Originally Posted by
Jerry Oz
Dad and his buddies went to the Grenadier Club, which was affiliated with his lodge. I remember the match books with the naked ladies on them that he'd bring home after spending Friday and Saturday nights there. My big brother and I had the idea that it was some sort of high class joint with a particular clientele. One day, Pops told us that we were ready to visit his haunt and we were both excited.
Man, we got in there and it was a shock! The hard-wood floor was all splintered, there were lights that needed to be replaced, and the pool table was leveled on a phone book. Music was supplied by an old jukebox. Talk about a let down; we looked at each other with unspoken disappointment. We never went back again and never wanted to.
With that said, as a young man, I went to a variety of clubs and one of them [[the recently closed C&S Club) wasn't much better than the Grenadier Club. It was on a scary part of the city and was definitely a come-as-you-are joint. People came through in work uniforms, overalls, tennis shoes, brogans, and any way they wanted. The fish was really good, so that made it interesting. The Thursday night talent show was a flipping hoot; somebody used to tape it and put it on public access TV. I stopped going when the third person in about a year got shot in the parking lot. We used to call it the "Chop & Slice" or "Cut & Stab" Club because it was notoriously dangerous. My two dudes kept going though and the week after I stopped, they witnessed a guy get shot in the parking lot so they stopped going to. It still stayed open for another 25 years.
One of the other clubs that I attended was so stuffy, you had to dress better than if you were going to church. The girls were snotty as heck and if you asked one to dance, you could expect them to act as if you wanted to take nude photos from their reaction. But there were just enough really cool chicks to make it worth the rejection. We went to three other clubs at the same time that were somewhere between the C&S and Point 3. You didn't have to wear a tie but I wouldn't recommend wearing an extra large white tee shirt, either. You had to dress like you had some level of respect for yourself and you'd have a great time. Chicks were eager to dance most nights. I met my wife at one of them and have seldom been to a bar without her since.