In The Navy (FT “A” School), Part 4

I will title this “Getting out in Southern Connecticut”.

Again this bit of the story spans several years, but is compiled into one over arching subject.

The places (bars):

In Groton:
Rosie’s, A lovely low end Strip club, the closest to the actual base, right on Rt. 12. They occasionally had out of town or a national touring “big name” talent, but for the most part the girls (oops, should I say “dancers”?) were pretty skanky and looked like crack whores. We played pool a lot in the place when there and only went over to the stage if there happened to be a hottie there that night. It was a shit kicker joint and you were completely at the mercy of the dancers when it came to music. A lot of Rod Stewart and bad 80s metal bands. Fights were common and the smell in the place was not the best. Vomit and liquor mostly. The beer was fairly cheap when the dancers were not on stage though.

There was a “dance club” south of Rosie’s on Rt. 12, across from the lone movie theater back then. The name changed several times. It was a single level, over crowded, full of drunk married women (who’s husbands were out to sea) piece of crap bar. The drinks were expensive and the music was too loud. A lot of the guys I hung out with loved it, but I hated it. I would go and sit back and watch my friends get rejected when they asked a chick to dance, and laugh. Of course he would come back to the table and state the “She must be a dike” comment. Every now and again someone would actually get a girl to say yes and get a dance, but it was rare. For some idiotic reason we would wind up there early almost always and leave early because we had too much juice. They even did a “Ladies Night” from time to time and had male dancers entertaining the all female crowd. Once the male dancers were done (around 10 or 10:30) the ropes dropped and every drunken sailor that could still walk went on the prowl in the place. It was very insane, but funny to watch.

Just up or down the street and on the same side of Rt. 12 are two other bars, to the south was a hippy joint that played 60’s music and was rarely a venue for us. To the north was this place that looked like it used to be a restaurant and had been converted into a bar. It wanted to be a snooty upscale joint, so the drinks were expensive and we were out of there…

Almost across the street from the expensive bar was the “good old boys” bar/dance hall. Half the place looked like a barn and by 11:30 on any weekend, it smelled like one too. Just a whole lot-o country boys and girls just getting their “country” freak on. They had a smaller section of the place that was actually palpable. They played more progressive music and had some great main stream new video games (the original Tron) that sucked the quarters out of my pockets. It was always funny to wander over to the country side of the place late in the evening and see what’s doing. Those boys were too funny.

The bar at or near the corner of Thames and Pleasant Street (I don’t remember the dang name!) and I doubt it’s still there; It’s an ancient dive that I will wait until “C” School to “dive” into deeper. If I forget it, shoot me a message because this place was the best!

Bars in and on the way to Norwich:
Biker club 1 – This place was actually pretty well taken care of and fairly new. Dyke was a “Biker” and was fully at home in the place. If you know me, you know I am NOT a biker and stood out like a sore thumb. The joint was far enough away that we didn’t go often, but did know fairly well.

Biker club 2 – This club was actually in Norwich proper and one was what you would expect to find in Daytona during Bike Week. Very rowdy, noisy and playing a lot of late 60’s head music. Lots of fights and drugs. I was not a fan of this place at all and only went a few times. Dyke was funny though, once you got him into a place like this he would transform. He became an arrogant flippant biker guy, way too good (or maybe bad?) to talk to you. He would strut around like a bad ass with his chin up and a smoke hanging from his lips. The more he guzzled, the worse it got. It was a kind of freaky transition he would go through and more than once I left a bar without him when he got like that, because I couldn’t get him to leave.

Bar in Old Lyme
The spot we found there was very much like a VFW, but we had the run of the place. It was empty often and a good place to start the night before moving in to the “hot night life” of New London or Groton. Wink…

Bars in Mystic Seaport:
There were some very nice up scale bars/restaurants in Mystic (and yes, this is the place where the Mystic Pizza movie came from). In the summer, there were some that were open wide and you could take your drinks, walk out onto a large sloping lawn and actually go to another club. It was pretty nice and even though they had every right to be, the people were not snotty around here. I remember a cool night, late in the summer and there were all these fireflies outside. It reminded me of a JRR Tolkien scene at the Fairy’s part of town that I had read in Lord of the Rings, very scenic and serene.

There was a dance club out a little past Mystic that we went to a few times that was much better than the one in Groton. It was more open and less stuffy. Brighter, but still had the loud music. I suppose that’s mandatory for a dance club.

Other Strip Clubs:
There were others that appeared and disappeared within weeks. Someone found one VERY good strip club up north, just across the Massachusetts border that we went to a few time. It was too far to go too often, but had excellent “dancers” and was not too expensive.

I must sound like a drunken horn-dog. Um, I read books too.