Reminiscing the Early Years

During the time I was 21 to about 25, I worked part-time bartending and waitressing at a local bar in downtown Portland. I chose to do this when I moved to Portland because I knew that this would be the best way to meet and greet a fabulous crowd in my new city. It worked. I knew the bartenders and doormen at every establishment frequented by the "cool crowd." I was in the back room hanging out with the local bands during and after their gigs. When I went into the new, hot restaurant there would be an amuse bouche sent to the table when I sat down.


My girlfriends, the few, select beauties that worked at the bar with me, would join me every Tuesday for our version of Ladies' Night, fondly dubbed Titty Tuesday. We would dress up in fabulous, flirty, summer dresses and our best heels. We would start with dinner somewhere, usually The Wine Bar. Then we would make pit stops to get cocktails at any bar worth showing your face at. Gritty's, Boru's, Bull Feeney's, Una. (At the time, Una...now I would put a toe in there; it is completely trashy.) After a night of enjoying round after round of cocktails, we would inevitably wind up at a bar more known for it's hip hop music and dance crowd, rather than class. We had achieved a level of "tolerance" for the crowd at the Old Port Tavern and they knew us by face. The DJ, who was there every Tuesday, would see us strut down the stairs of the entrance and stop the music. "Iiiiitttt'ssss Titty Tuesday!" He would growl into the microphone. The crowd would cheer. Some, because they were aware of our existance, others because they were drunk and it sounded like something worth showing appreciation for. The last night we graced Old Port Tavern with a Titty Tuesday was the night a wasted co-ed mistook the DJ's announcement as a request and peeled up her shirt and bra to expose her breasts. That was it for us. We were not about to tarnish our reputation with anyone having any other expectations than that of our company. I have a firm belief in the imagination being more sexy than reality, and prefer to maintain that air of mystery.

Titty Tuesday did fade away, as we all launched into our adult careers. Getting up early on Wednesday morning put a damper on all of the free beverages we enjoyed Tuesday evenings. Reminiscing, though, there is not a better way I could have spent my Tuesday evenings for so long; with the best posse of friends a girl could have.