Calling All Swingers: Wicked Rendezvous Comes to 501 Club

And CVS is right across the street, how convenient.

Any Baristanet readers/physicians willing to write out a few dozen tetracycline scripts with the patient name left blank?

LOL. This sounds like any other pickup bar in NJ. You meet someone and then if you want to take things further, you hook up at the Cocky Locky Motel on Route 3. How ingenious.

So after the last two posts, I had to find out who actually owns this bar, as I had heard rumors a professional athlete and a celebrity were buying it. Nope. According to the town clerk, and the ABC, Dick Grabowsky is the SOLE OWNER of this establishment. How can he say that he had no idea what was going on? This is part of his vision?

Is that the one right before the tunnel, Nellie? Such a classy place.

“This Baristanet post was made possible by Valtrex“

Liz,

Totally agree! Lady Gaga's Bad Romance  is a great song, and my favorite song of the decade (though that's not really saying much).

Cary or other township officials who read comments...

Can the owner of a liquor license "lease" it out to a tenant? Seems highly unlikely that the ABC would allow such an arrangement...

So what's the deal Dick? Gay go go bar? Now a sex club? Very upscale Dick. Very Short Hills....

That's the one...Classy indeed!

The pasty young lady in the poster is in serious need of some sun.

(Favorite of the decade? Carl, get out in the world. Great music is everywhere. But to call a Lady GaGa song the best of the decade tells me you need to get your radio off Z100.....)

Did they offer Frequent F***er miles?

Good one MM123.

I hope they disinfect after the "party" . EEWWW.

And can someone explain why this event is OK but "Dressing for Pleasure" was run out of town? All they had was an innocent little S&M dungeon. At least chains are easy to keep clean.

Baristanet is nothing but a tabloid. Thanks for nothing.

"It's repugnant to all of us. This isn't what people are looking for."

I wonder if the Wicked Cockroaches that run this place can spell RAID !

I wonder if the Wicked Cockroaches that run this place can spell RAID !

I prefer "Rockafeller Skank" by Fat Boy Slim for the above situation.

To HoJo from SoBlo (That's low, Joe)

Carl: I feel your pain. 101.5 is a welcome addition to the (deprived) FM dial. 101.1 used to be good when they had Cousin Brucie. Now it has too many commercials.

I love "adult fantasy party." That must be where middle aged people go to pretend they're young, beautiful and sexy.

Best song of the decade: "How We Operate" by Gomez

“This Baristanet post was made possible by Valtrex“

And Viagra.

The Vicodin must have knocked Mellon out, and he landed on the "enter" key.

Can a Licensee let someone else use the license to operate a business?

"No. The person who operates the business must be an actual disclosed licensee (who has at least a one percent interest) to whom the license was issued. It is a serious violation for a licensee to lease or "farm out" the license to anyone else."

N.J.S.A. 33:1-26

So Is Dick the sole operator of this business? Or is he in "serious violation?"

MM,

You are right about WCBS, that's why I seldom listen to any music on the radio, I just plug in my iPod.

Mellon,

Ugh! Sly says it best...

Carl,

With exception of WFUV and WBGO, broadcast radio in this area is unlistenable. I would suggest you try XM/Sirius for a large variety of quality music.

Carl Bergmanson you sound like an OLD MAN!!

With the internet at your fingers-- YES good music is EVERYWHERE.

My faves of the year: Avett Brothers, Phoenix, Michael Franti Spearhead ("Say hey" may be my favorite of the year...)-- I could go on. And my list is small compared with other, more adventurous folks.

But Carl, you are relying on an old model-- the DJ will tell me what's good and what to listen to-- this is outdated!!

For anyone else, last.fm, pandora, etc. are wonderful tools to find new music.

Or if you must listen to the radio (and I do), listen to 107.1 the Peak. By far, the best station around-- here's their playlist from yesterday morning:

Why I Am Dave Matthews Band
8:52am
Change in the Weather '09 John Fogerty
8:40am
Soul Meets Body Death Cab for Cutie
8:37am
Pain Lies on the Riverside Live
8:25am
Goodbye Stranger Supertramp
8:19am
Just Breathe Pearl Jam
8:10am
Girls Talk Dave Edmunds
8:06am
Boogie on Reggae Woman Stevie Wonder

But perhaps it's just easier to complain about how BAD EVERYTHING is....

MB, I love that Gomez song too. Great band!

Carl, how can you say there's no good new music when you only seem to listen to 'oldies' (classic rock?) stations?

