River Days, River Nights: True Gay Adventures at the Russian River (1976 – 1984‪)‬

Mark Abramson, a Minnesota farm boy, moved to San Francisco from Minneapolis in 1975 and dived right into the debauchery of gay life in that pre-AIDS world, including many day trips and overnight stays at the Russian River, ninety miles north of the city. In 1981 he decided to join a group of friends in fixing up an old house south of Guerneville, California. He soon found a job at the legendary Hexagon House/Woods Resort, where he got to meet a plethora of boyfriends, tricks, and celebrities including Divine, Charles Pierce, Sylvester, and Etta James. This is his story of those magical years before the plague.