Posted on 01/24/2005 7:20:29 PM PST by wagglebee
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He spent a lifetime peddling smut and once had an $11 million fortune, but after losing everything and becoming just another homeless New Yorker, Al Goldstein is now happy pushing bagels instead of porn.
Goldstein, a founding father of America's porn industry, now hustles bagels and white fish at a New York-based deli and catering establishment.
"I've always loved food more than sex, so this is really my first love," said Goldstein, 69, now a cold-calling salesman for New York City Bagels. "I've gone from broads to bagels."
Goldstein has good reason to feel good about his new career, however mundane, after becoming homeless last year when the porn empire he began building in 1968 collapsed.
The former owner of Milky Way Productions, home of Screw magazine and the now defunct X-rated cult show "Midnight Blue," went bankrupt over a year ago after amassing an $11 million fortune. Screw once sold over 140,000 copies weekly and was a cash cow thanks to ads for call girls and prostitutes before it fell victim to Internet porn and sagging circulation.
"The Internet made pornography available for free and I couldn't compete," said Goldstein, who now lives on Staten Island, with his fifth wife, Christine, 28.
Those he befriended in the porn business, a billion-dollar industry he helped pioneer, turned their backs to him. Even his own son, Jordan, a Harvard graduate who works for a New York-based law firm, refuses to speak to him.
"My life has turned to crap," Goldstein said. "To go from a being a millionaire and then living in a homeless shelter and being rejecting by 98 percent of your friends is horrendous, but I'm a survivor."
PASSION FOR BAGELS
Goldstein was hired late last year as a greeter at New York's 2nd Avenue Deli, paid $10 an hour to welcome customers and show them to their tables. He held the position for a few months but was fired when it was discovered he was sleeping in the restaurant.
Now he works at New York City Bagels on commission, cold calling customers to generate corporate accounts.
"Al is very passionate about the work and he brings a lot to the table," said Glenn Teyf, one of the owners of New York City Bagels, who hired Goldstein more than a month ago on a referral. "Al Goldstein by far has increased our business."
Goldstein's current occupation and lifestyle are worlds apart from where he once was. He lost his $2.5 million Pompano Beach, Florida, mansion and his townhouse on New York's East 61st Street, which were both sold to pay of his debts.
As a result, he was reduced to sleeping at his in-laws' house and homeless shelters. He slept in Central Park and last year was arrested for allegedly shoplifting books from the Barnes and Noble near Lincoln Center.
Gone are the chauffeur, his collection of wine, the Cuban cigars and the parties at New York's legendary Plato's Retreat and Studio 54. He now travels to and from Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry, shops at thrift stores and is perfectly content with staying home and watching the History Channel and Court TV.
"I don't live in yesterday and I don't live in tomorrow. I live in today," he said. "Just when you think you're done, life becomes different."
COOK THE HAWK
Goldstein's fall from grace brought a fresh round of press coverage, including a New Yorker article that called him one of New York's two most famous homeless citizens -- the other being the famed hawk Pale Male whose nest was destroyed by a Fifth Avenue apartment building co-op board.
Always good for a lively quote, the former porn king told the New Yorker, "If the hawk can't cut it, if it can't carry its own weight, cook the damn thing."
"There are thousands of homeless people around, sleeping in hallways, and nobody cares. But one hawk living on Fifth Avenue gets all the publicity," he said.
Despite his hardships, Goldstein is thankful for those who have stuck by him and supported him including his lawyer Charles C. DeStefano, who met Goldstein five years ago and began representing him on a pro-bono basis during his trial for harassing a former secretary as well as an ex-wife.
Like Pale Male, who was allowed to nest again on Fifth Avenue after protests by bird lovers and residents including actress Mary Tyler Moore, Goldstein is no longer homeless.
He now lives in a Staten Island apartment after magician Penn Jillette, of the duo Penn and Teller, helped him out financially to get him back on his feet.
"I think Al's had an epiphany and is on an upswing," DeStefano said. "He is such a resilient character. He's bounced back like a rubber ball."
Goldstein, who works at New York City Bagels five days a week, is enthusiastic about his latest venture and the potential for him to make big bucks on commission.
"I'm in a business that to me, is more dynamic than pornography," he said. "I could do many things, but people who typecast me as just a pornographer, they're just stupid."
I have no sympathy for this scumbag. He's as despicable as Larry Flynt.
But at least he's not asking the government for handouts.
He was on Imus in the Morning last week and was his disgusting self. He still has a lot of friends who have been helping him. Some how I think there is something wrong with his story. He sounds like someone who has had electric shock therapy.
hes 69 years old how ironic
I'm not inspired
"Even his own son, Jordan, a Harvard graduate who works for a New York-based law firm, refuses to speak to him."
At least his kid has some sense. I wonder if he feels guilty that his Harvard education was bought by pimping?
Concur
Finally he is earning an honest living after making money off other's perversion.
I said in an odd way.
who now lives on Staten Island, with his fifth wife, Christine, 28.
Could have been worse, she could have been 30.
LVM
From making bread off hos to making bread with holes. Interesting. Penn Jillette is a genuinely good guy.
Think I'll go rent "Penn and Teller Get Killed" again.
LVM
This is only a ping.
Several decades ago (gasp!), when I was in the Army, a friend and I thought it would be funny to have "Screw" Magazine T-Shirts.
We sent in the requisite dough and a note requesting two "XL" size shirts.
We received a note from Goldstein with the T-Shirt. It said,
"XL! You guys should stop eating so much and start Screwing more."
No doubt Oliver Stone has a screenplay in the works...
An evil man.
I don't want to know how the bagels are made.
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