Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: Gordon Fraser

HistoryProjectTodoList: edit this, make it nice looking

Source: Gordon, January 14, 2008

My Personal History: Gordon Fraser, eldest of three sons Born in North Sydney, N.S. 1947 Our father was a General Practitioner & Surgeon who went to Sydney Mines after World War II. We lived comfortably in a part of the town call Pill Hill (LOL) facing Sydney Harbour.

While growing up no one knew about the word gay let alone the lifestyle associated with it. As a young boy I had one or two experiences with another boy my own age who want to rub my penis to make it get bigger. As neither of us had entered puberty, nothing happened but our mother's wondered why we had pants with pockets that were ripped on the bottom. At least I was questioned why and how it had happened to which I played dumb.

After high school one friend had a car and he was known to like boys. Personally I had no idea what was in store but I did not mind driving in a nice car with a fantastic 8 Track Stereo which I had never seen before. At first there were three or four guys with us and I elected to sit in the back seat. Little did I know they were all guys who liked guys but most had not been in my school.

So off I went to Junior college in Sydney and was able to live at home and commute with my own car. In 1966 I started college and a young doctor came to the area and lived close to our home. Through him I learned to drink wine, Dubonnet with 7 Up as I recall and a twist of lemon. He drank Scotch and water. We often talked over a drink in front of his fireplace and he began telling stories of his adventures in University in Halifax. I began to think he was somewhat worldly and he seemed to have convinced me of his manly prowess. It seemed okay and the fact that we had some age difference with his being 26 and me being 19 seemed fine too.

Granted you had to be 21 to buy alcohol but regardless a glass of wine seemed to be acceptable in some social circles. I however neglected to tell my parents of all the tales nor the wine. Well one night as he was massaging his dog beside me on the sofa before the fireplace, he had more to drink than usual and the wine was flowing somewhat freely. After an hour or more the young doctor was massaging the dog's forelegs. Well as he seemed to be massaging the left front leg more with his left hand, he gradually had slid the dogs leg on my lap without my taking notice at first. After some time more than the dog's leg was being massaged. I certainly had an erection in my pants and wondered if he had noticed. Sure enough he had noticed and I was being asked to go in the bedroom for a mutual massage. That happened that night and continued to happen for the rest of the school year. By May when I had to drive across the country for a summer job, I thought there were only two guys in the world who enjoyed these massages and as it had progressed to oral explosions which I was told to swallow so as not to make a mess for the housekeeper to discover.

So off I went for an absence of 4 months. I soon learned that I missed these experiences even if we were the only 2 men in the world who had done this. Well Kleenex was going to have to do for the summer as certainly no one in Alberta would ever be like my neighbour.

Barely gone a month, when I met a minister of the church, who had previously worked in the area of Alberta where I was located for the summer. He was in the area for a day before returning to his home some 200 miles away. After the minister introduced me to four or five families in the area I was happy to have made some local contacts as I knew very few people. That day was coming to an end and he was too far from home to drive the distance. I said he could stay the night if he wanted. I had a cot in my cabin along with an old double bed that sagged like the V in the Crest of a Cadillac. (LOL)

I offered the bed and said I would take the cot . We both knew the cot was most uncomfortable to sit on, let alone sleep on it for a night. He proposed that we share the bed and asked for a spare pair of pyjama bottoms. I agreed and presented the bottoms as I had 2 pairs. The lights were out and I got in bed by the wall and in he got.

