University Dally Kansan
4.
Plunge...
Wednesday, November 8, 1978
11
From page one
sotti, Leawood junior. We went down 12th street past the Hunderinghunger burglar joint, which had a sign asking "Ever Eat Here?" and had a sign that said "We found convention strip, a block and a half of neon-lit bars, strip shows and dancing places near H. Roe Bate Hall and Carnegie Library."
We stood outside the Pink Room trying to decide whether to go in or a drunk man in a bar.
"You girls whores?" he asked.
"No, not tonight," Spellman replied.
"Well, you sure look like it. I've got two friends here who want to talk to you," he said as he grabbed our shoulders and pulled his hand up against a wall. His friends shook their heads.
We ducked into the Pink Room.
"LEAVE 'EM alone. They're respectable, " one of the men said.
On a small stage surrounded by tables, a woman wearing a bra and a tight pair of jeans was hanging onto a chair. She had the jeans down to her thighs but in her drunkenness, she couldn't get them further, so she had to keep beat with "Native New Yorker."
"Hell, boys, just a minute," she said and slipped her high heels off so she wouldn't have to hold the chair to stay standing. Just as she got the jeans to reveal a silver glove; l'gstring and her bra off to show her collar-cold pasted colors; the juckbox quit playing.
"Push something, will ya?" she called to another dancer who was wearing the same outfit. The second dancer was sitting on the jukebox chatting with a man in a suit. She pushed "Copa Cabana" and the dancer went on to dance, where she was as much as it did the most male audience.
"She really is a good dancer. She's just drunk tonight, which is how I should be right
"now," the woman tending the bar said
"What do you girls want to drink?"
REMEMBERING MY money situation. I asked for water.
"Sorry, you got to order something.
There's no cover charge."
“One dollar.” I dug for the dollar as she started to serve our drinks. My two companions paid for theirs and the bartender left. I slipped my Coke as I slipped the dollar back into my pocket and said nothing. I felt bad but guilt but somehow I felt justified. I felt poor.
The suited man near the jukebox had been startling at us with longing eyes for too long,
Out on the street again, we turned up convention center alley. Main Street, with its professional buildings, expensive hotels and nice restaurants. Under the glare of street lights that turned this well-to-do area's night into day, steam was rising from the building. In a warm-couted, high-heeled prostitutes, walking in pairs, an eerie, dream-like look.
We went over a block to Grand Street as a man dressed cowboy style, with five leather shorts and a fedora. We follow us. Maybe he wasn't sinister, but nevertheless we turned onto Eighth Street.
SANDERSON'S IS a greasy spoon joint about eight feet wide and just long enough to accommodate a 20-seat counter. It is open 24 hours a day.
All food is prepared behind the counter in full view. The grill was only about three feet from where we sat, so I was glad the door was left open for a breeze to come in.
A cockroach crawled across a nearby menu as the waitress came to take our order. She was German with dye red hair and wore a black blouse. The girl that night, I ordered coffee: 26 cents gone.
A woman sitting next to Barstoli talked to her about a nephre of hers who went to KU. As we were getting up to leave, the woman said, out of the blue and in amazed tones, "Down on 12th and Main, they have prostitutes. Some of them are colored."
We thanked her and headed for a gas station with a rest room. We found a Vicker's open, as we were leaving, a man standing in front of an apology. He saw us and made an apology.
"M" has worked at Bruno 5 for 15 years and he claims to know many of the customers by name because so many of the fenders. As if to prove his point, a tall, bleached-blonde woman in a minkskirt walked in.
THE INCIDENT ENIGHTed me. That was at least the fourth time that night someone had tried to hustle us. What made him think that he had been specially after he just urinated in front of us?
"Sorry, girls, ours was out of order. Hey, of any of your a partying mood?" We left, thinking, "Who is it?"
A woman found in certain parts of town, specifically the parts our group frequented that weekend, would always be the subject of sexual innuendo. After a while, I almost began to think that I was causing or asking for the hustles, the cattails and come-ones. I don't know how it is for me, but for a woman the inner city is a sexual war zone.
She must keep alert not to give any wrong impressions and when a man reads a story, it is important that he remembers.
It was 2 a.m. when we walked into Bruno's Bonding Company. The bondman that night was "M." He wore a blue polyester shirt, and he had brown pants and his plaid pants. Rather than a tie around his neck, he wore a huge initial "M." His black hair was well-Oiled and close to his head. He had a thin moustache with an inch-wide chin. He also had a characterization of a shady businessman.
BRUNO'S MAKES 20 percent on all ball it puts up for misdemeanors and 10 percent on all bail for felonies or state crimes. "M'Told me you wouldn't skip bond, they make sure they wouldn't skip bond
"How ya doing, Nancy?" "M" asked.
"Very rarely do we ever lose any money."
"I've got some business for you," she
Cattish Dinner $6.95
Catsch Dinner $6.95
% Fried Chicken $4.95
Top Sirion 10 oz.) $4.95
Ribeye Steak (14 oz.) $10.50
K.C. Strip (14 oz.) $10.50
Fillet (8 oz.) $7.95
Prime Rib (20 oz.) $7.95
SERVING
5-10 p.m. DAILY
23rd & Iowa
843-9100
She stayed while "M" made some phone calls and then disappeared into a waiting car. We asked if many of his customers were prostitutes.
"I only handle about seven girls. They're not reliable, except the ones I know. When they get pick up, they don't have any ID so they don't use their real names. They get on decent clothes, take off their wigs, put on decent outfits, and man, you never find 'em again."
WE HEADED back to Sanderson's to get some more coffee. It was 2:30 a.m. and all the seats were filled. The three waitresses were dog-tired. In half an hour they would get off, but now even lifting a spatula to burn bhushns looked like an effort. Not even a second later, I met two women were old, or maybe they just looked like it. I found myself wondering why they
were working. Did they have families? How many years had they been doing this?
I ordered another cup of coffee, another 26 cents gone. There was no conversation around us and we soon were back on the street. This time we went to our car, passing several men with brown paper bags at their lips as we went.
TOMORROW: The city as a reservation.
We drove to the Liberty Memorial, a cruising spot for gay males. It felt good to know we wouldn't be asked to bed around there. But, as we circled the mall, our users about being where we didn't belong on our tiredness or our tiredness to propel us back to the church.
We finally crawled into our sleeping bags at 3:30 a.m. I was hungry and it was hard to fall asleep. It was cold in the church basement and the floor hurt my head. I fell asleep thinking that the cockroaches in this place had lost all fear of man.
H. B. Quirk's offers you more than superb cbores.
Try our Prime Rib, Country Fried Steak or Southern Fried Chicken dinners.
We also feature a variety of soups, quiche, salads and sandwiches.
And don't forget our famous crêpe desserts and cheesecake.
G. P. LOYD'S
Colonel Shaler Eldridge's Liquor Chest has been FOUND!! Gads, but the key is missing! The colonel's chest contains 12 bottles of his favorite Label.
It has been determined through our mediums that
the Key is to be Located within Lawrence and the finder of the key becomes SOLE HEIR and benefactor to this bounty!!
The Rules
1. You must be 21 years of age.
2. Clues will be given daily between 8 pm & midnight at G. P. Loyd's.
3. Clues will be given in the University Daily Kansas Personal Column (those clues will be the previous day's clues given at G. P. Lovis).
4. The key will be accessible in Lawrence in a Public Place 24 hrs, a day. No special tools or equipment will be needed.
GOOD LUCK!
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Nov. 10th
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Nov. 11th
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Dyche Auditorium
$1.00
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$1.50 non-
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