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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
I recently drove down Hampton Blvd past DesSub Piers (the old CE (Convoy Escort Piers))...Great place for burgers,root beer, fries and greasy chicken, but no place for some brow burner to get cold brew, a handful of Slim Jims...several packs of Beer Nuts...a pickled hard boiled egg...or pigs foot...No smoky gin mills, beer joints, naval tailors. Naval tailors, do they still sell Seafarer whites...with patch pocket jumpers? Can you still get a set of blues repiped while you sit in a bar in your skivvie tossing back a few glasses of suds? Do bluejackets still get patches with sharks, Chinese dragons, Rebel flags and embroidered Dolphins sew on the inside of their jumper cuffs? Where do the kids who put a shine on your shoes, hang out? Remember the kids with the wooden box suspened with a leather sholderstrap made out of a wornout belt...three cans of Lincoln Shoe Polish...four buffing rags and a four foot smile...."Buff'em up, Muther F--K?" Great kids...The day I cleared the RecSta with a still warm DD-214 tucked in the top of my seabag I stopped on the sidewalk in front of Bells and told Eddie..."Here's $5 show me what a five buck shine looks like." Back then five bucks was one helluva load of wampum...I got a shine that has to be the finest any man ever had...shook the hand of one of the hardest working lads on the planet...a hand that had buffed-up most of the shoes in the Second Fleet and belonged to a lad with a perpetual smile and the hands of a hard working fellow....Never saw him again...but never forgot him. Hope he made out OK and God gave him a wonderful bride. In the twilight of life, those memories are catnip for the soul. John Dever had a line in one of his songs..."Thank God I'm a COUNTRY BOY..", "Thank God, I wore Silver Dolphins." DEX....God let me make it to the Holland Club finishline...Gotta be a Qualified Coot. |
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Senior Crew
Posts: 186
| Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
Damn Dex! Ya got me worried now. I'm well in my 70s and thought I was just startin my twilight years.
Joe'the'Most |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
Man, wasn't it great to have experienced those times and days. To have experienced the old DB and a couple of new nukes, to have grown up thru the '50's and '60's era and now be blessed with a couple of Grandkids. Folks, In my book it don't get no better than this.
Thank you, Lord, for watching over me, us and them.  |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 539
Location: Palm Bay, Florida | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
Dex, if you would file a movement report (no... not that kind of movement) some of us in the neighborhood could have shown you the current sights. Not too many left, but the Thirsty Camel would have been happy to take your money. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
Any taxi dancin' joints left...Looters, Star Terrace.?....You mean to tell me, there are NOB gate bars like Bells, Luvvies Krazy Kat, the Big O, the Victory, Little Italy, and the locker clubs? The Hampton Boulevard I saw was picked clean of tattoo parlors, bars of any description, uniform shops, naval tailors....Remember, back in the "Old Days" we didn't make the big bucks the present day folks make...It started at E-1...he made $34 every two weeks BEFORE DEDUCTS....So, we walked everywhere or rode the bus or if you could find six guys going to where you were headed and agreed to a six way cab fare split, you called a cab. From what I could see, there were no....NO sailor hangouts within walking distance. I asked about a raghat club and was told that current Navy policy discourages any form of alcoholic beverage consumption. If this is incorrect, it came from a three striper who gave us a windshield drive-by of DesSub Piers. To be honest, I didn't see ANYTHING on Hampton Blvd. that was around when I was in....and don't recognize the name of that place the previous poster offered to take me to. Also, saw no shore patrol, basket hats, soul saving nuns, "$25 and you pay for the room and cab" girls or buff em up shine boys.....just sidewalks, parking lots and manicured grass. Didn't look like sailors lived anywhere near there.....and, get this...Didn't see ANYONE in whites...no uniforms...lotsa shorts and tee-shirts...but no dress canvas. DEX |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: For Joe the Most
I'm damn near 69 and even though I may not be in the "twilight" but I can surely see the sun going down from here....and recognize that I'm getting a little long in the tooth. I guess the "twilight" of life comes to different folks at different times....Actually, I'm waiting for those gahdam golden years everyone keeps talking about. DEX |
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Plankowner
Posts: 9165
Location: Upper lefthand corner of the map. | Subject: RE: For Joe the Most
Check yer underwear |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
What in the hell does "Check your underwear." have to do with a friendly exchange I was having with Joe....Somehow "Check your underwear" seems to be a stretch for someone desperately trying to be funny, who was never intended to be involved...I take it to be some kind of non-funny reference to incontinence...peeing in ones pants...uncontrolled dribbling in ones drawers...soaking Depends. Could someone please point out what such a reference has to do with contributing to something originally intended as a gentle reference to growing old.....Pants wetting has never been a popular subject of humor to me. We all know folks who have such problems but we never publicly make fun of the problem or the poor bastards who have to contend with such problems. At least my circle of friends (one of which rode boats and is dealing with this situation in a severe form.) edon't reference underwear checking. DEX |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 606
Location: Citrus County FL | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
CAN'T GET TO ME! NO SIR! CAN'T GET TO ME.....sniff, sniff. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 403
Location: Sacramento/Twain Harte | Subject: RE: Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
 Ric,
I LOL at your comment.
Guess I was wrong.  |
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Sailors "gate bars","naval tailors","locker clubs" and "pier dollies?"