Well I laid on my stomach and thought about the day and tried to fall asleep. I had had many cups of coffee for the first time in my life and I was wired from the coffee. He seemed to be dozing off and I thought nothing of it. As I laid there with my hands by my sides I felt what I thought was his thumb in my right palm. In my mind I thought he is tall and has big hands so this had to be his thumb. I gradually curled my fingers and soon realized it was not his thumb. Instead it was the largest cock I had ever seen in my 19 years. I had no idea they came so large as this had to be over a foot long and as thick as my wrist. So the night turned out to be one I would never forget. We had oral sex and I choked over this enormous specimen of manhood. Meanwhile he made me explode in less than 30 seconds the first time and during the hours that continued I lost count of my explosions. I finally fell asleep curled nude and it was more from shear exhaustion. This was June of 1967 and I had found the biggest cock in the world that had been raised on Prairie Beef and I for one was going to eat a lot more beef from there onward. Centennial Year was great, Klondike Days, The Calgary Stampede, Expo 67, The Rockies, and now this memory of the Wild West and how this man made my doctor friend look very lean in the manhood department. After my return to Nova Scotia, I was ready to settle down and go back to school. I met the doctor and told him of my experience and he laughed over it. Then we played again and I soon learned what particulosis really is. I was home for a few days and found something on my leg, actually below the knee and it was alive in my palm and had several legs which seemed to be moving. I flushed it down the toilet and went immediately to examine my entire body. I was the victim of some plague and went immediately to the only possible source. The good doctor laughed and said he had, had some fun during the summer too. It turned out to be one of the guys from my friend's nice car.The guy he had met, was known to have a reputation so I had always avoided him. Now I was no more than a new victim to some social disease. I was shocked at the very thought and how I was going to be outed in the Medical Journals of the Province. Well my friend hands me $20.00 and a prescription in my name for more than enough lotion to cure both of us. One look and seeing my name was too much, I tore it up then and there and said put his name on it and I'll go get it where no one shall recognize me. That done I was off to Sydney and thankfully the pharmacist asked no questions but took the money and I said keep the change as my friend deserved to pay for it. Little did the pharmacist know to whom I was referring. The rest of 1967 and 1968 went on as usual but often I laid in bed and dreamt of my night in Alberta. Often I woke up with an erection and had to masturbate with my mind focused on a wonderful smile in Alberta. So now I knew there were a handful of us, guys who enjoyed playing with men. Was this just a phase I was going through or was there more to it. I had no idea what awaited my years ahead of me.

In 1968 I went off to Labrador to work for the summer. My friend with the nice car had a friend who was driving his exotic and very rare American Model Pontiac which was supposedly costlier than my father's new Cadillac, to Victoria, BC. This friend worked for a Trust Company and made a lot of money as well as, seemingly, having come from a lot of money. he offered to drive me to Montreal so I could fly to Labrador more cheaply for my summer job. We set out early one morning and drove for hours to New Brunswick and on through the Eastern States to arrive in Montreal very early the following morning. We landed at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel which he said was the best. I preferred both the Chateau Champlain and the Windsor. As he was paying for the room I said nothing. He went and got a room with a double bed as it was cheaper according to him. I showered and crawled into bed only to soon learn why he wanted a double bed. He was on me in 2 minutes and we drained one another of all traces of sperm and swallowed them all as it was good protein according to one doctor I knew all too well. After a long sleep that day and again the following night he wanted to head off to Victoria, BC. He begged that I continue on to the west and that he would get me a job with his father's company which sold exotic cars like his. Having made plans I said I could not afford the trip and expenses to which he replied he would cover. But my family awaited my arrival in Labrador so North I went contrary to this fellow begging I do otherwise.

Some years, later I learned he lost his job and had gone to jail for having stolen many thousands of dollars from the Trust Company. Well I saw how he lived and could only imagine how some poor people had been in for a big surprise when they discovered the missing money. Who knows I may have sleep in a bed paid by a guy who turned out to be the first crook I would ever meet in person.

Upon my return to Nova Scotia, I took up residence in Halifax. I went looking for an apartment. I got a job and to get out of my uncle's home I started to look for an apartment. I soon learned they were not cheap. The first one I saw was close to work and the guy, a total stranger wanted me to share not just the room but the bed too. I suspected he liked men, but I was not one bit curious to learn more about him. I left him and said I would get back to him. This I thought would be the end of the meeting but I had said my name and where I worked so he called me to ask when I wanted to move in. I had found a nice 3 Bedroom apartment with 2 guys whom I liked and had my own room. Needless to say I never heard from the fellow again. Well Halifax was big and had Bars open later than I could ever recall staying up.I began to go out and made friends. I went out and dated a few girls when I first arrived in Halifax. Then in the fall of 1969 I went to Dalhousie and made many new friends. For the year 1968 and 1969 I knew nothing of any other lifestyle in Halifax. Then The Henry House opened and I went to try it out by myself. Service was fantastic, better than the Gondola which I had come to enjoy regularly. Chez Jean was also very good for my Lobster Thermidor craving and many the meal I had there. But at the Henry House the waiter was a very good looking guy from Spain and Raphael pampered me with great service. After a Cognac on him I was too drunk to go back to residence according to him. So we went off for coffee and I ended up in his bed. I thought I was sleeping with a new friend and that we would wake up and go out for breakfast. That sounded like fun but he had plans for fun first and then sleep and breakfast. He was in my underwear so fast that I can hardly recall what happened but I was in no condition to put up any resistance. He had a great time and I fell asleep while being drained of any sperm in my body. We woke up and I had no underwear on and he wanted to have more fun which we did. I had no idea where I was but knew I could find a taxi and head back to residence as it was 11Am on a Saturday morning. Well we did enjoy the day again and again until he had to get ready to go to work, the Poor Guy must have been exhausted. I knew that I was and my poor penis was actually sore from so much oral attention.

