The first Time

A friend of mine, after reading this blog called to remind of the real first time we went to Feathers, so to keep history accurate I am posting my first time in Feathers.

I became a part of Feathers in 1982. At the time I was a Bergen Mall interviewer. Needless to say, my life was not exactly on the road to success. Mall patrons treated us like we had a disease. They would run by us in a cold sweat, screaming "I have no time for you people!" I worked with a fellow named Kenny. We had fun together, but kept the fact that we were gay a secret. It was still not an acceptable lifestyle. One night he called me and told me he was gay and knew I was also. Neither one of us knew we were both dating the same "Chess King" ( a trendy men’s clothing store) sales stud. He told me of this gay bar in River Edge named Feathers and wanted me to check it out with him.

I had just moved back from NYC and in with my parents. I had my own gay bar experiences and wasn't exactly looking forward to exploring Jersey's gay lifestyle, but he wanted to go so badly and wouldn't go alone. I agreed.

I remember the first time I walked into Feathers as if it were yesterday. We opened the front door and this "Guido" looking bouncer asked for my ID. Mind you, the drinking age back then was 19 years old and I was 22. So, of course I felt highly insulted. Today I pray that someone would ID me! Oh, that's right many of you were still in diapers back in the ‘80's so I will explain the insulting part of it.

See we used to wear tight jeans. By tight, I mean TIGHT jeans. I used to have a pair of pliers in my bedroom to pull up my zipper and the jeans had to have a perfect crease. We would put them between our mattress and box spring so we would have the perfect looking jeans the following night. Sorry, but the memories are just piling up in my brain so quickly. How could I forget about the Capezio shoes and the blow drying and the hair spray? We would tease and blow-dry our hair to give it that lift and then hair spray the hell out of it! If your hair fell in the middle of the night, you were a loser. Or, back then, we called them non-chic. Now the problem with having tight jeans was that you could not carry a wallet so when asked for your ID, you would have to go into your sock to get your drivers license and show it. We also kept our money in our socks. At the time I didn't even have a driver's license. All I had was a county ID.

Anyway, so there I was at the front door, which hasn't changed that much in the 27 years, bending down in this club that I wanted to make a good impression at, and getting my county ID out to show this bouncer. He looks at it and says, "You look older than 22."

"Then why did you ID me?"

"Just wanted to piss you off."

My introduction to Feathers.

I should have run then and there .

When I walked in the door, it had a much different look than it has today. There was no wall going down the ramp, just a thick log hand rail and there was bleacher seating where the magazine table is now. People would swing around to check out whomever came in the door. I believe there was also diner booth. There was no stage area. There was no small bar downstairs. It was walled off and the office used to be there behind a door. On each side of the door were video games, Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-man.

I was in awe of the place. Being gay back then wasn't like it is today. It was so secretive and no one ever spoke about it and here was a place where people walked around and were gay! I sat at the bar while my friend Kenny went to the bathroom. I ordered us screwdrivers and had a nice conversation with a bartender named Phillip. I would become very good friends with Phillip later on, but for now he was just the first bartender I met. I told him it was my first time in the bar and he told me the three gay rules:
1. don't let anyone buy you a drink unless you are going to give the person a blow job
2. don't leave your drink unprotected because people slip things in it, and
3. always over tip the bartender

By the time Kenny came back from the bathroom, I was an old pro at being a Feathers bar customer. I think the drinks were a dollar fifty back then and I left him ten dollars for two of them. Kenny looked at me like I was crazy, but I explained the three gay rules to Kenny and he explained being a sucker to me.
Kenny went to play some songs on the juke box, a dime for one song or three choices for a quarter. He sat and waited for his Patsy Cline songs, and waited, and waited. I asked Phillip if there was something wrong with the juke box. Phillip informed me the bartender at the big bar had the controls behind the bar and being Marty was there the songs would not be heard. I later found out Marty was emotionally scarred by Patsy Cline and that is why we never heard the songs.
Marty, a VERY hot bartender at the time, was great for doing that. I used to tell him which songs I was planning to play in advance to see if he would reject them. He never did reject mine. Marty was a dark haired, very sexy-butt guy. He was hard to get to know, but once you did he was your friend forever. I loved my Marty. I remember making homemade donuts for him. Do you know how hard it is to make homemade donuts?!! I didn’t have a car, or license at the time so I had to walk to the bar. By the time I got to the bar the donuts were rock hard, but Marty ate one and said it was the best donut. I was on cloud nine!
There are so many memories and people. Each day they seem to be finding me..
What was your first time?
Till Tomorrow- Be kind