The secret history of hollywoods golden age gas station hustler. It was a scene that saw as much furious action as the busiest studio back lot. He struggled to make ends meet and provide for his family. Through a series of extraordinary incidents i became enmeshed in a wild world of sexual intrigue the likes of which few people can even begin to imagine. But it didnt take me long to learn to do more than just pump gas.
The secret history of gay hollywood finally gets its movie. Pimp to the stars arranged sex for hollywoods elite. Documentary reveals the secret history of hollywood pimp scotty. Over the years more hollywood personalities secretly congregated at that little gas station than anywhere else in town. The true story of hollywoods gas station and scotty bowers. The station attendant saw what was happening from his booth and nonchalantly walks over to my car as i am trying to get the nozzle to shut off and out of my tank. Aug 01, 2018 set between the big movie studios and the luxe homes where the stars lived, a richfield gas station on hollywood boulevard was a hopping tinseltown place in the postwar years of the 40s and 50s.
The gas station was the portal that eventually took me into an exclusive world where highclass sex was everything, bowers wrote in full service. Documentary reveals the secret history of hollywood pimp. True story of hollywoods gas station brothel run by scotty bowers. May 01, 2020 a former marine, scotty bowers gained notoriety as a hollywood pimp, first while working as an attendant at the local richfield oil gas station, before later becoming a party bartender. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives of the stars, offers a lurid account of trawling.
He found work in 1946 at a gas station on hollywood boulevard, and later. Scotty and the secret history of hollywood spills the. Inside the shocking and captivating new documentary about sex. Oct 28, 2018 bowers was just out of the marines when he moved to hollywood and got a job working at the richfield gas station at 5777 hollywood boulevard. Oct 16, 2019 the gas station was the portal that eventually took me into an exclusive world where highclass sex was everything, bowers wrote in full service. Jul 26, 2018 the documentary about scotty bowers, who procured samesex lovers for many of hollywood s biggest stars, skimps on emotional depth to let its subject dish gossip in his charming, gregarious way. May 02, 2020 netflixs hollywood puts a new spin on old hollywood, with plot lines that never could have happened in real life. He occasionally asked me to help out at the pumps from 8.
Hollywoods gas station pimp ernie is inspired by the true. The book was followed six years later by tyrnauers scotty and the. According to his memoir, his sexual career began in 1946 while he was working as an attendant at the richfield oil gas station located at 5777 hollywood boulevard, at the corner of van ness avenue. Scottys, the infamous gas station brothel of 1940s. Ernie is partly based on scotty bowers, the author of. Russ swanson, an exmarine corps buddy of mine, worked at a union oil gas station on wilshire boulevard. Sex fixer to the stars lifts lid on scandal in hollywoods. The real life story behind the gas station brothel in.
May 01, 2020 the gas station, however, was the richfield on hollywood boulevard. S cotty bowers was a 23yearold petrol station attendant on hollywood boulevard when the actor walter pidgeon pulled up to the pump and asked the dimpled blond to jump in his lincoln. The story behind scotty and the secret history of hollywood. Jul 28, 2018 though hollywood is now seen sometimes unfavorably as a liberal bastion, it wasnt always that way. May 05, 2020 when hattie mcdaniel first appears in hollywood, shes enjoying a homecooked breakfast, prepared by the buff, shirtless gas station attendant standing in her kitchen. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives of the stars. Bowers makes many claims about the sex lives of many people, most of whom were associated with the hollywood movie industry during that period. Scotty bowers was a 23yearold petrol station attendant on hollywood boulevard when the actor walter pidgeon pulled up to the pump and. Bowers switched jobs from gas attendant to bartender and was. Hollywood fixer opens his little black book the new york times. May 01, 2020 on netflixs new show hollywood, dylan mcdermott plays a man named ernest ernie west, who runs a prostitution ring out of a gas station.