In addition to the resources others mentioned (esp Pandora, which I love), we happen to have one of the best and most unique radio stations in the world right here in NJ--WFMU 91.1 FM. Bear in mind it may require something resembling *active listening* to get the full effect, but I think that's a rather good thing.

WFMU has a devoted following all over the world for good reason. If you want to hear some exciting music that you'd never (ever) hear on Z-100, I can hardly imagine how you'd do better.

There's more great, diverse music available now than there ever has been in the past, thanks to the digital music revolution and the net. Life is short--no time to be a musical curmudgeon!

iTunes, last.fm and YouTube have really revolutionized the way we listen to music. Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with old friends and I feel the same way about iTunes and YouTube: I've reconnected with songs from my past they almost NEVER get played on the radio. One of the great things about the internet is that you can type in partial lyrics of a song whose name you can't remember in Google and it pops up instantly!

Radioparadise.com is a great source for contemporary and classic pop, rock, blues, singer/songwriter. You can't select songs on this internet station but you can upload songs for potential inclusion into their play lists.

I must have purchased 50 - 100 cds, mostly on eBay, from artists I had never heard before, from listening to this station.

Any station where you can find Dave Edmunds is fine by me..but I still have Sirius/XM, I can't survive without it. One of my All-time favorite albums is Rockpile "Seconds of Pleasure".

MMM,

Like I said, I use my iPod, it suits me just fine. Ruby has Sirius in her car and I enjoy that as well.

Prof,

Compared to you, I am an old man! But I know what I like, and if something new sounds good to me, I'll embrace it - I don't care if it's new or old, only that I like it. And I didn't say everything was bad, in fact, I started this off by saying Bad Romance was great - unfortunately, to my ear, that's a rarity. I am exposed to a lot of different contemporary music, and I rarely hear anything that I'd even rate a 4 (out of 10).

As far as your DJ projection - it's just that, a projection - I have never been one to worry about what I'm "supposed to" like or dislike (or do or think or believe for that matter).

MM,

I enjoy most of the selections you post - of course, they are pretty much all more than 25 years old

Kate,

Most days, I spend a lot of time listening to the musical selections of others, and very little time listening to what I get to pick, so when I do get to pick, I'll go for the (relatively) sure thing.

Montclair has already been featured on the national news for all the closed storefronts on Bloomfield Ave., and now we can be featured on HBO's Real Sex as the San Fernando Valley and San Francisco Castro District of the East Cost.

THANKS DICK!

Upscale / Classy towns:

Westfield
Morristown
Springfield
South orange
Millburn / Short Hills
Livingston
Maplewood
Glen Ridge
Summit

Towns that think thery are:
Montclair

A friend worked for a long while for Penthouse Forum creating "reader letters." (He and a co-worker in fact created the infamous "monopods" flap, although they afterwards were amazed at how many people wrote in to claim they shared this at-first-made-up interest in sex with stumps.)

Anyway, my friend, from his extensive experience in the field, always noted that "swingers" usually were rather unattractive or anyway ordinary, that their self-produced literature tried very hard to compensate for the true mundaneity of their appearances. I suspect this will be the case at 501 Club's party: lots of exhibitionists, but not a whole lot of genuine male and female attractiveness. Nothing to make the locals down at Egan's or Tierneys envious, in other words. (But this is nonetheless definitely the sort of item the Baristas run in hopes of attracting visits and hits, which have apparently been rather spotty lately.)

Swingers are so mundane, in fact, that according to some sociologists who've studied them they all usually have beige drapes and taste in household decor which seems to recall Raymour & Flanigan at its predictable best. At any rate, if this party is truly coming off (bad usage, I know), Dick Grabowsky should be pressed to name who's running Club 501. It sounds like his "tenant" here is far exceeding the bounds of any possible lease, and that Grabowsky may similarly be liable and in violation. He is certainly now a solid candidate for local "whited sepulcher" of the year.

Local "swingers" at least until recently apparently met once a month at whichever chain hotel is right next to Target on Route 46 at the Wayne-Fairfield line. The Hojo's in Clifton seems like a big step downwards, but in its defense it does also have an IHop.

PS: I do remember the York and Peter Pan motels, Nellie, in pre-Sports Comples days. Friends actually used to have favorite rooms there, and we once even rented a "suite" at one of them for a New Year's Eve party.

Some questions for dear Dick,

Who holds the license formerly held by Headliners Inc/Rascals of Montclair Inc?

