Aloha Stories

[nrgbeat]

I'm starting a new thread called Aloha stories so Marky and Keefe can entertain us with these funny stories.

Bicycle pump...lol.....

I love the names you guys had for each other. It's just too gay.

[keefelc]

You mean like Crusty??? And I'm not talking about the Clown. No, more like the Creature!

I'm not going to be able to spin any tales tonight, but hopefully soon. Maybe I'll tell all of you about the one and only Aloha Records float in a Gay Day Parade many moons ago.

[markydefad]

Hmmmm...what's to tell???? Well, when I first started working there--lotsa folks were known as "Lady" (whatever their last name was--Lady Ellerbee; Lady Menk; Lady C.... ); I don't recall anyone calling me that--at least NOT to my face!!! :grin:

Who else worked there?
Let's see: Michael Neuman was the Si-Reen of Sound; Jay Hudson was Baby Jane Hudson; Steve was the Tauntress; Russell was Crusty (our resident street person/employee; I was never mean to him; OTHERS were :razz: ) He lived in the upstairs third floor of the building and was a mess, to say the least. Poor thing. Folks who were not part of the "in crowd" were deemed "creatures" and dismissed as such. Yes, there was a lotta "ATTITUDE" thrown around to the less than hip.

Who else??? Well there was one woman (biological, that is) who worked there--Miss Karen. I'll let Keefe tell that story.

Aloha, located in an old Victorian storefront on 18th street & Castro, above a card store, was started by two lovers from Hawaii--Don & Rick and was was very successful for several years--THEN they decided to open a second store a few blocks away on Market Street in a new mall. The second store was an enormous space--brand spanking new as opposed to the funky old store--BUT there was relatively little foot traffic in the new store area. Hence,it became a "money pit" and started draining the life out of the old store. After awhile, the owners (who split-up as lovers around this time) couldn't afford to keep both stores fully stocked...so they closed the new store--BUT the damage had been done. The old store didn't have the cash to keep fully stocked, hence we were always out of things and people started to look for other places to shop. The main competitor was Ron's Records on Market, located near the Detour and more accessible to foot traffic. The trendy DJ's started going there first and we became "faded glory"--eventually closing in early fall of 1983. Oh, the "SHAME"!!!! :roll:

In retrospect, the End Of Disco and the advent of AIDS were probably contributing factors to the demise of Aloha, also.

Keefe...now you tell your memories.

[nrgbeat]

My boyfriend at the time, worked there as a manager on Sundays only--he was a banker, otherwise!!! Thus, when I found myself out of a job--he helped me get in there.

See it's not who you know it's who you _____ well you know the rest.

[nrgbeat]

Folks who were not part of the "in crowd" were deemed "creatures" and dismissed as such. Yes, there was a lotta "ATTITUDE" thrown around to the less than hip.

Gay attitude strikes again!!!!

[keefelc]

So Mark, Eric is to blame for subjecting you to the Aloha abuse, heh?

I was connected with Aloha from day one. I recall walking home from work one day and I spied the brand spanking new Aloha Records! For those of you familiar with the area, the store was above "Does Your Mother Know" card store. Funny that the card store is still there, but Aloha is long gone.

Anyway, up the flight of stairs I went to be greeted by Don and Rick and the quaint two room record store - the main room housed the new stuff and the back room had all the used and promotional records. Well, I had the good sense to hit the back room (!) first. Back in those days, you always checked out the promotional and used records first. Lo and behold, Don and Rick had bought hundreds of collections from primarily DJs. In order to establish a name for themselves, they had treasures in those bins for very reasonable prices. Since I was one of their first customers, I had a very good selection to pick from and that started my road to poverty. So, from there on, since Aloha was right on the way home, I would stop in at least once a week to check those "used" bins!

From there, I became friends with the two owners, especially Lady Ellerbe (Rick). Business at the store started to pick up because the competition (Gramophone, Ron's Records, etc.) wasn't there yet. Gradually, the staff began to grow. Ralph Osborne, Steve Tsepelis, Mark's pal Eric - were some of the first additions. At this time, the store was still pretty subdued in terms of the "gay attitude". However, that quickly started to changed when Michael Neuman joined the staff. High strung and nervous with a bitchy wit! Michael was the one that would put Aloha Records on the map. How did he do that? He had them start selling imports!

That's when the store started to blossom into a SF gay institution, especially with the addition of Lady Menk, the Tauntress and Aloha's true woman, Miss Karen!

Should I continue?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: keefelc on 2002-09-25 20:37 ]</font>

[nrgbeat]

Yes, please do.

If you go to this site, you can see a painting of Aloha Records.

http://www.backdoor.com/CASTRO/street/vidali.html

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nrgbeat on 2002-09-25 21:51 ]</font>

[markydefad]

nrgbeat,

Thanks for the link to those paintings!!!!

Amazing!!!! Who would have thought that Aloha's storefront would have been painted as a Castro landmark along with the interiors of Castro Station (levi/leather sleazy pick-up bar) and Twin Peaks (older crowd sweater and pearls...er,... weejuns fern bar). :lol: Guess which bar I logged more time in?????

The green awning is above the entrance where the stairs were to go up to Aloha. They had an outside speaker above the entrance, so the music being played in the store emanated out into the street and lured potential customers upstairs... like a siren's song...OR a SI-Reen's Song, you could say.

