Page 49 - AVN June 2015

by Jason
LYON
You’ve heard this part of the adult industry’s story before: In
the early 1980s the adult film industry left the streets of New
York and relocated to the sunnier skies of Los Angeles.
It’s a dramatic plot twist in our industry’s history—especially
since it’s true.
But this summary leaves too many deeper stories untold.
Y
What did New York City feel like to adult industry members
who did not move to L.A.? What are their stories? What is
the sexual community in New York like today? And most
importantly, what can we learn from their experiences?
This past winter, I traveled to New York to bring some of
these tales to the surface. I interviewed veterans of 1970s
and 1980s New York—Candida Royalle, Veronica Hart (aka
Jane Hamilton), Veronica Vera and Annie Sprinkle—who,
along with the late Gloria Leonard, in 1983 created Club 90,
the world’s first porn star support group. I met with CineKink
founder Lisa Vandever and attended CineKink’s 2015 festival,
which in addition to its lineup of sexually explicit films also
featured an emotional Club 90 reunion event, a testament to
the friendships that have lasted to the present. I spoke with
MakeLoveNotPorn.com founder Cindy Gallop. I visited the
Museum of Sex and interviewed its curator, Sarah Forbes. And
I interviewed Burning Angel founder Joanna Angel and New
York-based photographers Barbara Nitke and Nate “Igor”
Smith. The story that emerges is not just a compelling chapter
in the history of adult films, but also a New York tale of big
dreams, hard work, creativity, perseverance and individuality.
It begins with a journey to the place that lies at the center of
it all…
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