The Pilgrim Theatre on Washington Street in Boston's Combat Zone was the mother of them all. It was one of those former big burlesque theatres that turned into a movie palace that turned into a porn movie palace. It was spectacular faded glory at its best. Technically is it was a straight porn theatre, but the movie being shown and the scattered straight male audience were beside the point. There was so much gay sex and masturbation going on all over the place. Dark, but lit enough so you could see what you were doing, the sex was everywhere, in the seats, in the aisles, in the corners, on the stairs, in the stalls, hidden away, out in the open. It was a sex escape from the world and heaven on earth in the middle of downtown Boston. Surprisingly, it was a safe place and police didn't bother the patrons. In fact, you never saw them.
And if the delightful depravity wasn't enough on the main floor and balcony, then head down the marble staircase to one of those once elaborate men's rooms in old theatres. The lighting was a bit brighter where you could see men and their cocks hanging out. Sucking, fucking and stroking were happening at every turn. The jizz and piss flowed freely at those old-fashioned, floor to waist-high, divider-less urinals where you stood back, pissed and cruised the guy next to you was unobstructed, not like the paranoia that goes on today. The Pilgrim was a den of iniquity not to be missed. The Pilgrim had its own cleaning staff of mostly older black men doing their best to mop the marble men's room floor. Yes, the Pilgrim maintained cleanliness standards albeit low, but nonetheless, it was a nice touch in this ornate palace.
The Pilgrim attracted everyone from the urban to the suburban from the residents to tourists alike from the married business man to the proper Brahmins of Beacon Hill to the guidos of the North End. From the one-time visitor to the regulars to the blue collar guys and white collar guys before heading home to the wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, old men, young men, students, loners, the shy, the not-so-shy and gays looking for a place to go after the bars, everyone ended up at the Pilgrim at some point in their out and open or closeted curious journey. The Pilgrim ebbed and flowed with "moviegoers" looking to escape for a while, be alone or be with others with weekend nights of course being the busiest. If you were still there on Monday morning, the escape had perhaps gone a bit too far, and the dwindling bottom-of-the-barrel, attendees were clearly not the "respectable" boys out for a good time on a Saturday night.
Sadly, the building in which the Pilgrim was located was demolished in 1996, and over the years the Combat Zone has been transformed into a bland, busy intersection kind of like a smaller cleaned up Times Square. It was the end of an era. But at the Pilgrim in days gone by, gays and straights mixed in a world all their own. And at the Pilgrim, gay ruled the day and night, but even among the countless straights, almost everyone was a little bit gay at the Pilgrim.
