Lil Sal and the Park

I remember back in the early years of Feathers there was more of a comradery among the employee’s. Hank and Oe were our bosses and we really never hung out with them. All of the bartenders and waiters hung out. We were thick as thieves and had each other’s backs back then. I remember one time Hank fired me saying no one liked me; meanwhile half the staff was in my apartment as he spoke those words. We did so many things together. We went to the Circus and had our faces painted as clowns, we went to Wednesday matinee shows on Broadway and sleigh riding. Whenever there was a snow fall we would take beer boxes out of the garbage and head to Haworth gold course and sleigh down the hills of the golf course. Grab some hot chocolate from the diner and just have a good time. We were a very spontaneous group. Marty, the bartender I made donuts for would get these ideas and we would just go along with them. He hated going to the diner or gay bars on his nights off, so he could come up with these creative things to do, made a lot of good memories. Sometimes after the bar closed we would just go hang in the park that used to be behind the club.
In the day there were no office buildings, it was all residential houses. When you came off route four there was a park to the right. That was another reason why the cops used to bother the club back then- the music in a residential area. I remember there were the strangest people that lived in those houses. Across from the parking lot and along the rail road tracks used to be store fronts. I can’t remember what kind of businesses, but it was very “small town” looking. There was also a Pizza Town over by the McDonalds, across River Road. Hank used to order pizza for the bar. Imagine having a “Pizza Night” in a bar, well he did. Hank also had a “White Castle” hamburger night. I don’t know about you, but White Castle is supposed to be for after you drink, not during.
We would hang for hours in the park and just talk and laugh. Guys would swing other guys and no one make fun of them. There was no judgment at three o’clock in the morning. We played on the see-saw and just relived a life we were never allowed to have. We didn’t need liquor or a drug to enhance the moments, just being free to be us was the high. There are so many moments that straight people take for granted that gay people would love to embellish, swinging a lover on a swing is one of them. Gay Pride Day was another. They used to have a Ferris wheel at the earlier gay pride day parades and it was so romantic to ride a Ferris wheel in the arms of your lover. We would get stares just shopping together and names called at us if we were too close to each other. There are so many “not made” memories in the live of gay people because society prevented them. I watch “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and think how acceptable it would be to see two men walk hand in hand from Port Authority?
But the night time belonged to us. We could be ourselves and no one would see us. They were asleep and we came alive. Even Lil Sal became part of the “out” crowd. Lil Sal was the bouncer at Feathers. In the old days the bouncers were butch gay men. They were hot and built and bullies, Lil Sal were no exception. He was called Lil Sal because there was a Big Sal. Oy vey Big Sal! Big Sal and Paul and Lil Sal were the bouncers and Big Sal and Paul would use me as their football. They would throw me across the dance floor! It was their form of entertainment. They wouldn’t stop until one of them dropped me. There is my “anything to be accepted” mentality-I let them. They were big guys, but pussy cats. Like Big Sal always said, “Anyone call me a name I’ll beat them up.” Lil Sal was different. His family owned a vegetable market in the city and had all these distributors. One Christmas he had mentioned that he wasn’t going to put a tree up. I threw a fit and told him that we would cut the tree ourselves-make it a special Christmas. Well, he agreed! We went to an area and took the saw and I climbed up a tree to just cut the top off. Trying to prove to him I was “butch”. I climbed the tree myself and sawed the tree top and yelled “Timber”. The tree top fell to the ground. It was late at night so we just tied it to the roof and took off- who knew it was illegal to top down town trees. We get back to his apartment and the tree was the size of the apartment! We were hysterical as we dragged the tree into the apartment and had to go into the kitchen with it. It had to be 18 feet high! We go the tree in and broke open a bottle of Dewars. We chopped and cut and creatively decorated Lil Sal’s first Christmas tree. By the time the bottle was finished so were we. We fell asleep under the tree with the bottle and branches and each other to keep us warm.