That day she also talked up “The Forbidden Apple” on “New York Times Close Up,” a weekly TV show hosted by Sam Roberts, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, on the local news network NY1.

Thanks Susan!

Tonight I discovered a review of “The Forbidden Apple” from Publishers Weekly via barnesandnoble.com. My publishers were concerned when the book came out in March that we had not scored a review in PW prior to publication, which they thought bode ill for the book’s sales. It seems that PW did review it as a web-only exclusive on March 16. Here we go:

“From brothels on the Bowery to the crusade to retake Times Square, journalist Long (“chief writer” of the guidebook Sexy New York City) examines the bawdiest characters and exploits in New York City’s history, and those determined to ruin the fun. Contextualizing the gritty, bopping, libidinous culture that most associate with New York in the 20th century, Long introduces readers to outcasts of all kinds, outraged moralists like Anthony Comstock and Ed Koch, popular Prohibition-era dances (the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Lindy Hop), and iconic phenomena like the film Deep Throat. Long also covers civil rights milestones for gays and women (the 1969 Stonewall Riots, the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality), and her reach, for much of the book, is far enough to make an apt general history of the city from Reconstruction. Unfortunately, Long’s fastidious research hasn’t discouraged a decidedly liberal bias (“free love” gets unconditional respect, Gov. Giuliani’s clean-up initiatives are condemned on sentimental grounds). Further, the final chapters focus narrowly on Times Square, devolving into a somewhat tiresome diatribe/eulogy. Long should capture the interest of New York history aficionados, but only if they tend to share her lefty permissiveness and it-was-better-when sentimentality. 11 b&w photos.”

GOV. Giuliani?! I suppose I shouldn’t feel too hurt that my last chapter devolved into a somewhat tiresome diatribe/eulogy if PW can’t remember that Giuliani was the mayor of New York, not the governor (yet).

Then I found a nice quote on the Big Red Apple blog giving a shout-out to my Lower East Side Tenement Museum talk on April 2: “History has never been this steamy!”

Another discovery: a lot of people in Malaysia seem to be named Kat Long.

GO's June/July 2009 issue

I was chosen as one of GO Magazine’s “100 Women We Love” in the June/July 2009 issue! Writer Cheryl Burke had this to say:

“While doing research for an earlier book project on former New York City Mayor Giuliani’s quality-of-life campaign, Long saw some interesting patterns. ‘I began researching Giuliani’s policies regarding adult-use establishments — the legal term for sex shops — and I discovered that municipal attempts to cleanse Times Square and the rest of the city of immorality and indecency amounted to more than a century-long local tradition. Even before Times Square existed, mayoral administrations had focused on cleaning up vice in the city’s red light districts.’”

Read more here.

In the early to mid-70′s, a bunch of music industry honchos got together and brainstormed an American counterpart to David Bowie. At the time, Bowie was as famous for his impeccable songwriting as he was for his fashion sense and casual bisexuality. Jobriath, though, was actually openly gay and a campily graceful performer. Sadly, the hype that preceded his talent framed him as some kind of sexual fad, destined to flame out after 15 minutes.

Even Gladys Knight thought he was an “unusual and exciting theatrical event. This young man that you’re about to see this morning is the act of tomorrow.”

Larry and Mary Levenson, owners of Plato's Retreat

Another tidbit from the Long-Lost Archives: a couple of vintage photos from Plato’s Retreat, the ne plus ultra of swingers’ clubs in the 1970s.

Though the conventional wisdom holds swinging to be an outre form of sexual expression from the ’70s, in the course of my book research it became clear that swinging was actually quite a tame enterprise. First, swinging (or “Westport Roulette,” one of my favorite euphemisms I found in a 1974 swingers’ handbook in the New York Public Library) was exclusively a heterosexual pastime, with the exception of temporary bisexuality on the part of the female swinger.  Second, the majority of swingers were married couples, not singles–in fact, single men were never allowed into swingers’ clubs, but single women were always in short supply. Third, most swingers were suburban, middle class white couples. In many cases, the only radical thing about swingers was the fact that they swung. And they may have smoked a little “grass” when the mood struck.

Rules posted at the entrance of Plato's

Plato’s Retreat was the epicenter of the lifestyle in New York. Plato’s was located in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel on 74th and Broadway, in the space previously occupied by the fabulously gay Continental Baths until 1975. Plato’s proprietor, Larry Levenson, didn’t have the smoking-jacketed panache of Hugh Hefner or the appetite for utter sleaze like Screw publisher Al Goldstein. But Levenson genuinely loved swinging, and hoped that Plato’s would let swingin’ gals meet swingin’ guys. He thought that would be “dynamite,” according to a contemporary Washington Post article.

I haven’t yet seen the new documentary “American Swing,” which looks at the swinging phenomenon and Plato’s Retreat, but I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, the film’s distributor Magnolia Pictures unearthed these rare images of Larry Levenson (with wife Mary) and the famous sign posted at the entrance of Plato’s. As I was researching my book, it was rather difficult to find factual accounts of Plato’s that weren’t sensationalized or dismissive of the lifestyle; locating images of Plato’s was even more difficult.

The world famous mattress room

Even more exciting, the photo of the zebra-print mattress room was taken by Annie Sprinkle, the legendary 1970s porn star, “post-porn” performance artist and holder of a doctorate in human sexuality. She got her cinematic start in amateur stag reels in New York, and clearly spent some time at Plato’s.  I was ecstatic to come across these images!

“Behind the News” April 9, 2009 (the link takes you to the Doug’s page, then click on “streaming” or “download”).

Also yesterday, out of the blue I received an email from a producer at Newstalk, a national radio station in Ireland (!). I recorded a 10-minute interview with host Sean Moncrieff, whose show is simply called Moncrieff! No other explanation needed, apparently. I answered a few queries about the porn industry and its future. Sean and the nice Irish ladies who set up the interview all spoke at 100 miles (200 kilometres) an hour and I felt like I was drawling my responses like an uncouth American. Whaddyagonnado? It was 7:45am Eastern time.