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February 05, 2005

My first Hostess Bar

What is a hostess bar you might be asking?  It's a place where you go and have a drink and pretty girls go and sit next to you and keep you company IF you buy them an overpriced drink.  You have to keep purchasing these drinks for them otherwise they will leave you (it's almost like putting quarters into a meter)

It's not like I chose to go to a Hostess bar...okay, so I did chose that bar but I didn't know it was that kind of bar, I swear.  What strikes me is that I always thought that these kind of bars were hidden downtown, in dark alleys, with girls dressed like they were going to an 80's prom.  Once you got in there was no other entertainment other than maybe a pool table. A  big guy as a bartender protecting the girls in case one of the drunken sponsors got a crazy idea in their pants.


So this bar was across Pearlridge, by Tower Records, close to a cell phone place and a few family restaurants.  The "karaoke" sign attracted me and the flower decor and brightly lit room put me at ease.  Most of the girls there were dressed like businesswomen, one in particular wearing a tasteful (ala Jackie O) blue skirt suit stood out.  People were singing songs like "Everything I do, I do it for you" along with your pop-contemporary Korean songs (which prompted a female customer to yell at the woman singing "Sing English, this isn't Korea!").


One girl, or woman should I say, the one with the blue skirt suit, asked if we wanted her to sit with us.  Keith smiled and said "oh no, thank you" then looked at me and said "what about you, you want try?"  I tried to give him a mean look and politely smile and say no to the woman. 


The waitress was a trip all unto herself.  She was very pretty, completely made up, very nice, again not a girl but a woman, and carried her black purse with her the entire time she was serving us.  She also seemed like she had never served before, not customers that only wanted to get a drink and food that is.  When we asked if they had food she promptly brought out free pupus.  It was not until later that she suggested we might also want to take a look at the menu, the cook there was wonderful afterall she exclaimed.  Our beers were not even past the halfway mark before she would come around and ask us if we wanted another soon. "Maybe you want another when your food come out?" she asked.  It was quite odd. 


Overall it was an enjoyable evening.  The food was good and the two small  cockaroaches by our head didn't really bother us.  It wasn't until I got up to go to the bathroom that I saw into the other booths.  Older men, nice looking women, all with drinks in their hand.  One of the girls had an acoholic drink, ice and all, in a coffee cup.  Special drink?  I think so. 

Posted by Pharoe at February 05, 2005 10:31 AM

Comments

 
Posted by Lynn on February 5, 2005 1:42 PM:

I enjoyed reading your experience at a Karaoke Bar! Theres a book written called "Buy Me Drinkie" by a local fellow who describes various characters so often found in Karaoke Bars! Lucky you didn't get swindled to buy a $100.00 bottle champagne. You gotta be careful where you go...I know, although I wasn't a waitress, I was the ruthless woman singing KARAOKE that everybody had to buy drinks for.

Aloha, Aunty Lynn
momthreesoldiers@man.com

 
Posted by Nick Fox on October 3, 2005 4:18 PM:

Law and Order:CI has an episode with a hostess bar. The episode is called: "JONES".

 
Posted by BMW MZ3 on January 29, 2006 3:27 PM:

For Korean people these "hostess bars" or room salons are a place to go and drink and talk business. I have gone with my friends and have seen them spend over $2000 in an evening.The idea is that the girls should act like they are you girlfriend or whatever and keep you company. If they like you they mite leave with you also. If you have deep pockets it may be your thing.

 
Posted by v56 on April 18, 2006 1:58 PM:

It's become very common for ALL people to come to the hostess bars and "talk business". I don't mean to categorize but here are my observations from my 8 year's experience (frequenting the Honolulu hostess bars).
The people who "talk business" are typically real estate agents, mortgage brokers, (car) salesmen, lawyers, and contractors, and it's really not about talking business... it's about building a relationship with either a customer or coworkers. Even saw a couple of local politicians go to the karaoke room.
Others who frequent the establishment would be older men either married or divorced looking for temporary companionship, perhaps more.
Middle-aged men come to the bars looking to meet girls. Most are looking for a relationship: fun or serious, permanent or temporary. They are too old to go to the clubs or regular places to hit up on girls. It's becomes all too easy at the hostess bar because you just choose which one you want and they will most likely sit with you if you keep buying them drinks.
I recently noticed a trend that the younger crowds are frequenting the hostess bars. Most are not rich where they can spend money unless they really take a liking to a girl. (They usually don't know the system and often times get burned... it becomes a very expensive lesson.) Most young guys and girls roll in to the 4am bars since there are not to many places in town open after 2am.

All though these hostess bars have cleaned up their act considerably, there are still lots of things not known to the public.

A couple of other observations i'd like to also throw out:
-You do not need to have lots of money to have a relationship with a hostess girl. It's to your advantage if you do.
-Most younger girls have a boyfriend. The boyfriend cannot take care of them. This is why they have to work.
-The hostess girls that work only a couple of days out of the week either go to school/have a day job (very rare), or most likely have a boyfriend or a sugar daddy.

I'd like to read that book Lynn mentioned. Want to see if my observations are somewhat close.

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