BajaNews
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TJ in the '80s: Ah, yes, I remember it well
http://www.vyuz.com/092606_TJ.php
By Brian Swarthmore
September 26, 2006
San Diego -- Because I live near an old folk’s home, I often have to listen to the senile old coots talk about the glory that was Paris back when
Hemingway was there, or some aging hippie brag about San Francisco during the Summer of Love.
I also know some people who use to boast about how great the New York disco scene was in the 1970s but they died a few years ago (before they could
give their weight loss secret – drat!)
I usually let them blather on because, frankly, these cadaverous moldy oldies are my main source for medicinal marijuana.
Still, I grimace because their boring old reminiscing can’t compare to the glorious place and time that was Tijuana in the mid-1980s, which I feel
will eventually be celebrated the same way as those other periods and places.
Yes, Tijuana has always had a reputation or, if you will, notoriety. Back in the 1920s, movie stars went there to eat Caesar Salad and avoid
prohibition laws. After that, it became a port of call for Marines and teenage virgins who wanted some hooker to snatch their virginity.
TJ still has that rep but starting in the mid-80s (1983 to be exact), the place became a Mecca for underage guys and girls, thanks to its progressive
drinking laws – you drink at one bar, then you progress to another – and a series of discos and dance clubs that were as friendly towards horny drunk
American girls as they were to horny drunk American boys.
But it wasn’t just about getting drunk and mingling body parts, it was about cultures mingling.
In 1983, the radio station 91-X switched from a format that is best described as “More Bob Seger Than Anyone Deserves To Hear” to a “Rock Of the ‘80s”
originally popularized by KROQ in Los Angeles.
Because 91-X was based in Tijuana, the new wave hits of Duran Duran, Human League, Falco and Depeche Mode not only became popular with
English-speakers but also a large part of Northern Baja youth.
This meant that the “deescos” would play everything from “Let The Music Play” by Shannon to “Vienna Calling” by Falco to “Vamos A La Playa,” a catchy
hit by a group called Los Joaos.
It also meant that black teenagers, white teenagers and Mexican teenagers were all hanging out in the same bars, listening to the same music and
usually screwing the same women – and I don’t mean the prostitutes.
You see, there is a dirty little secret about growing up in America’s Finest City. Because women mature earlier than men, if you date a girl who grew
up here, you’re probably dating someone who has been hanging out in bars since she was 13.
And probably fooled around with me – but that’s for a different story.
It wasn’t uncommon to sneak out at 11 p.m. to go down to TJ in time for the midnight madness at clubs like Baby Rock, Peoples or Club O. Club O was
the chit because that’s where the rich Mexicans hung out. A lot of the guys were cool. The white American women liked them because they were rich and
the rich Mexican guys liked the white American girls because they were hoars.
It worked out great for everyone.
However, the Mexican guys’ machismo sometimes got the best of them. One of my friends went to St. Augustine, and knew a TJ guy named Javier, who ended
up dating a white trash girlfriend of my then-girlfriend.
The story has it that they were going to have sixx for the first time and Javier brought a condom with him. When the big moment came, he tried to put
on the condom. And tried. And tried. And tried.
Finally, the white trash gal (I call her this because she has bleached her hair since she was eight.) asked him, “Shouldn’t you try and get hard
first?”
Javier got really angry and accused her: “You’re not a virgin, are you?”
Somehow, the relationship fizzled after that.
On the other hand, I knew lots that flourished. One of my friends met his wife in a bar called the Long Bar and when they made the stupid mistake of
going outside to drink their beers, they were arrested and taken to the infamous Tijuana Jail.
Both her friends and our group went down to the jail to get them out – which cost $85 U.S. – all we had at the time. Almost all of it.
One of my friends always went to TJ with an extra $40 in his shoe and when we were trying to tell the Federales that “$85 is all we have,” one of my
dumber friends tried to spill the beans by saying, “Mike, what about that $40 you always have in your shoe?”
Luckily, Mike was wearing sandals that night.
We eventually got the loving couple out of jail, but the experience brought them together and they eventually married. And like many other young
couples, they never tell the truth about how they met.
Although lots of Mexican guys hooked up with American girls, there wasn’t as much crossover. Part of this is because many of the Mexican girls who
were on Revolucion were hookers and also because the ones who weren’t tended to want romance more than raunch – and that’s not something a drunk
18-year-old boy can easily provide.
These days, the glory days of Tijuana are forgotten or ignored, but to a certain percentage of guys and girls who grew up then, it will always be
remembered – every time they mastur....
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Martyman
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Ensenada is the northern baja party town now. I'm too afraid to hang out in TJ. I did have a zombie at the Long Bar many years ago.
Hussongs here I come!
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Oso
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Hey, I was in the Haight during the 67 "Summer of love" and I ain't ready for the old folks home yet. Hell, I'm still working and don't even qualify
for SSA yet. This guy is bogus.
I am older than those who may have made the TJ club scene in the 80's. My formative teen years in TJ were before "nice girls" AKA white middle class
hoars, went to such clubs and I remember none of them. I DO remember the Blue Fox and its "fine mexican Cuisine".
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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bajadogs
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Oh crap... I was there. I am a much smarter and more mature dude now. The Long Bar was always fun and dirt cheap (come to think of it I don't remember
any other club that had beer on tap back then). Oh man... I'm feeling hungover.
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roundtuit
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I can remember where the ice house, tortiilla factory, Hussongs, Bahi motel and the french cursine accross the street . CAN YOU????
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Mike Supino
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Don't forgot(sic) the donkey shows!!!!!
Therianthropic
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roundtuit
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not me I was a good Virgin
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roundtuit
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Thumb screws will not make me tell old stories. So most of us are safe. won't call any names
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Johnny
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the 80's
I was there but not until I was 13 in 1985 and yes it was like that. Except there were mexican girlfriends there with the mexican boys. I know
because they tried to beat me up for dancing with thier beaus. I mostly remember the tequila poppers. The bartender comes over, grabs your head from
behind, tilts your neck back, blows the whistle that hangs from his neck really loud while pouring a shot glass of seven-up that supposedly has
tequila in it in your mouth, then shakes your head vigorously while continually screeching his police whistle. I think it made you more dizzy than
drunk but it seemed fun at thirteen. I hardly remember more except that it was upstairs on a patio bar that seemed nice at the time. After I read
that story I had to go play my Yaz record. I'm not sure if I'm living up to my Junior Nomad Status right now but I had to share.
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roundtuit
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Was there in the sixties and went back in 2005 was lost. where was my ice house and mt totilla factory now a fox sutido
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Mexitron
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TJ is usually a place I've considered an obstacle course for getting thru and into the central desert...that said, I've mingled with it here and
there--did see Stan Ridgeway("I'm on a Mexican Radio...")in concert at some club in 1989 or 1990...seemed an appropriate place to see him.
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Ken Cooke
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I went once in 1989 with a friend and I thought the place seemed strange (example: Chuty's House of Beer on Revoluccion). I returned several times in
1990 and liked it better (example: Club A, The House). By 1992, I practically lived at The Last Temptation with their 1 hour opening set of The
Doors, loads of Nirvana & Ministry, and Underground Techno music...
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