What does the "E" in E Speakeasy stand for?
All these years later, I still cannot tell you what it stands for. Some say it's for excitement. Some say it stands for entertainment. Some even say it is such a successful club that it needed it's own avenue "E". Not many people outside of NYC know that Manhattan has four alphabet lettered avenues in it.
I think the E has always stood for exclusive and exceptional. You couldn't just walk up into the place. You had to be a regular or know someone, who knew someone...or just a pretty girl. If you were a pretty woman and could dress "hot" you would always get in.
When I was a younger man, my start in the club life happened when my mother took up a job as daytime bartender at a legitimate establishment called Lucky's. But at night she worked at a second spot called The Hole. Both were owned by the same man. However he only had to pay taxes on one of them.
In many ways, since The Hole was an illegal establishment, it was very much like ESpeakeasy. You couldn't be a stranger and just walking in. Otherwise the beefed up guys at the door would help your body defy gravity as they threw you out.
I was 9 years old at that time. At the day bar, Lucky's you had to look over the glass at the door and be buzzed in. Since my mother worked there, I could go in at any time. This was back in the day when cigarettes were sold out of vending machines and if you were a kid - a grownup could give you some quarters to buy a pack of cigs from the vending machine for them, after you got your Twillers from the candy machine right next to it. No one thought ill of that or that they were encouraging you to smoke. Back then, store owners and parents didn't worry about getting fined or arrested.
The men in bars showed me how to play pool and taught me a few tricks. I benefited from such knowledge when I then went to my local Boys Club and played pool against my peers. I was actually pretty good for my age. The men usually patroned Lucky's in between their lunch breaks and shifts for work. But during the weekend, they would patron the whole as it was more set up for music and drinking. Even when I tried to go in there my whereabouts were more strictly watched. That place had some real hedonism going on in there.
My mother eventually got out of the bar business, as there were increasing issues there regarding management and making quick dollars. Plus, there were fights. More and more people started going there with issues. Personal issues. Domestic issues. Financial issues. Internal theft issues. All of which came at a price to the owner.
But I remember the Muhammad Ali closed circuit fight nights at Lucky's. People from all over would dress up and come sit in the bar to watch. People from outside the neighborhood, many folks from inside the neighborhood who scratched up the money to watch. I got only a glimpse inside. It was like watching every walk of life in New York City...maybe even the world walk into your neighborhood bar...just to watch the fight. After the fight was over, then they'd be gone.
This early experience in the bar life set me up to become a full and life long member to ESpeakeasy. It was a bar near midtown, some said the east side. Some said the west side. All I know is that a lot of celebrities walked in and out of there. Namely some dyed blond singer, who danced on staged and was known to have built up a legion of male conquests who patroned her shows. I was 13 or 14 years old, it was the late'70's, and I was in middle school and just knew her as the blond who's name began with an M. Something religious sounding. It wasn't until several years later that she had a hit record called "Borderline" that the rest of the world already knew what we already knew in the hood.
All these years later, I still cannot tell you what it stands for. Some say it's for excitement. Some say it stands for entertainment. Some even say it is such a successful club that it needed it's own avenue "E". Not many people outside of NYC know that Manhattan has four alphabet lettered avenues in it.
I think the E has always stood for exclusive and exceptional. You couldn't just walk up into the place. You had to be a regular or know someone, who knew someone...or just a pretty girl. If you were a pretty woman and could dress "hot" you would always get in.
When I was a younger man, my start in the club life happened when my mother took up a job as daytime bartender at a legitimate establishment called Lucky's. But at night she worked at a second spot called The Hole. Both were owned by the same man. However he only had to pay taxes on one of them.
In many ways, since The Hole was an illegal establishment, it was very much like ESpeakeasy. You couldn't be a stranger and just walking in. Otherwise the beefed up guys at the door would help your body defy gravity as they threw you out.
I was 9 years old at that time. At the day bar, Lucky's you had to look over the glass at the door and be buzzed in. Since my mother worked there, I could go in at any time. This was back in the day when cigarettes were sold out of vending machines and if you were a kid - a grownup could give you some quarters to buy a pack of cigs from the vending machine for them, after you got your Twillers from the candy machine right next to it. No one thought ill of that or that they were encouraging you to smoke. Back then, store owners and parents didn't worry about getting fined or arrested.
The men in bars showed me how to play pool and taught me a few tricks. I benefited from such knowledge when I then went to my local Boys Club and played pool against my peers. I was actually pretty good for my age. The men usually patroned Lucky's in between their lunch breaks and shifts for work. But during the weekend, they would patron the whole as it was more set up for music and drinking. Even when I tried to go in there my whereabouts were more strictly watched. That place had some real hedonism going on in there.
My mother eventually got out of the bar business, as there were increasing issues there regarding management and making quick dollars. Plus, there were fights. More and more people started going there with issues. Personal issues. Domestic issues. Financial issues. Internal theft issues. All of which came at a price to the owner.
But I remember the Muhammad Ali closed circuit fight nights at Lucky's. People from all over would dress up and come sit in the bar to watch. People from outside the neighborhood, many folks from inside the neighborhood who scratched up the money to watch. I got only a glimpse inside. It was like watching every walk of life in New York City...maybe even the world walk into your neighborhood bar...just to watch the fight. After the fight was over, then they'd be gone.
This early experience in the bar life set me up to become a full and life long member to ESpeakeasy. It was a bar near midtown, some said the east side. Some said the west side. All I know is that a lot of celebrities walked in and out of there. Namely some dyed blond singer, who danced on staged and was known to have built up a legion of male conquests who patroned her shows. I was 13 or 14 years old, it was the late'70's, and I was in middle school and just knew her as the blond who's name began with an M. Something religious sounding. It wasn't until several years later that she had a hit record called "Borderline" that the rest of the world already knew what we already knew in the hood.
No comments:
Post a Comment