I had been looking forward to Saturday night all week. One of my closest friends, Jade, was having his 27th birthday celebration at a 1920's themed "Speak Easy". I was expecting the HBO series 'Boardwalk Empire'. There was a password at the door required for entry and I excitedly awaited the evening.
Last night was the event and I planned my evening accordingly. I invited a date and planned on being there early, so that Jade and I could have some special time together before all of the other attendees poured in. Early on in the day I called Jade and told him I couldn't come. I'm often a flake and Jade knows how easy I can turn down an evening and I just wanted to screw with him. His response wasn't comical, however, as he was now worried that many people would not show up. Several friends had cancelled that morning and Jade didn't want to spend a moment on his birthday alone. I agreed to be there promptly at the night's start, in order to avoid this.
My date and I showed up close to 9:30, just minutes after Jade arrived. We circled the block in confusion, seeing no visible signs for the night-club/speak-easy. The GPS told us we were there, but no speak-easy was in sight. We decided to look for parking and search for the door by foot. As we parked, we exited the car and began to search for the birthday spot. We walked right past the front door and its inconspicuous nature. Then we noticed there was a valet and an older gentleman that resembled Colonel Sanders in a suit presiding over what looked like a door list. We turned around and walked towards the podium. There were four guys ahead of us, there for another party. As they proceeded with the party information, they lacked the front door password. They were asked to step aside while attempting to retain the password by calling a lifeline. I stood there puzzled. While the "kitsch" nature of all of this was entertaining and fun, I couldn't help but think about the economy. In these economic times, your going to open a hidden bar where one must recite a password for entry. Really?? Why not forget the password altogether and let nobody in?? Let's see how far that takes you...
Anywho, we proceeded to the podium, gave the password: "my friend", and were escorted in. While the decor inside was rather cute in a mediocre been-there-done-that kind of way, I couldn't help but thinking this was nowhere like 'The Great Gatsby'. Baz Luhrman was not the director of this establishment. The 20's were known for style and tailored aesthetics. Instead, we had the restaurant's "uniform", meaning that all of the men wore over-sized un-tailored 20's inspired suits resembling something stolen from their fathers, while all of the females in the establishment had red flapper-inspired streamer fringe dresses ala Party City. Rather classy if you ask me. I've ordered the suit from the K-Mart 20's collection online in every color for myself. And no one inside dressed for the occasion. I had asked Jade about the dress code before attending and he told me to dress nicely. Inside, the attendees were a collection of mismatched jeans and t-shirts. It really helped bring the vibe up to generic.
As we sat down in Jade's reserved section, there was space for roughly 20 people. Upon our arrival, we had filled 3 spots. Unsure when people would arrive, we began to drink. I started out my night with a personal favorite of Jameson on the Rocks. We all drank respectively, chatting and enjoying one another's company. As time drug on and it approached 10, it became apparent that no one else was set to arrive. The waitress in her classy attire approached every ten minutes to ask where the rest of the party was. While the establishment was not filled, there were generous attendees in every section but ours. It was if a private VIP party was set to attend later in the evening and we were warming their seats. We continued to drink and threw shots into the mix. 10 quickly became 10:30, which shortly afterwards was 11. I was getting toasted, but Jade was outdoing us all in shots and he was approaching black-out period. It was not a fun drunk moment, however, as he was sad and disappointed by the pitiful turn-out. In addition to the waitress kindly pressuring our table every few minutes, management approached a number of times kindly asking us to leave, as the area was reserved for 15 plus. Jade was not open to negotiation. He was sad and drunk and very stubborn. I offered we go to another bar, where it's busy and we don't have the establishment asking us to leave every few minutes, but Jade would not let up.
Meanwhile, our friend Kenny was on his way up from Long Beach and had texted Jade that he would be there shortly. I offered we leave and Kenny meet us out at another bar where our tab doesn't require at least 15 drinkers. Jade would not budge. I began to text Kenny and realized he was not as close as it seemed. All the while, we're not even drinking happily. We're all 3 reclining on the couches texting other people, disillusioned by this speak-easy. Speaking was not easy after a few hours of saying everything we could say. No one was attending and no one was showing up. The entire night-club was waiting for us to leave. I pleaded with Jade, but he was set on Kenny seeing this speak-easy. He wanted Kenny to enjoy the ambiance. I kept thinking: "What ambiance??"
As the clock approached midnight, Kenny texted me that he had parked and could not find the bar. Had this occurred with the other 15 plus attendees?? Perhaps this was the most sought-after establishment on a Saturday night and here their lack of visibility and Colonel Sanders look-alike doormen, maybe people were getting lost. Again, the economy, people... If I hadn't promised Jade's my attendance, I would have given up before finding the door. I offered to come outside and escort Kenny in to the Party-City themed 1920's establishment.
I walked out the front door and ventured into the street for Kenny. We connected over the phone and I found him across the street in total confusion. As we connected and walked towards the speak-easy, Kenny turned to me and said: "Is this fucking place for real?? Why are we here??" We gave our names and the password to the Colonel Sander's stand in and he began to berate us for the lack of attendance. I had no response.
We were escorted inside to Jade and my date. As we sat down and Jade introduced his new guest to the birthday celebration, Kenny took a look around and the waitress approached him. "Can I get you a drink?" To which, Kenny responded: "No. I'm okay." At that point, we had more than outstayed our welcome. The waitress came back a moment later with an individual shot for Jade: "Sorry about your birthday..." At this point, our residence had warranted pity, no longer annoyance.
Kenny turned to us, collectively as a group, and said: "Let's get the fuck out of here." And with that, we said goodbye to our 1920's themed Party-City Speak-Easy. We left with our heads down and did not say goodbye to Colonel Sanders...
Thoughts or opinions?
No comments:
Post a Comment