Julian LeMont

The first weekend of November has always been marked months in advance in my calendar for our annual pilgrimage to Palm Springs Pride. It is a highly symbolic and meaningful time of year, as it marks not only the last official pride of the season, but also a precious rare occasion for us to meet up with friends gay and straight from all over the Southwest, including San Diego, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

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Out in the desert

Even the drive to Palm Springs has become a  profoundly spiritual ritual for us, as we usually opt to take the isolated scenic route via Cima Road and the Kelso Dunes rather than the busy Interstates 15 and 10. The spectacular sight of fields of Joshua Tree Cacti, huge valleys of emptiness and the vastness of the beautiful Kelso Dunes provides us with the perfect prelude to a magic and memorable pride weekend. Upon arrival in Palm Springs, the usual visit to local gay venues, the pride festival at Sunrise Park’s Baseball Stadium culminating with the Parade on Sunday morning on Palm Canyon Drive are all highlights of our symbolic stay during Pride here.

Ready for fun in Palm Springs

One year we opted to stay with a local Palm Springs friend rather than at our usual hotel. He was among my friends’ closest high school buddies from their childhood days in the deserted and impoverished agricultural areas around Blythe, California. He had made an early move to Palm Springs and was well settled in a nice home with a gorgeous backyard, pool and jacuzzi. Although his home was quite centrally located and within easy access to all areas of gay interest during a pride weekend, it was surprisingly quiet, and refreshingly shady there, a nice and much-needed break from the scorching desert sun, intense even this late in the year. Even the sight of his home and backyard conjured up erotic images of gay porn movies, as so many of them are produced in precisely such venues throughout the Coachella Valley.

We arrived by late Friday afternoon and once settled and rested, decided to head out to dinner and for drinks at Hunters and Toucans, both among the most popular gay hangouts in town. Fortunately we arrived at Hunters early enough to avoid hour-long lines later that evening. It was already crowded, a nice Euro pop tune was playing and luring guys to the dancefloor, and the energy was upbeat and cheerful. Being somewhat an introvert at heart, I usually feel slightly uneasy and intimidated by such circuit party atmosphere, and tend to avoid getting too close for comfort with some of the cruisier and intoxicated party boys. Time and again, someone tried to grope my behind or admire my pecs and compliment me on my outfit. Fortunately at first I had the company of my Las Vegas buddies- for a while at least,  as gradually each and every one of them disappeared, one smooching with a Los Angeles hunk on the dancefloor, the other out smoking with friends on the terrace, and yet another had left with a new conquest to a hotel room.

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getting naked in Palm Springs

Just as I was starting to feel truly uneasy and out of place, my eyes met with a hot young Latino hunk. We instantly smiled at each other and knew the attraction was mutual. Following a cat-and-mouse game throughout the premises at Hunters, we wound up talking on the terrace and basking in the closeness of each other’s presence, as the venue became packed to the limit. A Los Angeles native born to Puerto Rican parents, he was bilingual and we kept switching between English and Spanish. Eventually my close Las Vegas buddy and our local host reappeared and were introduced to my new beau, with both giggling in slight envy and disbelief at my luck to have landed the most gorgeous Latin boy in all of Hunters.

Our local host was not only generous, he also had a solid background in all matters related to the gay circuit scene and porn industry, and upon second inspection of my new hottie admiringly said he was too hot and handsome to just be a “normal Latin boy from LA“. Yet he happily invited him to join us as we drove back to our host’s beautiful home nearby. To my surprise, we were then told my host and friend were leaving to run some errands for a late supper, both giving me a slight wink and smirk with all it was meant to entail. Within minutes my Latin stud and I found ourselves alone in this gorgeous desert home, and knew we had to seize this very moment.

His overwhelming sexual energy, shameless good looks and young, toned body along with his huge package left me in a state of both awe and fascination – and the attraction was mutual. What was to follow ranks among the most graphic, esthetically pleasing and passionate acts of love making I had ever experienced to that point. The illuminated pool and jacuzzi provided the perfect lighting and setting for the unison of our two muscular wet bodies, an attraction so strong it resulted in several intense moments of mutual pleasure unprecedented and amazing for both of us. I had seen many a movie using similar settings and plot lines, but starring in my own private Palm Springs porn and with such an incredibly hot and hung Latin stud as my partner in such splendid desert oasis, I felt as if in gay porn heaven.

Our attraction and sporadic unions lasted for several years thereafter, and he did move on to become a major player in gay porn circles. He continues to radiate the same explosive sexual energy, although since then his looks have become more mature, self-assured and confident. I still continue with our annual pilgrimage to Palm Springs and have since learned that the Valley’s greyish desert mountains, deep blue skies and green palm trees provide an oasis setting both special and timeless for releasing and living out some of our most intimate desires.

Out by the Jacuzzi

What takes place time and again both on film or otherwise on the premises of neatly-landscaped homes and resorts by illuminated pools and jacuzzis is far from pornography as “just a dirty business“. For me the very same scenic presence in Palm Springs has just as much an uplifting and liberating moment, providing a both unique and powerful venue for our wonderful journey to sexual and spiritual self-discovery.