Karkoska isn't alone in finding the material collectible, say owners of stores that sell vintage porn titles. Patrick Batt points to vintage gay porn available at his Auto Erotica shop in the Castro. "It is so fascinating to get to go back and read it." "So much stuff in gay culture is expressed through there," he said. Titles such as Vector served as gay versions of Time or Newsweek, he said. The magazines' mix of nude pictorials and reporting on gay issues of the day intrigued Karkoska. "It is sort of like a treasure hunt," Karkoska said. He began searching out stores around town for more such titles and soon found himself browsing through the pages of now defunct publications like Vector, QQ (short for Queen's Quarterly, and Blue Boy. I did some research and found out how rare and collectible they are," recalled Karkoska, who grew up in Texas. His hobby began eight years ago when he moved to San Francisco and the thrift store enthusiast happened upon a set of gay pulp novels. Back in the day I am sure it seemed dirty, but now it is quaint.
"In the 1970s was when gay culture came of age.
They also have fashion spreads and articles you get a reflection of what life might have been like back then," said Karkoska, whose club persona is DJ Dank. "The magazines are not all photos of naked men. He also has acquired hundreds of pulp fiction books. Karkoska, 47, has amassed a personal library of several hundred magazines from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Once a week DJ and club producer Dan Karkoska browses the selection of vintage gay porn titles at Castro store Auto Erotica looking for new additions to his collection.