Samoan Bar

We pulled into Pearl Harbor on a fine spring day after leaving the cold wintry frost of Kodiak Alaska two weeks earlier. Once liberty was granted I caught a cab and made a bee line for Hotel Street, the famous red light district of Honolulu, I always preferred to go out alone on the first night in a new town, I had been cooped up with these guys for months, the last thing I wanted to do was spend an evening swapping sea stories.  Anyway, like I said, I headed for Hotel Street, walking, talking to the hookers, checking out the bars and strip joints, I was a young male, single and in the big city for the first time in over a year, a month’s pay in my pocket, life was great.

I saw a little bar across the street, the doors to the bars in Hawaii are always left open to catch the breeze and it looked quite, a place where I could get cool beer and not be hassled or husseled. I walked in and sat on a stool at the bar removed my ships ball cap and ordered a draft, the bar tender looked at me sort of odd but gave me the draft, I took the first drink, god it was good, cool, refreshing and invigorating. Life just got even better. I looked around, the first thing I noticed was that this was no tourist bar, no fishnets hanging on wall, no fern plants in the corner and no candles on the few tables. The next thing I quickly realized was that I was the smallest person in the bar. Now I stood 6’6” and 230 lbs at the time. I rarely saw anyone bigger, and here I was the smallest in a room, an unusual occurrence to the say the least.  I realized that everyone else appeared to be of Samoan decent and thought “Oh Crap” I had walked into a Samoan Bar in a strange town not a smart move in the late 70’s.  Now you need to know that this was a time of the Civil Rights era, and that the pacific islanders were caught up in the movement and hated white people for all the terrible things we had done, such as introducing coca cola, snakes, and Hollywood, not necessarily in that order.

I saw 4 young gentlemen at the pool table, each holding a cue and looking at me like I was lunch and they had skipped breakfast, the runt had me by an inch and 50 pounds, the ugly one was missing his front teeth and had arms the size of telephone poles, the mean looking one had a glass eye and tattoos covering his face, it was the biggest of the group that worried me the most, he just looked like a giant dog straining at the leach and waiting for permission to attack.

I realized that the smart thing would be to just get up and leave, it was obvious that I was not wanted. And I never stay where I am not wanted, but being a young male, full of vim and vigor, I couldn’t just leave, not until I finished my beer, and I couldn’t rush that or it would look like I was afraid or something. The fact that I was scared shitless was beside the point, the important thing was to not show it, finish my beer and walk out like I wasn’t running for my life.

At that point an older Samoan gentleman at the bar turned to me and said, “You need to leave haoli”. He wasn’t being rude, just trying to save my life.  He was the type of guy who had worked all his life at hard physical labor and had the scars and painful eyes to prove it.  The last thing he needed was someone disturbing his nice quite evening, and having the police come in and scrape my ass off the floor would disturb his evening. I totally understood. But I was going to finish that beer, So I downed it quickly and put my hat back on. It was at that point my entire evening, maybe even my life changed. The old man looked at my hat and said “You in the Coast Guard?”

“Yes Sir” I replied, “We just came in today, we are down from Alaska for a month of Training”.  I started for the door, sneaking a peak to see if I was going to be jumped from behind by the 4 monsters of the pool table, although if I had been thinking correctly, I would have realized they did not need to wait until my back was turned.  They weren’t moving but pushing me out the door with their eyes.

As I passed the old man he grabbed my arm and said, “You guys saved my brother last month, pulled him off his sinking fishing boat off of Maui, Thank You”

“No problem” I answered, I wasn’t going to tell him I was off the Aleautions a month ago,

“Let me buy you a beer” he said.

Now I was always up for a free beer but I turned and looked at the four Pool monsters. Seeing my apprehension he turned and said.

“Hey, Tibby, this guys in the Coast Guard”

Tibby, the mean looking one, don’t ask me how someone who looked like that could be called Tibby, it must have been a Samoan thing and I wasn’t going to ask him. Anyway he came over, carrying his Pool Cue,

“You in the Coast Guard, huh?”

“Yeah, just pulled in today”

He turned to the bar tender and said “get him a beer”

He didn’t ask if I wanted one, but I don’t think he was the type of person who asked people what they wanted.

“Thanks” I said and sat back down next to the old man who told me that Tibby was his nephew and it was his father that the Coast Guard had saved.

Tibby retuned to the pool game, told his fellow monsters what was going on, all three of them looked at me and slightly nodded. I now had permission to stay in their bar. Life was great again.

The old man and I sat down he told me about his life, working for the Navy in WWII, he had worked all over the Pacific except for Alaska, so we swapped sea  stories all night and watched the hookers take their customers into the flea bag hotel across the street.

They would be in there about an hour, but sometimes as quick at 10 minutes.

He told me that a lot of hookers were not women but men in drag, I think he was warning me.

So we sat and had comfortable time when I recognized one of the less popular officers from the ship walking down the street with a tall girl In a slinky Chinese dress on his arm, they turned into the hotel.

I was in slight shock, this was one of the more stuck up officer, quick to point out other’s failing. “He is off our ship” I said. Then asked, is she a she?

He looked, then turned to me and shook his head No.

I smiled, For the first time ever I was looking forward to tomorrow mornings’ muster onboard the ship. Life was really really great.

I spent several hours in the Samoan bar that night, learning where to go, who to see for a good time, etc and had a wonderful time, this is why a became a sailor I thought.

I said my good nights to the Pool Monsters and thanked the old man for a great time, especially considering how it could have gone. And walked out into the night, headed for a special address the old man had given me but that is a  story for another time.

I learned several lessons that night, one - Don’t walk into a Samoan bar unless they know someone picked up by the Coast Guard, always a risky thing, so just don’t walk into a Samoan bar unless invited. -Two - Be careful who you select for an evening of fun, and third - Never do anything in public you don’t want people to know about, because, of course I told all my buddies who I had seen walking to that hotel and with whom.