Marine, gas station attendant and bartender, bowers known as hollywood s male madame claimed to have slept with and set up some of tinseltowns biggest names. According to the hollywood reporter, the station which is now a fire station was located at the corner of van ness avenue at 5777 hollywood blvd. Wealthy patrons pull up and say they want to go to. Handsome, polite and reliable, the freshly discharged marine, then in his 20s, was the u. The real life story behind the gas station brothel in netflix. May 01, 2020 the new netflix series hollywood showcases a gas station turnedbrothel, which, it turns out, actually existed. Apr 30, 2020 the reallife bowers claimed he was working as a gas station attendant at age 23, shortly after the war, when actor walter pidgeon pulled up and asked bowers to hop into his car. George albert scotty bowers july 1, 1923 october, 2019 was an american who was a united states marine and, from the 1940s to the 1980s, a hollywood pimp. This handsome exmarine and his friendly gas station have long been alluded to in hollywood memoirs. Yep, the service station in netflixs hollywood was real. Shortly after i first got here i worked there as a young pump attendant. Ryan murphys new netflix series is set largely at a gas station based. Bowers got a job pumping gas at the corner of van ness avenue.
Janet maslin, the new york times the book is like a 286page gossip column from hollywood s golden ageit names all the names and spills all the secrets. Rashmee sharma, a celebrated journalist, editor, educationist, and award winning author, was teaching english literature at a university in washington state where she all too frequently overheard her students making disparaging remarks about indians as nothing more than cabbies and gas station attendants. Stories of his exploits circulated for many years and were alluded to in books such as hollywood babylon. Bowers was just out of the marines when he moved to hollywood and got a job working at the richfield gas station at 5777 hollywood boulevard.
Im well aware of the difference between molestation and prostitution, but bowers apparently is. One person with gunshot wound to chest after armed robbery at gas station in blue lake. Scotty bowers, hollywood fixer who wrote a tellall book about the. It was there that he met the actor walter pidgeon, who invited him back to. Sep 07, 2017 director matt tyrnauers yearsinthemaking project follows former marine scotty bowers.
Amazingly, this gas station brothel is partly based on a real place from the 1940s that, according to its onetime attendant scotty bowers, was frequented by clients like spencer tracy, katherine. Scotty bowers, fixer of hollywoods closeted gay and lesbian. True story of hollywoods gas station brothel run by scotty. Gas sprayed all over me and once i was able to get the nozzle to stop spewing gas, the gas pump read. Jan 01, 2012 bowers flashes back and forth between his days as a gas station attendant procurer for hollywood s alisters in the postwar 40s, then further back to his days of being molested byprostituting himself to the catholic priests of his boyhood diocese. This bestselling book contains the jawdropping confessions of the man who. Inside the shocking and captivating new documentary about. The first is ernie west, the owner of a hollywood gas station who recruits handsome young men to work as prostitutes for hollywood executives who pull up to the gas station and tell the attendant. Scottys, the infamous gas station brothel of 1940s hollywood. Scotty and the secret history of hollywood spills the tea. Jan 29, 2012 hollywood fixer opens his little black book. Apply to gas station attendant, gas attendant, fuel department and more. Working out of a gas station on hollywood boulevard, bowers soon became the.
As an adult, he worked as a service station attendant before saving up enough money to buy a small service station in a factory town. May 08, 2020 according to his book, he first entered the sex industry while working at the richfield station at 5777 hollywood blvd. Louisin the years before chris became entangled in postworld war. The grapes of wrath 1940 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Biochemical assessment of the hepatic functions of the. Learn about salaries, benefits, salary satisfaction and where you could earn the most. Interview with a witness and photos from last nights homicide in blue lake. The woman who was hepburn, paints a pictures of scottys spot on hollywood boulevard, describing a place where on any given night, fifteen to twenty cars might.
