Vintage Muscle Men

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Lon of New York Day

It's Lon of New York day, and we start with Bob Curry posing against

what might have been the start of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Mr. Pollock would have taken it much, much farther.

Howard Hunter

This photo of Howard Hunter may be my favorite of the day.

Jerry Rocco

Whenever I've thought about posting this picture of Jerry Rocco in a Native American headdress,

I've shied away because of the cultural appropriation. Upon further reflection, however,

I've decided to go ahead because it's a good photo of one of my favorite models and it's

representative of a not uncommon motif of the era. As they say, "It is what it is."

Arthur Mason

I think this photo of Arthur Mason was made

by Lon's spinoff marque, Lon of Olympia.

Danny Maffia

I'm sure Danny Maffia got a lot of ribbing about his surname in school and at the gym.

Edward Carranza

Here we see Edward Carranza in a pose right out of a bodybuilders' competition.

Jim Morris and Jan Gilbert

That's Jim Morris at left with Jan Gilbert in a photo

similar to one I posted of them several years ago.

George LaMaria

Lon places his mark on this shot of George LaMaria.

Gus Mayor

I love the facial expression on Gus Mayor in this one.

I don't know what to call it, but I like it.

Raul Pacheco

Ending the Lon series with a "new" shot of one of his favorite models, Raul Pacheco.

Friday, February 6, 2026

Honcho May 1980, Part 1 - Main Content

Our series today is a two parter from the May 1980 Honcho magazine.

Part one is general content, and part two will show off some of the ads.

English Leather I

The main photo spread for the May 1980 edition of Honcho was called English Leather, and it featured Kerry from Liverpool. I hope they didn't get sued by the cologne company over that.

Letters

Honcho used this attractive Zeus photo for the introduction to the letters pages.

English Leather II

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Bedspread

This is by far the best picture from a photo article called Bedspread.

English Leather III

Here's another shot of Kerry from Liverpool, aka English Leather.

Movie Review - L.A. Tool & Die

Finishing part one of today's series with a movie review

of L.A. Tool & Die featuring Richard Locke.

Honcho May 1980, Part 2 - The Ads

The ads in Honcho could sometimes be just as entertaining as some of the articles and photos,

so I'm including a sampling from the issue featured today, starting with Zeus.

I immediately recognized Mark Wolf when I saw this page.

Target

Target went uncut in their May 1980 ad, with Bruno featured.

You'll see him later today in another studio's ad.

Colt

You've seen several of the models in this Colt ad here on the blog.

Playguy

Playguy was sort of a perennial "also ran" in the gay magazine derby of the 70s and 80s.

They did, however, make the wise decision to use Bruno for one of their covers.

Surge Studio

Al Parker is the biggest name is our last ad from Surge Studio,

but many of you will recognize some of the other men.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

I know the work of Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden isn't everyone's cup of tea,but it does have the weight of history and artistic progress behind it. Recently, I've seen a number of his works on the resale websites that I hadn't seen before. Today I'm posting ten of this group,

five of which are duos as we see in the lovely image above.