The card store, Does your Mother Know, is the door on the left. Above it you can see the big picture window in the front of Aloha where we cruised the street. Above that, on the third floor, was where the owners lived for several years. Eventually, it became the office space, storage space and, for a time, home for "Crusty", the Madwoman Of Aloha... Eh, Keefe??? :grin: If you look real closely, I think I can see ole Crusty peering out one of the 3rd story windows. Not!!!!!! :razz:

On the right, is the side of Hibernia Bank which had it's brick patio, recessed from the street, entrance on Castro, where guys would take off their shirts and other things and catch rays and cruise on sunny and not-so-sunny days--hence, the term... Hibernia Beach. I remember that painter sitting there painting stuff. I never paid much attention. But when I started reading...I thought, he used to be in front of the Bank!!!! Sure enough, a few sentences later, that's what it says.

"Memories....like the corners of my mind...misty, watercolor memories...of 'THE WAY WE WERE' ".... :grin:



_________________
Make My Feet Wanna Dance!

Markydefad

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-09-25 22:58 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-09-26 22:00 ]</font>

[keefelc]

Wow, Nrgbeat! That painting sure did bring back memories. I completely forgot about those paintings.

Mark, we're going to have to check out that gallery when you visit!

Anyway, back to reminiscing.

I remember one day afterwork, I walked into the store. There was a big cocomotion going on with Michael and Rick dolling out records to a large gathering of the regulars. One of them told me, "Boy did you get here on time!" As a test, they had ordered a major shipment of import twelves inch singles and a few albums. Previously, the import twelves were difficult to obtain in the City. Gramophone Records, during their prime, would have some trickle in every now and then (that's where I lucked into the Walter Gibbon's remix of "It's A Better Than Good Time" by Gladys Knight and the Pips). We would see dance imports advertised in Billboard but you would have to mailorder.

I don't know how the word leaked out so quickly (probably the DJ grapevine), but the entire shipment sold out in just a few hours. If I recall correctly, alot of the records were from Unidisc/Uniwave and included stuff like "Traffic Breakdown," Harry Thuman, "Hot Wax". They had imports coming a couple of times that week and the same thing happened each time. Everything was gone in a matter of hours. Michael Neuman did his research and he knew what to order. The store found it's niche and they took advantage of it!

The DJs were anxious to start playing this stuff in the clubs, particularly Trocadero Transfer. What perfect timing because Troc was in it's prime at this point.

So, as people started hearing all the new music, business really started to boom at Aloha. With the increased business, Don and Rick were able to hire alot of new people. I would walk in and they would introduce me to someone new. That's when the true cast of characters started!

More later...

[markydefad]

Keefe,

I LOVE THIS!!!! It's like your own serialized "Tales Of The City"!!!! A new chapter every day?!!!! And a little cliffhanger or tease to keep em comin' back for more!!! :grin:

For the record, I was a late addition to the cast. In TV terms, I only appeared as a regular in what was like the last 2 seasons before we were cancelled. Prior to that I only made guest appearances, as the "boyfriend" of the Sunday manager. Ya know, I think he only took that Sunday job to get away from me!!!! Hmmmmm....well, at least he used to bring home all the latest records every Sunday evening and I would spin them all week until the next shipment arrived. :lol:

[nrgbeat]

Keefe,

Marky said you also worked for the government. What specifically did you do?
I.R.S. agent?

[markydefad]

He's a narc. :grin:

[nrgbeat]

I was going through my photos to see if I had taken any pictures of Castro Street on my visit to S.F. a few years ago. Unfortunately, my camera went on the fritz and all my pictures came out terrible.

I did find a postcard from the hotel I stayed. It was called The S.F. Carlton on Sutter Street. The hotel was nice, although I didn't spend a lot of time there. However, there were a lot of hookers at night in the area near the hotel.

I wonder if any of them were trannies. :lol:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nrgbeat on 2002-09-27 15:17 ]</font>

[keefelc]

Hmmm... I'm here at work and Critical Mass has been going by the building for the past 15 minutes. What's that? Well, hundreds of bicyclists get together every month to clog up traffic in an effort to demand more respect from motorists. They're celebrating their 10th year today so there are an exceptional number of participants today. Glad I took public transportation today!

Anyway, nrgbeat, the Carlton Hotel is still here. It's on Sutter between Hyde and Larkin Streets, so you were pretty close to the hookers! Back in the early 80s, the transexual hookers were also pretty close by since the gay scene was still going strong on Polk Street! Just thought I share that little tidbit of info with you.

By the way, thanks again for the link to the Aloha painting! I can't believe I don't have any photos of Aloha's two stores.

Mark, my writing skills don't come anywhere close to Armistead Maupins witty and entertaining writing style. In fact, I'm wondering if I'm boring everyone to tears??? Maybe I better hurry up and get to the good parts, but that's going to have to be next week because I want to start my weekend!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: keefelc on 2002-09-27 21:40 ]</font>

[markydefad]

Ah, I see now that Keefe has become "the Tauntress"...teasing and taunting us with promises of tales & revelations about the Aloha crowd that...will just have to wait til next week!!! :razz:

Tauntress 2002, eh???? :lol:

Hey wait-- Maupin used to do that too, didn't he???? :???: