it was 1971 and i was a 15 year old runaway who with the help of my new best friend Geraldine, who id met at the free school we both went to,in Harvard square, had just come out of my closet. it was after a meeting at the gay liberation front offices (my first time being around a bunch of gay men was at a mattachine society dance a couple months before, where everyone stood around or danced stiffl
y, sipping on liquor-free punch), that i was invited to go to sporters. i was a ripe and ready 15 and walked into my first gay bar. there was a jukebox playing the supremes or such while all around the bar, placed in the center of the long thin room, stood the same preppy looking guys that i came in with from the glf meeting. it was exciting but boring. after sporters the guy who was driving me home had to make a stop at some other bar. we pulled up to this one and a half story windowless building with two large doorways on either side (was it black and white?). as the guy opened the door, a blast of music and whistles and raised voices rushed at me making me sit up and take notice. i looked around kind of nervously and noticed the other bar across the street (jacques) with tall scare -queens in full f*** make-up but no wig and pants with the shirt tied at waste, along with girls in high platforms and little hot pants all hanging out in front. lots of cars going around in circles, and really hot guys and elaborate drag queens walking quickly into what the sign across the top said was the other side. by the time the guy came back and we drove off i knew id be back to the other side soon. i felt like i was home. along with many other 14, 15, and 16 year olds that were runaways or were thrown out of the house for being gay. the people i met there became my family. the punch bowl had recently closed (i was till a little hippy in pennsylvania then), and the area around the other side was gay heaven. napoleons was down the street, jacques across the street, an upscale gay restaurant/lounge was right next to the o.s. and the concrete howard johnsons to one side of the building blocking what at one time was the exit to the street the os was on, made it like a little closed off square. having a sort of gay oasis was wonderful, it was like being in ptown. this was just two years after stonewall and g**s could still be fired from their jobs, forced to move, be arrested for no reason, be committed to a mental hospital, and even lobotomized. those were still the days when theyd back the paddy wagon up against the entrance to the bar so they could herd you in. it was illegal for same s*x to dance together or for gay bars to have a liquor license. when you walked into the os you passed through the doormen donald and allen who decided if you were cute enough and gay enough to let in. youd pay your two dollars, more on weekends, and enter into the p. dark, with booths on the left, dim, fake tiffany lamps overhead, with the bar on the right. we would sit in the booths if we were waiting for the o.s. to open (many of us were street kids so had plenty of time. and.. the o.s. became home to us. we were there every night but monday), or on a weekend day for some reason. i remember vividly sitting in one of the booths before the bar with nan goldin, ( whos photos, she was taking at that time, are in her book "the other side"), my best friend geraldine, and two or three of the queens who later appeared in the book, just biding our time till they opened the door to the o.s.. you entered the o.s. through a door that had a sign that said you are entering the other side discotheque; the first time id seen that word. what i walked into, the first time i entered into the other side was like something out of barbarella, beyond the valley of the dolls and the boys in the band all rolled into one. oh, and sweet charity also. it was black, the walls were black, the only lights came from a couple dim spotlights recessed into the low ceiling, and the long bar on the other side of the room and to the right as you entered was the dance floor with its blinking christmas lights and small stage that scare queen extraordinaire, sylvia sydney would soon take over. but at that moment diana ross was singing surrender to the record that dj sam samsons was spinning in the dj booth to the left and up from the stage. as soon as diana ross (drag queen of course) got off the stage, it, and the area in front of it was instantly filled with thrashing and throbbing 16, 17 & 18 year old bodies bumping to the chacachas jungle fever. i just stood there with my mouth open.. black boys with huge afros, spandex tube tops and 6 inch platforms, beautiful full-f*** drag queens with top nots a foot high, high heels and cheekbones to die for, cute boys in tight shirts and tighter pants, the f** hags in their 40's dresses and high goody too shoes, eyebrows shaved and drawn on like jean harlow. and everyone was doing the bump. people today cant imagine just how dirty the bump could get :} i met all my best and longest friends at the other side, except for geraldine, my f** hag and partner in crime, we did everything together. there was jimmy melba, who was the diana ross id seen on the stage, soon to become just jimmy again, there was mary jane and donna, two best friends from southie, f** hags, but no bodies f** hag. bobby bellino, paul walsh, donnie ward...so many.. gordon, tilly, paul/fayja, dead jerry, blond jerry, bobby rae, lucy, naomli, collette, pearl, lola, pickles, varni/marlena, bea. lots of wild drag queens,. youd be dancing and all of a sudden youd be pushed or hear a loud crash and someone else had gotten hit over the head with a bear bottle. there were some gay girls and d***s, but they usually hung across the street at jaques, a place id frequent to visit my aunt priscilla and her lover sophie. the pimps hovered around the back of the bar while their hos set up their tricks, or older guys would take a boy to the bar and talk about how much etc. it was dark, and mostly low ceilinged, except for the dance floor which was two floors or so high. for about a year or so it was basically a private club, everyone knew everyone and everyone accepted everyone. it was dark and smelly, everyone was fu**ed up on black beauties and/or Quaaludes or tuinals, or acid or mescaline, or just pot and alcohol and pills (many a night wed have to put a passed-out friend or two into the back of geraldines buick electra), we knew we were being ripped off with watered down liquor, and the bathroom was a mess, and tex or sally would tell us, drink up bpys or youre gonna have to leave...and it was dangerous, but it was wonderful. the best music, soul macossa, kool & the gang hollywood swingin, funky stuff, the first choice, smarty pants, james brown, spinners, ill be around, lyn collins think about it little sister youre the one... this was before disco. my earliest really disco moment i remember at the other side was stop and think by the trammps. that, for me was the song that triggered a change in music geared specifically for the dance floor, and it was longer than the usual. but mostly at the o.s. it was soul, with some obscure rock like delaney & bonny crazy bout my baby, barabas woman, or j geils band give it to me. if i remember correctly, in the early days sam the dj had two turn tables but no mixer. sylvia sydney was a huge loud swearing scare queen in ratted afro wigs, long tight gowns and sporting a huge round belly, with no teeth. shed sing the opera come come to the chocolate soldier, and then go through the crowd and "read" different people in the crowd "ill read your beads mary!" but shed also mention that we should fight for our rights, she didnt take any s*** and neither should we. around 1973 they renovated the other side and added an upstairs area with a see through dance floor. slowly things started to change, theyd let in more straight people. and the bands that played boston like the new york dolls, david bowie, rolling stones, would all come in to talk to the queens. slowly 1270 got more popular, and then cabaret opened on lansdowne, and with the straighter crowd slowly coming onto the o.s., by 1974 it had changed. and geraldine and i had moved to new york. today im a photographer and artist and back in boston. my work revolves around what i experienced during my "other side" days that formulated who i am today. anyone from those days with any info, memories, photos, etc please contact me, i plan to get a web page started on the os. also any of the old drag queens still around. i want to photograph you! bobby busnach
