BAGELS ARE HOT
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Fallen U.S. Porn King Goldstein Rebuilds with Bagels
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He spent a lifetime peddling smut and once had an $11 million fortune, but after losing everything and becoming just another homeless New Yorker, Al Goldstein is now happy pushing bagels instead of porn.
Reuters Photo
Goldstein, a founding father of America's porn industry, now hustles bagels and white fish at a New York-based deli and catering establishment.
"I've always loved food more than sex, so this is really my first love," said Goldstein, 69, now a cold-calling salesman for New York City Bagels. "I've gone from broads to bagels."
Goldstein has good reason to feel good about his new career, however mundane, after becoming homeless last year when the porn empire he began building in 1968 collapsed.
The former owner of Milky Way Productions, home of Screw magazine and the now defunct X-rated cult show "Midnight Blue," went bankrupt over a year ago after amassing an $11 million fortune. Screw once sold over 140,000 copies weekly and was a cash cow thanks to ads for call girls and prostitutes before it fell victim to Internet porn and sagging circulation.
"The Internet made pornography available for free and I couldn't compete," said Goldstein, who now lives on Staten Island, with his fifth wife, Christine, 28.
Those he befriended in the porn business, a billion-dollar industry he helped pioneer, turned their backs to him. Even his own son, Jordan, a Harvard graduate who works for a New York-based law firm, refuses to speak to him.
"My life has turned to crap," Goldstein said. "To go from a being a millionaire and then living in a homeless shelter and being rejecting by 98 percent of your friends is horrendous, but I'm a survivor."
PASSION FOR BAGELS
Goldstein was hired late last year as a greeter at New York's 2nd Avenue Deli, paid $10 an hour to welcome customers and show them to their tables. He held the position for a few months but was fired when it was discovered he was sleeping in the restaurant.
Now he works at New York City Bagels on commission, cold calling customers to generate corporate accounts.
"Al is very passionate about the work and he brings a lot to the table," said Glenn Teyf, one of the owners of New York City Bagels, who hired Goldstein more than a month ago on a referral. "Al Goldstein by far has increased our business."
Goldstein's current occupation and lifestyle are worlds apart from where he once was. He lost his $2.5 million Pompano Beach, Florida, mansion and his townhouse on New York's East 61st Street, which were both sold to pay of his debts.
As a result, he was reduced to sleeping at his in-laws' house and homeless shelters. He slept in Central Park and last year was arrested for allegedly shoplifting books from the Barnes and Noble near Lincoln Center.
Gone are the chauffeur, his collection of wine, the Cuban cigars and the parties at New York's legendary Plato's Retreat and Studio 54. He now travels to and from Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry, shops at thrift stores and is perfectly content with staying home and watching the History Channel and Court TV.
"I don't live in yesterday and I don't live in tomorrow. I live in today," he said. "Just when you think you're done, life