Why are you running a sex club out of 499 Bloomfield Ave?

Will you go forward with plans for a homosexual go go bar?

Is this what you wanted when you laid out your vision for downtown?

Do you expect to draw businesses to your other vacant storefronts when they discover that a go go bar and a sex club will be next door?

Answers, Dick, answers.

"Yes, this Saturday night, swingers from around the world will descend on Montclair."

I doubt this. I mean, really, if you were a swinging bachelor or bachelorette living on the French Riviera or in Majorca would you visit a cheesy club in Montclair in December?

Did anyone go on the web link? They are planning a second "party" on Jan 2. yay.
Cathar, I agree with you. (I'll say it twice...) Cathar I agree with you...

Look at the average dumpy person walking down the street and ask yourself if you would like to see lots of them half naked or in spandex in some (luckily) dimly lit "club"

And by the way its not the dumpy part that is so bad. I know lots of happy dumpy couples. It's that they are dumpy strangers. Dirty smelly who-knows-what dumpy strangers. (Yes I am being judgmental but only because this is being promoted publicly in my town.) Anything in private - fine. No Prob. Bring animals and soap on a rope. Have at it. But this? All thanks to Dick. Thanks Dick!! (now my husband is all excited because he thinks the last two words of this are directed at him...even though his name is Barney. ;(

LOL Swingers getting a club in the 'Clair. Not that they ever needed one before. Oh, the stories I could tell about what's under the bucolic wrapper of this town. But I won't.

The Courteeners, Johnny Flynn and Mickey Avalon.

WFMU 91.1 has some of the best radio shows around.

I nominate cathar, citizen journalist, to cover the party.

"Anyway, my friend, from his extensive experience in the field, always noted that "swingers" usually were rather unattractive or anyway ordinary, that their self-produced literature tried very hard to compensate for the true mundaneity of their appearances."

oh dear lord, he just described lasermike.

It's never really very, uh, um, er, "classy" to use the word "classy," Spiro T. In any case, Medford Lakes, Wyckoff, Old Tappan and even Ridgewood (aka Montclair without the attitude) outstrip Essex Fells (which has a bible college for evangelical Christians! surely that is a disqualification on this website?). Conde Nast once supposedly killed a prototype for a magazine they'd planned called "Classy" when they realized not even the name would play with people of genuine, well, class.

Walleroo, while I'd gladly accept the assignment - strictly in the furtherance of citizen journalism, to be sure - I'm not sure I have enough time to get a tetanus shot and an inoculation against schistomiasis before the party. Nor to get to the sacrament of Penance.

And Spicoli, I am compelled to note that your observation alive was simply brilliant. Harsh, but spot-on.

Cathar, I was following up on Sandy's use of the word "classy".

But sure, why shouldn't Essex Fells have a bible college? Bible study can be classy too!

Lists and discussions of "classy" towns are, well "classy" themselves, eh?

Likewise, the idea to create a list of "Upscale / Classy towns" by an outsider, who then labels his/her own town as a wannabe is silly... And expected....

Moreover, all the "towns" discussed save for, perhaps 2, are typical, majority White, affluent towns.

WOW. Shocking.

A friend worked for a long while for Penthouse Forum creating "reader letters."

You mean those letters aren't real?! I feel so... betrayed. I suppose I'll have to go back to reading it for the pictures now.

Actually, Prof, to be "classy", towns don't need to be "white", but they need to be discreet and have good taste. That's why Livingston, which is white and affluent (your criteria) will never cut the mustard.

Lifer, in most (not truly all)cases, just the initial "letter" was phony. But the wonder that kept my friend fascinated by his job for more than 10 years was that their piddling efforts (his writing partner was a woman) always elicited tons of responses from people who seemed (seemed, I know) to share the same specific "interest." Monopods were simply my friend's most famous example of this in his own modest estimation.

(I was amused when, years later, James Spader and Roseanna Arquette seemed to have their own monopod moment in "Crash," the dirty David Cronenberg movie of that name which came out years before the turgid but well-meaning Oscar nominee with the same title.)

Spiro T., I kind of doubt any posters here would view Bible study as "classy" under any circumstances. Even in Essex Fells. Be real.

Spiro,

I'm commenting on Sandy's list.

But feel free to offer some examples.....

The Bible College in Essex Fells was demolished years ago and the site is now a recreation field. Today’s homeowners and residents are from a mix of backgrounds.

