Barnstable After Dark

For this month's update we will delve into what the night life was like back in the late 1970s in Barnstable. Please leave your comments on this subject by clicking on "comments" at the bottom of this post. Anonymous comments are not only accepted but encouraged. On the comments page just select Anonymous or use any nickname.

First and foremost a discussion of the night life circa 1978 cannot start without mentioning that the drinking age was 18. As 18 year olds we could go into any package store and shop like we were kids again at the little red candy store in Centerville. Grab a basket and fill it with beer, nip bottles and Boones Farm wine. Pop in your Saturday Night Fever 8 track tape (and maybe burn a little tree) and you were living the high life....literally and figuratively. For those short on funds the 25 cent drink night at the Compass Lounge in Yarmouth or the 'Beat the Clock" drink specials at Brothers Four in Falmouth were crucial. The drinking age was quickly raised back to 20 and then 21 as our generation proved we couldnt handle the gift of unlimited swilling. Another popular hang out was the Velvet Hammer in the East End of Hyannis. It was a dimly lit place but there were some great bands. If you didnt care for the bar scene the spot for imbiding "adult" beverages was the Hyannis Drive In. A packy run to nearby Parkers Package Store to fill the cooler and then all the munchies you could ever want at the Drive In snack bar. For the guys without dates the soft core Danish import films they used to show there were vital to our survival. Thank God we have cable and internet access to this cinematic genre now right in our own homes!

Most of the socializing in high school at Barnstable revolved around the automobile. You watched the movies from your car, you drank and listened to music in the car, you cruised Main Street looking for dates in your car. When cutting classes you hid in your car or parked in the Angelos parking lot until classes were over. The car was essential to being independent and to having an environment where you could do anything you wanted.......and I do mean ANYTHING. Like they used to say....if that vehicles a rockin....dont come a knockin.

Dances were a big part of the social scene in those days whether they were at the High School or at Wequaquet Yacht Club. Many stories have come out of those venues that will not be repeated here. But feel free to put them into the comments section at your leisure. The beaches at Kalmus and Craigville were popular destinations for partiers looking for some action as well. The seagulls were the beneficiaries of the vomit pools on the sand for a breakfast buffet.

The BHS teachers were probably doing some kick ass partying as well. Rumors were that they may have been burning some tree "behind the scenes". Most of them were hippies anyways. The hangout in town for the teachers was the Ye Olde Windjammer Lounge in the Kings Department store parking lot aka Airport Plaza. Some teachers tended bar there as a Summer gig. Speaking of Department Stores, who remembers when the shopping meccas were Kings, Mars, and Zayres? The Cape Cod Mall effectively killed those establishments. Puritan Clothing carries on and brings back a lot of memories when visiting the Main Street location. Getting back to the teachers, we have seen a rash of stories where the teachers are diddling high school students around the country. If that phenomenom was happening back in the 70's it must have been swept under the rug or maybe it was too hot for the pages of the Cape Cod Times to report on.

Growing up on the Cape you think you are pretty hot stuff in your own small pond. But, you soon find out a few months after graduation how sheltered an existence you have lead. When people in the dorm at college are pulling out hash, mushrooms, qualludes, acid and coke you feel like you are on a different planet. Hell, I know a lot of people from the BHS that didnt even know what a bagel was until they got off Cape. The culture shock factor for people growing up on the Cape and then becoming inhabitants on "The Mainland" must be one of the highest in the USA.

The late 70's nightlife was good and there was a place on Barnstable Road called "Dick Dohertys Crystal Palace" that made Penthouse Magazines list of top bars in the country. But the club scene from 1980 to 1984 around town was truly the Golden Age and will never be seen again. There were still Happy Hours in those days and summer rents were still affordable for the college crowd to come spend the season on the Cape. Pufferbellies opened in 1980 and was a huge college hangout and could hold 1500 patrons. A great night of clubbing that a friend of mine developed was as follows:

1. Go to Guido Murphys Back Room around 7pm and pay your cover and get the hand stamp which gave you access for the rest of the night.

