkeUy and White) BABY SALE ! 7 99 # • ¥ ¥ Carters Basic Blanket Sleepers. For infants. 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