A few weeks later I went back to Henry House only to learn that Raphael had moved to become manager of a restaurant in Toronto. Well that was my 1969 experience. Then I met a gal from Ottawa whom I dated for months but she wanted to get married. We even flew to Fredericton in March 1970, the weekend of the Solar Eclipse in Halifax and stayed with her twin sister and husband, a good looking young mountie and their young daughter. The weekend started with a party where I was the only guy who was not a mountie. They all drank like fish and danced better than I did. We all slept in Saturday. Then we went shopping and out for dinner. On Sunday morning the girls got up and I was told to crawl into bed with her husband while the girls talked and fed the baby. Little did I realize that my boxers had got tangled in the dark of the night and that they were inside out when I walked into their bedroom to continue to sleep for a few hours. The girls must have laughed over that, but then they were worldly and from Ottawa. The young mountie was very good looking and asleep in the bed diagonally so I crawled in and had to lie on my side or fall out. Soon I felt the hair of his legs on my legs and I started to get an erection. He gradually slid back toward my groin. I thought he was surely asleep so okay no problem. Well he began rubbing on my groin and my cock was sticking out of my boxers and he had it gliding between the cheeks of his butt and into his briefs which were lose around the legs. I was sure he was asleep so I did nothing but lay there and he kept my erection warm and moist for 2 hours or more. Finally his stoking made me explode all over his underwear. I was beet red but thought he had wanted it to happen. He said nothing and after we cleaned up in the morning in the bathroom together nothing was said. But I certainly enjoyed Fredericton much ,more than I had originally planned. Too bad my friend and I broke up later that month and I never saw her brother in law again. Often I thought what it would have been like to go fishing or hunting with him. I doubt we would ever have seen a tree or a puddle, just some remote shack in the woods and lots of wild sex. In 1971 I met some guys down on Tobin Street and through them I learned of a new club. The place was up several flights of stairs and you had to be known by the door man or owner to get in. The owner was a guy I got to know very well, David Gray These guys I had met at the Cameo told me to meet them at their apartment. They took me to "The Club" on Barrington Street. It was packed and the music was better than the Eager Beaver in the Hotel Nova Scotian. I decided to rent an apartment on Kent St. It was small, older and needed work. I tried to fix it up but even I got tired of the place. I then moved to Inglis Street and rented a nice 2 Bedroom apartment with underground parking. It was convenient as I could walk to the Health club in Park Victoria, called Victanie's and it had a sauna, steam room, whirlpool, and gym. I was working out in the gym regularly and soon learned some guys were playing with others in the whirlpool. All you had to do was find a nice jet and some one was bound to make you cum in that confined space.

Then came the Apollo Sauna and the first owner was a retired fellow by the name of Jim who had a white goatee. His goatee was one of the first I ever saw. On your first visit you were entitled to a free massage after which a massage was $7. or $8.00. Few ever paid for a massage at Apollo. The massage was very relaxing and I remember rolling over on to my back and being half asleep when I felt my penis being sucked for dear life and I put up no resistance. The goatee was a novel experience as it dove down on my groin. He certainly gave a great blow job.

Now in 1970 I had been warned never to go up on Citadel Hill at night. Naturally we all do what we know we should not. In 1971,I walked over the hill one night to go home from a movie and I was amazed at all the cars with only one person in them. Several offered to drive me home but I chose to walk that night. The next evening I mentioned it to a friend at the Club and he laughed. He then said it was the fruit loop and that men went there to hook up with other men. In the fall of 1972, I had a car and soon learned how the fruit loop worked. One guy, that I met up there, was a cook at Woolco in Scotia Square and I think he managed the kitchen. Well he was from Spain and made me think of my acquaintance from the Henry House, Raphael. He was very hairy but not nearly as good in bed as my previous experience. I guess that I still have to go to Spain to see if these guys are all good in bed. So far 99% of all Spanish speaking guys that I have met were great in bed. The other 1% was not too bad either. (LOL)

Below the Fruit Loop there was the Triangle in front of the Dresden Arms. The Hotel had a cruisey bar too. In those days the Parking Lot across from the CBC Radio Building on Sackville St. was cruisey. Then too the same could be said for Summer street and Point Pleasant Park's Parking Lot at the end of Cottage Road.

