A well-known content creator has sparked an online debate over the relative merits of gay hotspots Provincetown and Palm Springs.
Jim Walker is a former television news anchor/reporter with more than 27 years of experience in the business, including two Emmy nominations, two Southern California RTNDA Golden Mikes, and four APTRA Awards.
Since 2015, after quitting his career as a news anchor, he’s made a name for himself as Dallas Steele, the star of over 80 adult movies. He’s also the regional director for Seaplane Shirts, based in Palm Springs. Walker lives in the desert city with his partner, DJ Harwell.
Walker recently headed to Provincetown for a stay of several weeks. He was there on business—launching a new Seaplane store—to shoot content, and to enjoy some downtime. However, it did not go as planned.
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In a lengthy Facebook post, Walker said, “Ptown is an amazing place if you’re on vacation and have unlimited amounts of money. Not so amazing if you’re a worker bee on a budget over an extended period of time. Not so amazing when you miss the love of your life every single day.
“Ptown is great on a four-day vacation, but even basic things are impossibly challenging – walking a mile each way for groceries, finding an inch of space at the always packed and tiny Mussel Beach, finding a burrito for less than $25, and dealing with the constant judgment of East-coasters with a stick up their a**. I doubt I’ll ever return.”
Walker did highlight making a couple of new friends in the Massachusetts town. However, he concluded, “I know for certain now, I’ll never take another trip alone of any kind lasting more than two weeks. I like stability, meal consistency, home life, and my kitty cats. So I’m coming home, desperately homesick, missing my friends, my gym, and yes, even the extreme heat … I love and appreciate Palm Springs so much more now.”
Provincetown fans react
Walker’s words struck a chord and hundreds of people commented on the merits of both Provincetown and Palm Springs.
Some clearly thought Walker was being hard on Provincetown.
“If you went there with a closed-mind attitude, that’s what you’ll get in return,” said one well-liked comment. “I have never went to p-town and felt the way you’re describing. And I’m a big bear type! It’s a super friendly and warm place with some of the sweetest people.”
Others said that Walker’s words about Provincetown “Sounds rather like Palm Springs!”
A few agreed that Provincetown is expensive during the summer season; So much so that it’s now out of their price range.
“It has changed drastically like Fire Island and Key West,” said one guy. “All three had such a gay bohemian atmosphere. Now they are homogenized and pretentious.”
Shamed for wearing a jock
Queerty reached out to Walker to ask him about the viral response to his post. He said he first visited Provincetown three years ago for a short stay. At the time, he and his partner of 11 years were in a throuple.
“Our third, who had considerable means beyond ours, paid for most of the expenses,” Walker explained. “But all three of us were stunned that a room under 500 square feet with two queen beds, a sink in the corner, and water closet aside cost more than $500 per night. Breakfast for the three of us generally ran about $120. The gym was $25 each for a guest pass.”
“Visiting Ptown for three or four days is a completely different experience than trying to live and work there for a month or longer. If you’ve got $5,000 to spend for your short vacation, you don’t have to even think about things like getting to and from the grocery store, the massive crush at the one laundry mat, the long waits to use anything at the gym, or the cheapest chicken burrito being $24. And when you’re working 8-10 hours per day, there isn’t a lot of time to spare, so the long waits for overpriced everything become incredibly frustrating. Did I mention four rolls of toilet paper start at $14?”
Walker said that although missing his partner was a big part of his desire to head home, “a plethora of things about the PTown experience made it an overall negative.”
“In Palm Springs, we have multiple clothing optional all gay resorts … They have frequent parties for locals and visitors. Many of our bars like the Toolshed have underwear night, where you can wear a jock or thong, or maybe just a sock over it. And on more than one occasion, I’ve walked a half mile home wearing just a jock or thong. No one in PS even thinks twice as long as you’re not totally n*de.
“Contrast that with PTown where during Bear Week, I was walking down Commercial Street to FurBall in my jock around 9pm. I got all kinds of decidedly unfriendly stares. I could hear the comments, not just from the straights, but the gays in their polos and khakis. ‘Oh Lord, is she really really out in that? Does she know this is not the place?”; ‘Such a wh*re, take it back to Palm Springs’.”
“People say PTown is where New England goes to let its hair down. I can’t imagine how tight that hair must be to start with.”
“It was not all bad”
Was Walker surprised his comments provoked such a reaction?
“Yes, I was surprised. But I also recognize that, like Palm Springs, PTown is a dear and special place to many people. I respect that, but my experiences during my first vacation there and then living there for a month were often memorable for all the wrong reasons.
“Something I probably should have said in the post,” he added. “It was not all bad.”
He praised a day out on a boat with friends (“but wow that water was cold”) and “some exceptionally amazing, if not insanely expensive food. I did enjoy seeing the show by comedian and fellow p*rnstar Jonah Wheeler and his husband John. I also got to experience the amazing Lattrice Royale. During Bear Week, I made several amazing new friends. And finally, yes, I shot some great new movies with Jonah and several other performers.
“There are lots of gays with lots of money out there to be sure. But there are even more of us who have to vacation on a budget and squeeze everything out of those precious few days we can. I can think of multiple destinations where your vacation dollar will go 30-50% further. Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Vallarta, Tulum, parts of Spain, and my personal favorite, an all-gay cruise to Mexico, the Caribbean, or the Mediterranean. You could do ANY of those destinations for a week for far less money than PTown.”
Are you a Provincetown or Palm Springs fan? Do Walker’s words resonate with you? Let us know below.
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