If I had unlimited funds and could live anywhere in Essex County, I would pick Essex Fells. I like its smalltown feel, most of the houses are exquisite, and landscaping is gorgeous. In the last decade or so, howver, a couple of fugly McMansions have found their way into the town but fortunately, they are the exception not the rule.

With all the money?

I'd still be in Montclair.

Like many here, we've had choices on where to live and CHOSE Montclair.

I would hate to live somewhere (or be someone) dreaming of living (or being) somewhere (or someone) else.

It's one thing to be poor and have few opportunities, but when I hear folks with opportunity and ability speak as if they are consigned to their place.... it makes me sad.

The really cool thing about Montclair is that it's close to the "New Bayonne", Bloomfield. Nothing like the smell of petrochemicals in the morning to get the blood flowing.

Hotcha!

The thing that ruins Montclair for me are the taxes and now, unfortunately, the rise in crime.

"It's one thing to be poor and have few opportunities, but when I hear folks with opportunity and ability speak as if they are consigned to their place.... it makes me sad."

Prof, not everyone can afford a million-dollar home, even with "opportunity abd ability."

Spiro,

Had to travel out to the East End of Long Island for an example, huh?

You'll find the same in Martha's Vineyard, MA, Shaker Heights, Oh and Prince George's County, MD...... And let's not forget HOTLANTA, GA!!!!

Black folks know these places (and others) and like to keep them secret. So while it may be new to you, to many Black folks it's not.

Moving back to NJ..........

MM,

With all the choices of wonderful places to live in the US (many around here), not affording a million-dollar home is not a criteria for happiness, opportunity or ability.

Dover, Boonton, Rutherford, etc.

There are plenty of great towns with great schools in NJ that feature homes that cost less than a million with taxes much lower than here in Montclair.

Moreover, Montclair has plenty of wonderful homes in beautiful neighborhoods that go for less than a million dollars.

I'm with you on this one, Prof. I see me friend who lives in Essex Fells on the train. He drives to the MSU lot and parks there. I walk to my station. He loves his house, I love mine. And I don't need a car. Classy? Whose definition and who cares?

My friend and I both bought houses in 1991. His in Montlcair, mine in Bloomfield. We paid approximately the same price for our homes. His quadrupled in value and mine has doubled.

His taxes are twice what mine are but I wouldn't mind having all that equity at my disposal. I could borrow on my house and buy more guitars!

I did not know that the Bible college was no longer in Essex Fells. But I do think that Montclair could well profit from welcoming a Bible school or even a school of theology within its borders. At least a nunnery or two. I do still recall re Montclair when Kip's Castle served as the East Coast HQ for the Bhagwan's saffron-clad minions, but that doesn't really count for much.

Dover, prof? (How's your Spanish?) Boonton? I don't know there, prof, I wonder if you're posting just because you feel the need to post. And, speaking of Caucasian enclaves, Rutherford? East Rutherford, interestingly, served as the affordable housing option for those who worked as domestic help in Rutherford for most of my life.

Stay with me here folks--

Sandy's list: to this Spiro I questioned the racial makeup of the towns. You then brought up Sag Harbor... All the way on the East End of Long Island. So don't ask me to find one closer, you brought Sag Harbor up as something to witness.

cathar, I post therefore I am... (couldn't resist the obvious!)

My short list was directed to the idea that one must spend a million dollars for a nice home in a nice community. Whether or not any of the towns is perfect is not my point. They are nice communities filled with wonderful folks-- all with homes under a million dollars.

To this, I also mentioned Montclair, which also has wonderful homes in great neighborhoods under a million dollars (but considering how folks LOVE to say UPPER Montclair, I understand if some feel that there are NO good homes in Montclair for under a million dollars IF all you're looking at are certain areas and won't consider others...)

I walk to my station.

THough it's too bad the train doesn't stop to pick you up.

I could borrow on my house and buy more guitars!

Still got your head in the aughts, eh, Mellon?

I wonder if the Swingers "From around the world" braved the big storm to attend the "Chill Out" Swingers Party on Saturday ?

Swingers is an interesting movement I must say. Few years ago I couldn't even speak about it because it was highly ugly for me. However now my look is more positive and I must say that maybe I would even wanted to try this action once in my life. I think that there is nothing too bad in that if both: husband and wife support it. If both support so why not? We are living only once so it is worth to try as much things as you can if it won't ruin your relationships with other people. Thanks for the interesting article by the way. It was nice to read it. I will be waiting for more nice ones from you in the nearest future too.
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