Last call at O'Hara's
t is 10 o’clock on Saturday night. It is mid-
December. Wc are sweating profusely.
I
Former Just Out staffer finds
some things are the same all over
m
lüülí
My girlfriend, A nna, and I are on a two-
week traveling adventure in the Caribbean,
and we think we just stumbled across the cor­
nerstone of Dominican lesbian culture: Santo
Domingos one and only ladies bar, O ’Hara’s.
We stand at the intersection of
Independencia and Danae, unsure of
ourselves, but unable to contain our
excitement. Could this be it? We
had speculated about finding it since
we arrived. From our viewpoint, the
front porch of the har appears to he
covered in well-maintained potted
plants. This has to be it, we say.
We approach with a little trepi­
dation until we spot an ultra-faggy
hoy sweeping the front steps. H e’s
wearing a tight, black T-shirt, black
jeans and a chain with a cross
by
around his neck. His hair is very well
styled. He seems excited and inter­
KATY
ested
to see us, and we get the feel­
DAVIDSON
ing that North American women
Katy Davidson (right) and her girlfriend, Anna
are a bit of a novelty at O ’Hara’s.
sun, rum and Coke in the Dominican Republic
We are nearly peeing our pants
with excitement. Finally, some queers! A t first,
2. T he owner (we assume). Large butch
the Dominican Republic seems to be a country
woman, dark jeans, button-up shirt, gruff
void of counterculture. The majority of its
demeanor. We call her “the Godfather" for the
night life is dominated by macho Meringue
rest of the night.
clubs, cheesy tourist bars, lots of roaring motor­
3. Mita. Charming, cute, stiff butch. Friendly,
cycles cruising the narrow streets. To see a
yet eager to regulate on our asses at the pool table.
definitively gay male is quite an anomaly.
We say hi to our faggy friend and enter the
e order beers and strike up a short conver­
bar. The scene is small, but it’s still early. We take
sation with Mita in Spanish. She informs
note of the small group of women hanging out:
us that the night has yet to begin; the bar
1. T he bartender. Awkward overalls and
dow ny blouse, too-big glasses.
W
Think.tear
gas stings?
will get more crowded
around midnight. We
play a warm-up game of
ptxil and sip our drinks
trying to think of clever
things to say to her.
Mita breaks our timid
silence by teaching us
some Dominican pxxil-
playing terminology. We
learn that stripes are
grandes (the plural word
for “big"), solids are
pequeruis (“small"), and
the pockets are called
bocas (“iTuxjths”).
From there, we begin
a series of ptxil games,
order more drinks and
ctxilly (secretly intently)
Maijavi, soak up
observe all the young,
beautiful lesbians who
arrive one by one. 1 begin thinking O ’Hara’s
may just be the clubhouse of my wildest dreams.
A nna and I decide we are dressed way ttx>
casually. We Itxik like a cross between dorky
travelers and dirty hippies. All the Dominican
women are well coifed and dressed up.
As the night moves on, we graduate to mm
and Cokes. By this time, O ’Hara’s Ls crowded
and pumpin.’ We notice that a group has assem­
bled near the har and that a woman in the cen­
O u
K aty D avipson lives cm the Haight m .San
Francisco and fremts the alt'rock hand Dear Nora.
i
Rum ba
Learn
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777
C ha C ha
ter is holding a large cake. It’s the Godfather’s
birthday! The crowd sings a drunken rendition
of “Feliz Cumpleark»" (“Happy Birthday”).
We stay a while longer, making new
acquaintances and practicing our Spanish.
A nna and I discuss the repercussions of having
a foreign fling, considering we’re in a com m it­
ted relationship. We determine that having a
foreign fling would be...O K ! T he only problem
being that we lixik too geeky for anyone there
to consider as fling-able.
About 1:30 a.m., we bid our farewell. The
Godfather blows us a kiss, Mita hugs us Kith.
As we’re leaving, we notice our faggy friend out
on the porch, desperately fanning the barbecue
with a folded newspaper, limp wrist and all.
A nna and I coo aKmt the O ’Hara’s crowd
all the way back to our hotel. O h yes, and I
spend the rest of the night awake, poisoned by
alcohol. (Note: Dehydration, beer, mm and
Coke don’t mix well.)
Now it is six months later. A nna and 1
reflect on our experience warmly, yet we are
driven to ask: Besides the fact that everyone
was speaking Spanish, was there anything
inherently foreign-feeling aKiut O ’Hara’s?
W hat’s different aKiut Dominican lesbians? Is
lesbian attitude and fashion universal?
It is no doubt that being queer is more
undercover there, though the answers to most
of these questions remain a mystery— probably
to be eventually unraveled in some women’s
studies thesis. I’m just happy to know that
there are Dominican women getting it on with
other Dominican women. And that, my
friends, is muy caliente (“very hot”). J D
C ountry
7
t t
Sw ing
Waltz
Foxtrot
Dance
5 0 3 -2 3 6 -5 1 2 9
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