Heres the real story behind the golden tip and ernie, a fictionalized version of. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives of the stars is a tellall book about the sex lives of hollywood stars from. True story of hollywoods gas station brothel run by. And most of the sexy time allegedly took place in a trailer parked behind the richfield. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives of the stars is a tellall book about the sex lives of hollywood stars from the late 1940s to the early 1980s by scotty bowers, with lionel friedberg as a contributing author. The reallife bowers claimed he was working as a gas station attendant at age 23, shortly after the war, when actor walter pidgeon pulled up and asked bowers to hop into his car. Scotty bowers, sexual matchmaker in the golden age of. Director matt tyrnauers yearsinthemaking project follows former marine scotty bowers. Amidst the release of his 2012 tellall book full service.
In 1950 bowers stopped working at the service station and began working as a party bartender, while continuing his sexual services. Scotty bowers, hollywood fixer who wrote a tellall book. Aug 03, 2018 s cotty bowers was a 23yearold petrol station attendant on hollywood boulevard when the actor walter pidgeon pulled up to the pump and asked the dimpled blond to jump in his lincoln. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex live of. Its fully based in fact or at least, one longtime hollywood manabouttowns version of it. A cast of quirky characters comes to life in this nostalgic prequel to geye high hill press 3rd edition, 2010, by author hal d. Oct 15, 2019 tyrnauer was the director of the acclaimed 2017 documentary scotty and the secret history of hollywood, which chronicled the life of the gas station attendant turnedpimp who helped to find. He slept with cary grant and spencer tracyand changed. Marine and gas station attendant turned erotic fixer to the. Scotty bowers, fixer of hollywoods closeted gay and.
The place became a magnet for those in quest of carnal thrills and escapism of every kind. Chris christopher, the goodnatured army recruit who becomes a military undercover agent in simpkins earlier book, returns in an episodic novel that propels us back to late 1940s st. Scotty bowers, 88, at his hollywood hills bungalow, where he lives with his wife. May 06, 2019 after world war ii, bowers made his way to l. Bowers book, which is full of gossip about the sexuality of longdead icons like cary grant, rock hudson a major character in hollywood. The true story of scotty bowers, hollywoods male madame. May 01, 2020 hollywood s gas station pimp is inspired by the real. Secret history doc explores a hollywood gigolos double. The other type of work scotty did was provide sexual services to members of the elite cast of hollywood.
The gas station was the portal that eventually took me into an exclusive world where highclass sex was everything, bowers wrote in full. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex live of the stars bowers, scotty, friedberg, lionel. Scotty bowers says he didnt take money for being the pimp to the stars, beginning in 1946, when fresh from the marines, he bought a gas station on hollywood boulevard that. Jul 25, 2018 many guys, when they got out of the service, they went back home again to the little town, to the farm. Like sam rockwells character in the movie, the real c. Jul 28, 2018 if you were sexually adventurous in 1940s hollywood, you needed to know gas station attendant scotty bowers. Jul 31, 2018 one was as a gas station attendant at richfield oil station at the intersection of hollywood boulevard and van ness. A veteran of world war ii, bowers bought a gas station on hollywood.
Scotty bowers and his sexual tellall of old hollywood the new. Scotty bowers, pimp for stars of hollywoods golden age. In 2012, scotty bowers published a book titled full service. Gas station attendant charged with homicide acted in selfdefense, says hcso. Feb 01, 2012 this is just one revelation in a controversial memoir to be published later this month by an old man called scotty bowers, who was that gas station attendant, but also a gigolo and sex fixer to the. Dylan mcdermotts ernie is based on the real life scotty bowers. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, life in hollywood up until the early. Jun 30, 2017 disguised in a bandanna and dark glasses, marilyn monroe and one of her pals oncestopped at a gas station. My adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives. Chateau marmont, after which tyrnauer follows him to book signings.
This book was followed by a critically acclaimed 2018 documentary. Now the subject of the hit documentary scotty and the secret history of hollywood, praised by vanity fair as full of revelations and entertainment weekly as. Full service, my adventures in hollywood and the secret sex lives. Did a sex worker gas station in hollywood really exist. Oct 21, 2019 scotty bowers, who challenged the genteel image of studiosystem hollywood with a startling 2012 book in which he claimed to have arranged sexual liaisons for a long list of gay and bisexual stars.
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