It seems gay men might be picking up more than just Cole Haan loafers at the Time Warner Center—especially in the third-floor restroom. Ryan Haase, who works nearby, recently detected an “air of ill repute” when he saw several men at the urinals. “They all turned and looked at me almost in unison,” he says. “I went to wash my hands. No one had moved.” A shopboy says rumors of the rendezvous spot have circulated for about a year—colleagues reported “uncomfortable sounds coming from the stalls”—and a blogger called spriteboy pinpointed it as “a cruising spot,” adding, “Ohhh nobody even needs to know the scandal my eyes witnessed today.” A former restaurant employee says, “It was a known thing. The security guard would tell me stories about it.” But David Froelke, general manager of the Shops at Columbus Circle, is incredulous: He says he would’ve heard complaints, and besides, “the bathrooms are so heavily utilized that I have to have cleaners in there four times an hour.”

Next: On the Town with Peter Bacanovic

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Lori Fradkin
• Table of Contents: December 5, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!