Manhattan Strip Clubs: Astoria Characters: The Proud Parader
At age 8, he went to work. “I packed spuds at the local grocery,” he says. “My payment was an orange drink and a bag of potato crisps called Taytos. In the summers, I worked on a fruit farm. In my spare time, I hung out at the convent; the Sisters of Mercy had an enormous impact on my life for good.”
The “religious lad” in the family, he joined the Irish Christian Brothers at 14. “I was told to be totally honest in confession, and I told the priests I was thinking about sex and that I had an attraction for other guys,” he says. “So they told me I could not be a brother and made me leave.”
Photo Courtesy of Brendan Fay The Fay family: Berrnadette, left, Peter, Carmel , Brendan and Mary.
Devastated, he traveled to Dublin, where he took a succession of humble jobs that included waiting on tables at a fancy gentleman’s club and helping out at a center for handicapped children.