2. At 730pm you would hit Rascals on Rt 28 in Yarmouth for their 90 cent draft beer special. The waitresses were dressed like girls from the 1920s and the DJ cranked out tunes for the dance floor. This venue burned down many moons ago.

3. About 9pm you proceed back to Main Street for a margartita on the outdoor grotto at Gringos. This is one place that is still going strong today.

4. At 10pm you make your entrance to the then #1 hotspot in Hyannis - Guido Murphys Backroom. The lines for entrance were usually long but already having your hand stamp you were golden and walked right into the fray. There was an outer bar and an upstairs balcony commonly called "the holding tank" where you could have drinks before you were allowed entrance to the famous "Backroom". The Backroom itself featured a guitar player (usually a dude called Shitty Smitty) and was so packed you barely had room to lift your drink to your lips. The popular nickname for the Backroom was "The Snakepit". It was THE place to be seen in Hyannis. Underage drinkers could gain admission to Guidos by scaling the roof of the business next door (across from Dunkin Donuts) and then hopping onto the roof adjacent to Guidos upstairs balcony bar. They would wait for the bouncers to get distracted and repel onto the deck.

5. Just after midnight you left Guidos for a place on Main Street called T Rossi's. It was located where the now defunct Hooters is. Tony Rossi was the greatest bartender and host that has EVER run a drinking establishent in the Town of Barnstable. He had a kick ass sound system in there with speakers he had specially made at Bose in Framingham. There was a model train that ran around a track along the entire circumference of the bar. He made the BEST shots in test tube type glasses. The B52 was poured in 3 levels consisting of Kahlua, Baileys Cream and Grand Marinier. The Stormy Weather shot was a 4 level drink consisting of the same ingridients as the B52 but with a level of Yukon Jack at the top. Watching Tony pour these shots was like watching Louis Pasteur in his Lab...a genius at work. The bar itself had an upscale feel and after a few of those shots you felt like you were on a Caribbean isle. A great place to take a date or to try to hook up for a one night stand and the greatest place to end a night of clubbing that ever existed. Sadly T Rossi's did not stand the test of time. Sometime in the late 1980's a buddy of mine from Boston came down and we were over near the old location of Signor Pizza on Main Street. There was a bar in that plaza called "Days End" that was just a hole in the wall. We walked in there and our jaws hit the floor to see Tony Rossi himself tending bar. To us this was like seeing Michaelangelo painting a house or Mick Jagger singing outside a bus station for quarters. He told us he had started a family and didnt want to keep the lease up at the old place. At the end of the movie "Eight Men Out" they show Shoeless Joe Jackson playing in some minor league in a backwater town after being banned for life from Major League Baseball for fixing the World Series. Seeing the great Tony Rossi at that moment brought the same feelings out.

Fast forward nearly 25 years and the locals report the Hyannis club scene is pathetic. Last July I met some college buddies and found 3 bars in Hyannis closed early for a lack of customers. The only place that seems to do anything is Roo Bar. Pufferbellies still exists but you would be safer walking into South Central LA with a suit made of $100 bills than going in there. College kids dont flock to the Cape anymore and the Town Fathers have effectively killed the Summer party atmosphere. Maybe Main Street will have another resurgence but the late 70s and early 80s atmoshpere will never be duplicated. A walk down Main Street Hyannis nowadays with the homeless people and religious zealots parading around makes you feel like the American Indian with the tear running down his face in that old commercial about littering. However there is a spruce up going on that you can read about at this link: http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/main_streets_on_board_with_new_light_fixtures_news_12_14324.html

That is it until next month. Everybody stay safe and look forward to St Patricks Day and Spring. Remember to do your tax returns so you will not be getting your next BHS 78 update at the House of Correction. Good times to all!