Feathers opened it's door on June 17 (?) 1978 in River Edge, New Jersey. It was previously a restaurant called Feathers, before that it was Pickwick's restaurant. The owner, Archie, was approached by the management of "The Bell" a gay bar that was located on Route 4 by the Coach House Diner in Hackensack. As my memory recalls the events, the details seem a bit foggy. I believe the Bell was closing on a Friday and opened at Feathers on a Sunday. The gays were being chased out of Hackensack and needed a place to nest-hence FEATHERS. Everyone always commented on the name "Feathers" and it always made sense to me. .. Birds of a feather flock together, and we are a unique group of people that have flocked together through the years.
Some people walked though the place unnoticed, and others embossed themselves into our memories forever.
I wasn't there at the beginning, I was still "finding myself", but from what I heard it seemed there was this shady manager, Andy or something like that. I will not be using real names on people I don't know, or feel wouldn't want their name used. This blog isn't really about people as much as it's about a place, a place many called home and you will read why.

Shady Andy it seemed managed the Bell and approached Archie about making Feathers a hot spot...Andy succeeded and within weeks Feathers became the busiest night-club in New Jersey.

Archie, being straight, didn't really interfere with the running of the club and was happy with just seeing profits. But, just for the record, Archie has fought harder for the gay people and keeping the bar afloat. Whether he did it for the money or the people is your choice to believe, but the reality is that the bar is there 31 years later, and doesn't seem like it's going anywhere anytime soon.

So there was Shady Andy doing his thing and he sold the coat room rights to a man named Hank.
Let the drama begin...Hank was determined to become the manager, and although he was making money in his coatroom, he wanted more. This is where the gossip comes in supposedly Andy was a gambler and got into debt with the wrong people and was killed. Feathers had no manager and Hank stepped up to bat and became the new manager.

I came in during the Hank regime, and what a regime it was!

Rumors have been circulating for years about a ghost at the bar and it is true. I remember one night going down set up my bar and there was a guy there. Puzzled, I asked how he got in, being we weren't opened yet. He walked into the bathroom, being the snot I had become, I followed him yelling to get out. There was no one in the bathroom. I had never seen Andy and when I described the man to Trixie, an old bartender who knew Andy, he informed me that I described Andy. The hair on my neck is standing up now as I type this. Many have told "Andy the ghost" stories, whether they are true or not is up to the listener. He's kinda harmless and as the years went on I got comfortable with him. He just wants to be a part of the action. He has helped many of us and has protected the place, but he could have warned me about the rat.
One night I was cleaning the little bar downstairs and pulling what I thought was old rags from under the bar, I was mortified to find out it was a dead, wet rat! I could not wash my hand enough. I was too petrified to scream! I remember Trixie just staring at me in shock trying to get me to speak. I just could not make a sound. I burned my hand trying to get the germs off my hand. When Trixie did see what I touched he did the screaming for me.
BTW, we use "she" for "he" in the gay bar life.

So when Hank took over Feathers took a turn for the better or worst, depending on what you were into. Hank did not trust minorities. All the workers were white and most Italian. Hank also had this thing about allowing women into the club, "it's a man's club!" he would constantly announce!
Hank did not tolerate drugs, or drug dealers- it was the 80's now and drugs were the norm, but the place was still packed. Russ and Max! I miss them they were my favorites! They were hairdressers and always dressed like runway models with clothes that you would only wear on a runway! Their hair was teased out and I remember being in awe of their individuality. I was like Natalie Wood in "Gypsy" when she meets the strippers for the first time- simply in awe. Whether drugs dealing went on in the club with be its own secret, but as much as River Edge wanted to close that bar they could never raid the club for drugs. It just did not exist and the customers knew better not to try to deal or do anything in the club, now the parking lot had a life of it's own and what ever happened there was fair game.

Actually, when Hank was manager we weren't allowed in the parking lot. We weren't even allowed to go to any other clubs in New Jersey. If Hank found out you went to another club, you were fired. We would have to sneak to other places and buy people's silence. After a while he just brain washed you into believing that going to other clubs took away from our business and we had to be loyal to FEATHERS.
OMG ! Our lives were full of secrets back then! Keeping secrets from our family, from Hank, from each other. Loyality became a very ugly word in my books because of Hank.

