Federico, 24

What do you do for a living? 
I do construction.

Nice. Does that ever get you laid? 
Yes. All the time.

How? 
I work at hot chicks' houses sometimes.

And they hit on you? 
Nah, I usually hit on them.

Wait a minute. You show up to work construction on a house with a hard hat on and a hot girl just happens to be there all the time? Are you sure you don't work in porn? 
Yeah, man. I'm sure. And I don't wear a hard hat.

So how does it work then? 
I end up working for girls and sometimes talk to them and it works out. I get laid. Trust me.

What is the line that gets these hot homeowners to lay you then? 
There's not just one line — it depends on the situation. Gotta keep your game up. You know what I'm saying?

So do you practice to keep your game up? 
No. I don't practice alone in the mirror or anything. But I practice in that I hit on a lot of cute girls. 

What does a cute girl look like to you? 
I am not picky with girls. I like beautiful girls.

Are you looking for a beautiful girl to be your girlfriend right now or are you liking being single? 
No relationships right now. No way. I can't deal with the extra drama right now. I don't have time for it. I need to focus on things other than girls right now. I'm taking a break from girls.

How long is this break? When was the last time you had sex?
Um... Three or four days ago.

What? What kind of break is that? 
What can I say?

How did that one go down? 
That was with an old girlfriend of mine. I hadn't seen her in six years.

And then Facebook came to town? 
No. I just saw her and all these old memories came up. But now that it's over, they all left again.

So are you not going to talk to her again?
I don't really want to, but I have to. I left my hat over there.

Is it a special hat or something? 
Yeah. I'm particular about my hats. That one is a good hat.

Did you leave your hat on purpose so you would have an excuse to see her again? 
Nope. If I could do it again, I would have brought my hat with me. Man, I really like that hat.

Thanks for your time. 
A really, really good hat.

 

Sofia, 30

What do you do for a living? 
I'm a writer.

Does that mean you're unemployed? 
I pay my bills.

Does being a writer ever get you laid? 
Not really. I guess maybe it's because people must think I'm unemployed when I say I'm a writer.

So where do you meet your dates then? 
I haven't been dating too much lately, but the last few have been matches through friends. I had a double date with my friends the other night. They brought a guy for me. It was a completely blind situation, and it did not pan out.

Why not? 
The guy did not laugh one time. He kept talking about how he's a true artist but the art world doesn't understand him and how he was the original inventor of graffiti. My friend said that he had also done some tagging in 1992 under some viaduct, and he was like, "I tagged under that viaduct first in 1985." And I couldn't help thinking that I was not yet in kindergarten at that time, and then I thought about how he's still holding on to that time period. And then I thought about how if I was still hanging on to that time period, I would be wetting my bed.

So, you don't like older men? 
In theory I do. I want a man to be established or at least know what he wants to do with his life. And someone who is sure of himself, which is supposed to come with age. Plus, I would like to date men who can teach me some crazy sexy moves. But, the older ones aren't really working for me lately. There have been three forty-one-year olds in a row, and none was a keeper.

They don't know enough sexy moves? 
No, I'm not getting to that point with them. Not even close.

So when was the last time you had sex? 
Long ago, my friend. Maybe six months. I've gone two years before, so this is nothing.

Are you just not a very sexual person? 
No! That's not it. I would love to get some action, but I made a pact with myself to only do it with someone I care about. I'm over the sex with strangers thing.

And you just don't care about anyone lately? 
Exactly.

Why no more sex with strangers? You don't mind talking to strangers. 
I just like my life right now, and I don't want to derail anything for just anyone. I was so mad I wasted time on that guy the other night. That was four hours I could have been doing anything else. I'm waiting for someone who makes me really want to be with him, not be with him just because I'm lonely or looking.

How many strangers were you with before you implemented this new plan? 
A few. Not really strangers though. Just people I was with just for fun. I always know people's names. Usually.

Are you using anything else as a substitute during these past six months? 
I was on my way out the door the other day, and I checked my mail to find a new vibrator. Went right back inside.

Do you watch porn? 
Yep.

Any specific kinds? 
Yes. I'm very specific. It has to seem real. And if the bedspread looks dirty or the girl has fake nails or if there's any dialogue at all, I can't watch it.

So, you hate all porn then? 
No! There are some good ones. You just have to really search.

 

Steve, 48

What do you do for a living? 
I am retired.

Oh, nice. Has that ever worked for you in the sex department? 
A lot.

Really? 
Yeah. People seem to like that. They say, "Oh wow! At your age? That's pretty cool. I want to fuck you."

When the last time that worked for you? 
I think the easier question is when hasn't it worked for me!

Oh, snap. When was the last time you had sex? 
Three weeks ago. I've been trying to lay off for a little bit. No pun intended.

What happened three weeks ago? 
I hooked up with this surfer boy. He's got long blond hair. We don't really have sex. I blow him, but I've never kissed him. This is very odd for me because I'm normally all about the kissing. But he's so cute. He's the typical Venice surfer dude. You'd swear he's eighteen, but he's really twenty-seven and he smokes weed. So we get baked and I end up reaching over and I go down on him.

Wow. Where did you meet this guy? 
Craigslist. Yeah. His ad said he wanted to hang with a chill dude, drink a beer, and smoke a cigarette while someone gave him a blowjob. He's not into coming right away. He likes to draw it out. Sometimes it takes two hours. The first time, I tried to stand up and I fell down because my legs were asleep. And then I got rug burn on the top of my feet!

So, does he ever reciprocate? 
Nah. Not yet. We're not in a relationship or anything.

Does that ever bother you? The lack of reciprocation? 
Are you kidding? The guy is adorable, and I get to blow him! He's just so fucking cute. I saw him at a party the other night. He was across the room, and I loved just knowing that I had gone down on him. I had to pinch myself.

So is Craigslist where you meet a lot of guys? 
Yeah. Craigslist in L.A. is so immediate. It blew me away when I moved here. Someone will be like, "I'm going to be walking my dog between this street and this street. Meet me in the alley and let's fuck." Or "I'll be jacking off in my front window on Pico and Western in ten minutes."

And that's better than bars? 
Yes. I'd say Craigslist is much better because I don't want to meet any more queens trolling one of the gay websites or bars. That's also why I live in Venice Beach and not West Hollywood. I don't want to be just around queens all the time.

What's the definition of a queen? 
Someone totally wrapped up in the gay culture. They only have gay friends. And they're more effeminate.

Have you ever had a bad experience meeting someone on Craigslist?
Oh yeah. I mean, if you're going to send someone pictures of yourself, you're going to send the best ones, even if those are from ten years ago. Mine are old on there too, but I look like I used to look ten years ago, so it's okay. Karen and I used to use Craigslist. Once we had a guy come over. He was white on Craigslist and black when he got to our house. It didn't really matter to us that he was black, but he was white online!

Who's Karen? 
My swinger ex-wife. We slept with everyone. She had me pick out guys at bars and she'd be the closer. She just couldn't compete with guys though, because she didn't have a dick.  

Interviews and photography by Laurenne Sala. Want to talk to strangers in your town? Email .