The Summer of 1973 was full of fun when I often drove to New Minas and spent weekends with Donnie Schnaire and Weldon Taul & James Hewey. These guys were a laugh a minute and the antique business was always a hoot full of gay guys. James is still a friend today.

Just before Christmas of 1973 I was asked to be a waiter on the train to Montreal as I was out of school for a few weeks. So off I went to Montreal and the first night on the train which left Halifax at 4 PM called the Scotian, there was a shortage of beds and I was told to sleep in a roomette with another student. He was not an inexperienced male the next day. We said nothing but we were certainly close that night in the cold crew car.

The following summer saw me work on the Rail Liner to Sydney and nothing ever happened there. But on days off there was always the Health Club and of course the Apollo. No one had memberships at the Apollo but some nights were very wild with as many as 7 or 8 guys playing behind the sauna on a cot. Many Guys lost their virginity there.

Then David Gray's Club closed in the early seventies as quickly as it had started. But by then a second club opened across the street. For a while, the music roared from each place so it was hard to tell which one had the better music. But as soon as David's Club was gone the old building across the street where the Bean Sprout had started became the only and very popular Private Club, on the top floor, and they even allowed some women to enter.

The name Escapes me right now but I will think of it later. This club continued for some years as the only gay club in Halifax.

On Halloween 1976 I won the best male costume as I had rented some outfits in Montreal and went out as Louie the 14th. I even had shoes in my closet with huge Buckles to complement the outfit. First Prize was a Bottle of Champagne which never did get too far. Wherever I spent the night the Bottle was opened and in the morning I went home with a hangover. I do recall Tommy Miller winning the Best Drag outfit and when he pulled off his wig I was amazed that he really looked better in drag. (LOL)

In 1976 Victany's closed very suddenly. Then everyone who was a member moved to Oceanus in Somerset Apartments on South Park Street & Inglis. There members continued to swim in the nude for years and I'm sure some relationships started in both of these Health Clubs. I was not very active in the Gay community for a while after 1977 but I do recall one fun party at the Chateau Halifax where a bunch of gay guys went skinny dipping in the pool late at night when the water was warmer than the air. his of course was after the dance at the club and no one was fit to drive.

 In 1978 I went to Toronto and Florida for Christmas and New Year's. I returned in January 1979 and life in Halifax was getting a bit dull for me.In 1979 I remember Donny Pettipas coming to my home with a travel case full of rye and grapefruit juice by taxi on various occasions. He was a great friend and made me laugh often. He lived on Birmingham Street on the Old gay triangle.

Nov. 1979, I moved to Edmonton and returned to Sydney in May 1981. There I got married in 1982 and that lasted until Oct. 1991 when I moved to Halifax.

In October 1991 I went to Rumours on Gottingten Street for the first time. There I met friends I had not seen in many years. While back in Halifax, I shared a house in Bedford in 1991 and 1992 with 2 straight guys. I even hosted an over 30's Pool Party which was a real Hoot. A few young straight couples even went for a swim with the 30 or 40 Gay Guy's but they were fast to depart when they realized that the Guys were the focus of more attention than the 3 girls. We had a great Party and barbeque and I think my bedroom was more than just a changing room. LOL I also went to MCC Safe Harbour during 1991 to 1993. I recall the Gay Pride Parade of 1992 being small but fun. Then just before Christmas 1992, MCC put on a Christmas Dinner at St. John's United Church on Windsor St. where there was a ton of food donated but the turnout of needy people was very small. I think it was a case of not getting the information out to people in time to take advantage of it. In 1991 I also met Dan & Norval which let to meeting some terrific guys. Christmas on Union St., 1991 and 1992 were both one of the nicer experiences that I enjoyed in Halifax. I also recall that Dr. Bob Fredericks was a friend of theirs and then too the wonderful Canada Day hike to Cape Split in 1992. We even went sailing on the North West Arm and out to Chebucto Point. This I think may have been close to Halifax Natal Day. The Over 30's Club did a lot of Good Socializing and it even included trips down to Eric Schofield's home in 1995 when I was back on a holiday.

Many Friends have passed on over the years but Halifax will always hold a special place in my heart. In Sept. 1993 I moved to Vancouver.

This is one account and from it I plan to deal with questions that you have posed.

Hope you have had a few laughs and not been put to sleep by this account.

Time for bed now. Ciao, Gordon