Plato's Retreat
Swingers club | |
Opened | 1977 |
---|---|
Closed | 1985 |
Plato's Retreat was a heterosexual
Establishment
In 1976,
Rules and premises
Plato's Retreat was a "members-only" establishment that was legally not a public business. This meant that members had to follow the club's rules. Levenson did not allow men unaccompanied by a woman to enter. This was an attempt to block male homosexuals, and he also prohibited male-male sexual activity between the men that did get in. Woman on woman sex, however, he encouraged. Unaccompanied women were welcome, often at a discounted rate, or free. Once a woman left a room after a sexual encounter, her male companion had to accompany her within two minutes. This rule was intended to control the male–female ratio. Alcohol was forbidden.
According to a 1979 advertisement in
Fame
During its heyday, Plato's Retreat was considered the world's most infamous sex club,
In 1979, Levenson opened Plato's West, on Ivar Avenue in Los Angeles, but the venture, "a failed attempt at franchising", was not successful and lasted only six months.[9]
In 1980, Plato's relocated to 509 West 34th Street.[10]
Decline and closure
In 1985, New York City Mayor
In 1981, Levenson and his by-then two partners along with Plato's
In Florida
The descendant of Plato's Retreat was Plato's Repeat. It first appeared in 1995 in a listing of adult establishments in Miami, a "very unique pvt club".[14] It then opened as a BYOB club at 321 Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, run by "the wife of the original owner".[15] (Larry Levinson's 1999 obituary[16] does not mention a wife.) It was an on-premises heterosexual swingers' club, open Monday to Sunday from eight p.m. until the last person left. Saturday night was for couples only.
In 2006, Plato's Repeat closed, The Fort Lauderdale building reopened in 2016 as a gay men's sex club under the name "321 Slammer", keeping the same bring-your-own format.[17]
In the 2010s, there are reportedly numerous on-premises swingers' clubs operating in South Florida.[18]
In popular culture
In 1978,
In 1980, Citrus Productions released the high-budget adult film Plato's: The Movie, based on the club, directed by Joe Sherman.
In 2006, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip refenced Plato's Retreat. In Season 1 Episode 3, The Focus Group, the ex-husband of newly named NBS President for Entertainment Programming, Jordan McDeere, is attempting to cash in on her newfound notoriety (and a conservative Christian backlash against NBS's flagship sketch show) by shopping a tell-all memoir, which includes tales of her accompanying him to sex clubs at his request.
A scene in Spike Lee's film Summer of Sam takes place at Plato's Retreat.
Pro wrestler Jesse Ventura would occasionally wear "Plato's Retreat" T-shirts during wrestling interviews in both the AWA and WWE.
See also
- Exhibitionism
- Sexual liberation
References
- ^ a b c d Hart, Jon (22 September 2002). "Fantasy Island". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ISBN 0743241843.
- ^ Fons, Mary K. (September 2005). "Inside the Ansonia". The Cooperator. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
- ^ a b Friedman, Josh Alan (1993) [1986]. "Pecker Full of Miracles". Tales of Times Square. Feral House. pp. 98–124.
- ^ Abele, Robert; Goldstein, Gary; Thomas, Kevin; Linden, Sheri (3 April 2009). "'American Swing' looks back at sex club Plato's Retreat". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- SCREW. June 18, 1979. p. 47. Archivedfrom the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ISBN 0-316-60851-3.
- ^ Grace, Asia (2023-02-27). "Inside Larry Levenson's NYC sex club Plato's Retreat". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
- ^ a b "Documentary revisits Manhattan sex club Plato's Retreat". Newsday. 30 March 2009. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ "Other Legendary Clubs". Disco-Disco.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
- Daily News. Archived from the originalon 27 September 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
- ^ United States of America, v. Larry Levenson, Harry Gordon a/k/a "Hy Gordon", Frank Pernice, and Alan Feinberg, Defendants (27 October 1981), Text.
- ^ Hart, Jon (7 April 2009). "The Studio 54 of Sex". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- newspapers.com.
- newspapers.com.
- ^ New York Times, January 25, 1999, p. A21
- ^ "Former 321 Slammer Web site". Archived from the original on December 24, 2019.
- ^ Mooney, Michael J. (3 March 2011). "South Florida sex clubs revealed". Miami New Times. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ "Plato's Retreat" Archived 2019-05-18 at the Wayback Machine by Joe Thomas (1978), Discogs
- ^ "Magnolia Pictures". Archived from the original on 2015-05-24. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
External links
- Bachrach, Judy (23 February 1978). "The Romans Did It, and Now..." The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 September 2018.