The Gay Bar

I often tell my friends about all the crazy nonsense that happens at the gay bar across the street. Its called The Gold Coast. That name brings to mind images of bright light, fun, and good times. Sadly I’ll never experience the joys inside this place. There was a story in an LA Times blog about this place in which they talked about dive bars and they included The Gold Coast. This place is past a dive bar. If you’re here you’ve already fallen.

The Gypsies

I typed in “gypsy” in Google and this is one of the first images to show up. Oddly enough this actually looks just like one of the people in the family of gypsies that have occupied my, ahem, fair city ever since I start living here. When I first started working in the porn shop I was told by a manager to “watch them.” It didn’t take long for me to figure out why.

They had a whole routine that they would do. Let me set the scene for you. Mom would come in (full head wrap and everything) and head for the snacks. Yes there were snacks in the porn shop. She would linger at the snacks while her son and daughter would scramble like fighter jets and head to the magazines. And like there was a silent whistle they would depart at the same time. Couldn’t prove anything yet but you knew the store was looted.

Ten Years Ago Today

This is from a blog I wrote last year today. Its strange when you can know exactly what you were up to a decade ago on one particular day since I sometimes have trouble remembering what I was doing last Wednesday at this time. September 11th 2001 was a very bizarre and tragic day and this is a tale of what I was doing that day. I have added a few extra details just for readers of this blog.

On September 11th 2001 the World Trade Center was destroyed. Every time there is some kind of disaster everyone always asks each other, “Where were you when…?” There aren’t that many thankfully to ask during my lifetime. I wasn’t alive when Kennedy or MLK were killed. I ask or get asked “Where were you when the Northridge quake happened?” “Where were you when the L.A Riots happened?”

These kind of questions always have some cool kinda response. During the Northridge quake I was sleeping because it was MLK day and that shit happened early in the morning. During the L.A Riots my mother wouldn’t let us go out and loot meaning me and my brother were the only kids to not have new smoked scented clothes when school was back in session. For the 9/11 attacks I was where many people were not.

Keep It On The Down Low

We all know or suspect someone of being on what is called the Down Low. I myself have been accused of being on the down low. I take it as flattering if someone believes that I can be in a relationship with a man and a woman at the same time. If only I had that much stamina! But seriously, most dudes look like monkeys to me. The guy in the picture is Jonathon Plummer, the inspiration for the book and movie How Stella Got Her Groove Back. And we all know how that ended. Oh, you don’t?

“McMillan married Jamaican Jonathan Plummer in 1998; she was in her mid 40s and he in his early 20s. He was the inspiration for the love interest of the main character in her novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Her life did not follow the movie when in December 2004, Plummer told McMillan that he was gay; in March 2005, she filed for divorce. The divorce was settled for an undisclosed amount. In March 2007, McMillan sued Plummer and his lawyer for $40 million, citing an intentional strategy to embarrass and humiliate her during the divorce proceedings; McMillan eventually won a judgement of intentional infliction of emotional distress, but had withdrawn the suit before the case went to trial; Plummer was never ordered to pay the intended amount.”