I thought it was appropriate to show a picture of me and John from New Years Eve. John is kinda one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog.
John passed away over a year ago and people still have no idea. He had cancer and it ate away at him for over two years. The kid bartended to the very end. A very sad and bitter end...John.
The first time I met John was in 1980 something. He was 18 years old, how do I know this? Well, Big Sal and Frankie invited me to a brunch where we met up with Richie and his date-John. John was a big hit, he kinda looked like a John Stamos double, and became a regular at the bar. (Mind you back in the day "the bar" was a code for Feathers. We were so closeted that we spoke in code over the phone in case anyone was listening. To this day I still call it, the bar) One brunch day I went with him to the store for cigarettes and saw these cards scattered on his back seat. I went to straighten them out and saw they were his high school graduation cards! I was sworn to secrecy and so started a friendship that had more ups and downs than the San Fransisco earthquake richter scale reading.

New Years Eve...Everyone anticipates a new year and makes new dreams and hopes. The person you kiss at midnight is the person you spend the whole year with. I could step on that myth...Johnny.

But the new year thing is really something to grab on to! At 12 o'clock on January 1 you can decide how your next year is going to be. It is all up to you! I am determined to make this year a success and I will leave no opportunity unturned to make that prediction come true. Think about it, everyone has the chance to be a success- you just have to focus and go for it! It is just as easy to succeed as it is to fail.

Back in the '80's New Year's Eve at Feathers meant new out-fits, big tips and a long line at the pay phone. Everyone had to be quiet because our parents couldn't know we were at a "gay bar". Why we thought sound and voices and music would give it away escapes me at my old age. What were we thinking- actually I don't think we were thinking. We were just partying and living a privilege life considering our age.

Feathers always had the open bar, hot buffet, dancers, party favors and midnight champagne toast all for some ridiculous price of twenty five to thirty dollars. It never failed that a few prize packages would show up. During the count-down to twelve, while we were pouring the champagne, someone would come and order drinks! "One moment please." "I need them now!" they would demand. "I have to pour the champagne" I would reply without losing my temper. "I don't want champagne I want my drinks! Now!" Happy New Year!
So much for the positive new year.
There were a few years that a group of us would go down to Fort Laudedale for New Years Eve. It was like being at the bar. We saw the same faces and people. It was kinda fun. Imagine being on a beach in Florida and having people recognize you from Jersey. Many of my new year's started with sunrises on the beach.
Last year was my first New Years Eve off in many years. I had no idea what to do with myself. I ended up at the bar.

Feathers - The Bar

As a child I was allergic to feathers- ironic that I would spend a large portion of my life a slave to a place called Feathers. Feathers is the most successful gay night-club in New Jersey- many may argue, but truth be told it is. I was fortunate enough to work there during it's "hey days" and us bartenders were known coast-to-coast. The year was 1989 in a dark alley in Los Angeles, I was partying at Studio One and stepped out for air and to be sick in private. As I wiped the remains of my sickness on my sleeve and prayed to God that this moment would just go away- I heard this voice mutter, "Doesn't he work at Feathers in Jersey?"
Today I am a 50 year old man jealously watching 23 year old's successfully claiming my memories as their own. I see an empty hole where the pay phone that we would line up to call friends to come out because "so-and-so was at the bar!" was. Does anyone even use pay phones anymore? I remember how closeted everyone was back in the 1980's. How we all shared the scars of a tortured childhood and the battle wounds of the AIDS epidemic. I remember having "Best Friends For Life", not knowing the lives would be so short.
But this blog isn't about sadness or the loss of youth, it's about the history of the most historical Night-Club ever !
It's about FEATHERS!
The way it really was and the way it really is!
Feel free to share your own memories and thoughts and ask the questions you want answered.

You may think you know it all, but you may not.
The ghost that haunts Feathers is one that many employee's have seen and feared...Who is the ghost? Who used to live in the house on the corner and why is it the ONLY house in that area?
How many managers has Feathers had?
Who was the first performer to perform at Feathers?
Floors, fires and infestation are all a part of the history.

The Blogs will begin on the New Year!