But those times last hours not days.
20 years. Have always wanted to write.
today i interviewed the most interesting man. I know i say that after every interview i do and in many ways they are all my children, the interviews, not the people.
Although i love the people too. Very much.
He was about the same age as me and grew up in venice and i spent a lot of time in venice when i was 17 and 18 and 19 and i asked him about a dance club for underaged kids named after its address
It’s address was 321 Santa Monica Blvd so the club was simply called 321
I thought it was cool as could be even though it didnt really have any real features, it was just a medium sized place with a dance floor and a bar that sold soda
i dont even remember a back room or any decorations or anything
It was so simple and played the best music which was all new, lots of imports from England and all of it was, at the time, like hearing space age folk songs from alien creatures from the future who have come in peace.
And who was at the club?
The hottest teenage girls in all of LA
That’s who
The first time i went i just looked at the ground because holy shit
I drank my pop and ran home, forgetting i had parked my grandmas car in the parking lot
The next time i went i held up one of the walls with my back and tapped one foot for a lot of the night
Keep in mind i had come to LA having zero friends
After a few months i worked at McDonalds and i asked out this cute Mexican girl but every guy did, and she ended up dating a Mexican teen who could breakdance
He would literally break down a few Big Mac boxes and spread them out in the parking lot and break dance for her.
Was i tempted to learn to break dance?
No
But one night at 321 the smiths how soon is now came on
And the girls gasped and all ran out to the dance floor because secretly this was a super goth club which was another reason i loved it
I had black baggy parachute pants and black karate shoes which was a new wave thing that in a way replicated when girls would just wear basic flats
And then i had an oversized white poofy shirt with a very wide neck that i suppose could have been made to droop over a shoulder but that wasn’t me
Dancing in the middle of the floor wasn’t really me neither but when that song came on i ended up there and a million years later i still remember that clearly.
So when i asked this guy my age if he ever went to 321
And this was a Black guy
He put down his joint and looked at me quietly
I said, it was on 321 Santa Monica
And he continued to pause. I thought he was gonna tell me it was the lamest club in town, because this dude is ridiculously cool. A few minutes previous to that he showed me a picture on his phone of Lenny Kravitz in junior high.
Still silence. So i said, i think there’s a hooters there or something.
And he said
First place i ever played was 321.
I fucking felt like nardwaur