Monday, January 24, 2005
In America, there's always a second chance
He spent a lifetime peddling smut and once had an $11 million (5.9 billion pound) fortune, but after losing everything and becoming just another homeless New Yorker, Al Goldstein is now happy pushing bagels instead of porn.
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."...
"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."
Is there any other place on earth that redeems its fallen pornographers? America, the land of second chances.
As a side matter, I bet Jordan Goldstein is wondering how he came out of this article looking like the bad guy.
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