March 14, 2009

Saturday Surf - Nothing to do on Saturday Nights Now...

So one of the long time women's bar...a country western dance club called Ms. C's or just C's...closed at the end of February after close to 20 years. I was going to write a obituary for the place on the following Sunday, but well, I didn't feel up to it. But now, of course I want to go dancing tonight and at the moment, there aren't really any options unless I go to the men's country western bar, Charlie's. They used to occupy the space where C's was, but had to move to a larger building which is how Ms. C's came to be, so actually the space was some kind of gay bar for well over 24 years...not sure really how long. The problem with Charlie's is that the guys there wear tall boots and tall hats. You just can't see around them at all...not so good for um...scoping out the few other women there...heh. Although, I imagine there might be a larger number of women there than usual right now.

Another option is large men's nightclub, Tracks, that currently helps to host the largest women's party in the country...First Friday put on by BAD (Babes Around Denver). Of course, the rest of the month it's mostly men, drag queens, and ladies who love the gay boys...but I suppose the crowd will have more ladies who love the ladies now. The downside of going to Tracks is the cover charge. I suspect it's rather high. The general manager is a client of mine, but I would feel funny asking for a free pass...heh...since he pays me for my financial services. I will say that Denver and Tracks are getting a name with LOGO though. They're filming an episode of Ru Paul's Drag Race there (or they might have just done that) and Briana Stockton from Bravo's Workout and LOGO's AfterEllen.com made an appearance at this month's First Friday (and yes, I did get to meet her...she's much tinier than she seems on TV and her AfterEllen vlog).

The last option for dancing is based on a rumor. The rumor is a new lesbian club is openning. And so the other afternoon I drove by the purported location to take a gander. As best as I can tell, the club is likely to be in a building currently occupied by another club called Dr. Hook's which has two dance floors. My guess is that they'll be "hosting" a women's night and it won't actually BE a women's bar. It's in a dicey location, kind of remote and near an area of Denver called Commerce City. It's a "Gary, Indiana" kind of town (lot's of low income homes and smoke stacks). And I would say, based on the size of the place, that they've got parking hidden somewhere, I just didn't see it when I drove by.

Of course, I could just go to one of the ACTUAL lesbian bars, but they aren't really set up for dancing. The Detour finally reopened in their new location a few months ago after many delays. I've been a few times and they have room to host small bands, but not really for dancing unless it's a small crowd. The advantage is I live about 6 miles from it and it's directly south of me on the same street. So it's easy to find my way home and I could even ride my bike, if it weren't so hilly! The other bar is Decatuer Street (in the location formerly known as Nobody's Biznes). A friend was a partner in it when it first changed to the new name (Nobody's was owned by some other friends for about 10 years and then they sold it). However, it was a snafu from the start, though it was a cleaned up snafu! Anyway, another friend (who actually IS in the bar business) bought her out and became partners with the gal who was kind of the cause of the snafu. Things seem much better now. They have a great patio, but parking is scarce. This summer, I think they'll be a rather popular partying location.

So with that, I thought now would be a good time to show some pictures of the last party at C's. And bid it farewell. Some of my friends blame the demise of C's on the women's community for not supporting the club as much in the past couple of years or so. They don't really know why the lease was lost. I suspect the rent went up too far or the owner of the property wants to sell it. But it could be that they weren't bringing in enough revenue to cover expenses, because it's true that the size of the crowd had decreased and the women usually came late and left early. And of course, since the last night was advertized as the last night, the girls came out of the woodwork in droves. I have to say, there were many many women there that I don't think I've ever seen before and many regulars that stayed away for some reason. There were a few guys there, too, who were probably saying goodbye to the location that was once Charlie's. I'm glad I went for the last party anyway. The pics really don't do the party justice, but you can see we were having fun!

In the back of this pic you can see the crowd coming in the door and then lining up to buy a drink. I waited 45 minutes in line. THAT never happened before.


















Here's the pool playing area. The crowd kind of ended the play there
early during the final party.


















Doing the Cotton Eyed Joe:



















Starting a line dance now:



















These ladies (and gents) do know how to strut:



















Hey dude...the light is really bouncing off your head...where's your hat???


















Dang it, I forgot to catch the ladies two stepping (because it's hard to take a picture while you're dancing, ya know), but there was much of that and some breaks to boogie disco style as well. Tippin' my hat to C's. We'll miss ya girl!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a shame. I guess nothing lasts forever.

TheWeyrd1 said...

citizen...nope...

Jdancer8 said...

im not sure i've ever seen the cotton eyed joe...i know its a song hahaah....but great pics anyway :o)

TheWeyrd1 said...

J...thanks...the Cotton Eyed Joe is also a specific dance... But not one you'd teach your students...heh.

Jannie Funster said...

That did look like a fine way to see the old place out.

I've been to Charlie's here in Austin many many moons ago, back before our good friend Nick died. Nick was 55 and dating Jason who was 21. Quite the stormy relationship they had, but boy did we have some fun all four of us going out together and dancing!

Ah the dating years, so glad they are behind me. I wish you all the best, as I take it you are "on the market?" Or maybe just out to have a fun time!

Babes Around Denver, lol.

jennifer from pittsburgh said...

Sorry to see that such a fun place went under. Currently in Pittsburgh there are no lesbian bars left, the last one closed a couple of years ago because they couldn't draw enough of a young crowd. Fortunately just about every regular bar is very gay friendly, but it's weird to lose something so fundamental to the community as the lesbian bar. Yet, in a way, isn't this what we've wanted? Inclusion? I don't know.
Great pics and glad you had a great time at the last party!

TheWeyrd1 said...

Jannie...yep, I'm on the market. Nothing more to say about that...lol

Jennifer...I totally feel the same way. Partly very sad to see a lesbian club go under and yet, it's kind of nice that the younger generation feel they can go anywhere now... It's just us old farts that prefer the nearly exclusive company of our own kind...heh.