NEW YORK — Lucas Entertainment president Michael Lucas appears alongside other New York luminaries in the current issue of New York Magazine, a Big Apple weekly that focuses on life, culture, politics and style.
In "Waking Up to New York," Lucas and 27 others, including Lorne Michaels, James Franco, Connie Chung, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Diane Von Furstenberg and Naomi Campbell, recall their early days in the city.
"I immediately started escorting for $300 an hour and working at the Gaiety Theater," Lucas told the magazine. "Porn was not my dream; I wanted to be the next Tom Cruise. But I was realistic and practical, and saw my competition in Hollywood, and decided that the opportunity for me was in porn. But it was also depressing, mostly because I was working with straight, rude, gay-for-pay performers. People didn't want me as their escort because I was not buff enough, or because I had long hair and a thick Russian accent."
As a Russian immigrant who arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy airport in 1997 "with a backpack and a little suitcase and $150," Lucas said he thinks he's done all right in the intervening years.
"I am incredibly proud to be chosen by New York Magazine," Lucas noted in a prepared statement. "Over my 13 years in business I have loved every minute of my assimilation into the best city in the world. I greatly appreciate the open-mindedness of the city and the respect they have always given me.
"I have cultivated a great deal of knowledge from thriving in this city," he added. "It is a great feeling to have my accomplishments be acknowledged."
The New York Magazine article is here.
For more information about Michael Lucas and Lucas Entertainment, visit LucasEntertainment.com.
