An East Vancouver park bathroom popular with gay cruisers is gone, torn down by the parks board which says the building cost too much to maintain.
The site was one of two bathrooms in Memorial Park at 41st Ave and Prince Albert. Its demolition garnered a lot of attention and some fond reminiscences on squirt.org.
“Three huge glory holes between the two stalls. Very sleazy,” one man posted after hearing about the demolition. “I have run into a foursome with one giving all the directions and by the time I left I’d consumed four loads. Another time I sucked off a guy in the toilet who afterwards invited me back to his place.”
Though some concerns had been raised about cruisers being less than discreet at the site and maintenance staff making “snippy comments,” queer parks commissioner Spencer Herbert is quick to say that’s not why the building was torn down.
It “was a facility on its last legs,” Herbert says. “A new roof would have needed to be put on and we couldn’t justify spending the money there when the other fieldhouse is just a couple hundred metres [away].”
Herbert says he’s aware of some concerns about the site but maintains parks staff never brought them up in the decision to demolish the building.
Squirt.org is an online cruising site owned by Pink Triangle Press, which also publishes Xtra West.
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