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TJ in the '80s: Ah, yes, I remember it well

By Brian Swarthmore

September 26, 2006

San Diego--Because I live near an old folk’s home, I often have to listen to the senile old coots talk about the glory that was Paris back when Hemingway was there, or some aging hippie brag about San Francisco during the Summer of Love.

I also know some people who use to boast about how great the New York disco scene was in the 1970s but they died a few years ago (before they could give their weight loss secret – drat!)

I usually let them blather on because, frankly, these cadaverous moldy oldies are my main source for medicinal marijuana.

Yes, Tijuana has always had a reputation or, if you will, notoriety. Back in the 1920s, movie stars went there to eat Caesar Salad and avoid prohibition laws. After that, it became a port of call for Marines and teenage virgins who wanted some hooker to snatch their virginity.

TJ still has that rep but starting in the mid-80s (1983 to be exact), the place became a Mecca for underage guys and girls, thanks to its progressive drinking laws – you drink at one bar, then you progress to another – and a series of discos and dance clubs that were as friendly towards horny drunk American girls as they were to horny drunk American boys.

But it wasn’t just about getting drunk and mingling body parts, it was about cultures mingling.

In 1983, the radio station 91-X switched from a format that is best described as “More Bob Seger Than Anyone Deserves To Hear” to a “Rock Of the ‘80s” originally popularized by KROQ in Los Angeles.

Because 91-X was based in Tijuana, the new wave hits of Duran Duran, Human League, Falco and Depeche Mode not only became popular with English-speakers but also a large part of Northern Baja youth.

This meant that the “deescos” would play everything from “Let The Music Play” by Shannon to “Vienna Calling” by Falco to “Vamos A La Playa,” a catchy hit by a group called Los Joaos.

It also meant that black teenagers, white teenagers and Mexican teenagers were all hanging out in the same bars, listening to the same music and usually screwing the same women – and I don’t mean the prostitutes.

You see, there is a dirty little secret about growing up in America’s Finest City. Because women mature earlier than men, if you date a girl who grew up here, you’re probably dating someone who has been hanging out in bars since she was 13.

And probably fooled around with me – but that’s for a different story.

It wasn’t uncommon to sneak out at 11 p.m. to go down to TJ in time for the midnight madness at clubs like Baby Rock, Peoples or Club O. Club O was the shit because that’s where the rich Mexicans hung out. A lot of the guys were cool. The white American women liked them because they were rich and the rich Mexican guys liked the white American girls because they were whores.

It worked out great for everyone.

However, the Mexican guys’ machismo sometimes got the best of them. One of my friends went to St. Augustine, and knew a TJ guy named Javier, who ended up dating a white trash girlfriend of my then-girlfriend.

The story has it that they were going to have sex for the first time and Javier brought a condom with him. When the big moment came, he tried to put on the condom. And tried. And tried. And tried.

Finally, the white trash gal (I call her this because she has bleached her hair since she was eight.) asked him, “Shouldn’t you try and get hard first?”

Javier got really angry and accused her: “You’re not a virgin, are you?”

Somehow, the relationship fizzled after that.

On the other hand, I knew lots that flourished. One of my friends met his wife in a bar called the Long Bar and when they made the stupid mistake of going outside to drink their beers, they were arrested and taken to the infamous Tijuana Jail.

Both her friends and our group went down to the jail to get them out – which cost $85 U.S. – all we had at the time. Almost all of it.

One of my friends always went to TJ with an extra $40 in his shoe and when we were trying to tell the Federales that “$85 is all we have,” one of my dumber friends tried to spill the beans by saying, “Mike, what about that $40 you always have in your shoe?”

Luckily, Mike was wearing sandals that night.

We eventually got the loving couple out of jail, but the experience brought them together and they eventually married. And like many other young couples, they never tell the truth about how they met.

Although lots of Mexican guys hooked up with American girls, there wasn’t as much crossover. Part of this is because many of the Mexican girls who were on Revolucion were hookers and also because the ones who weren’t tended to want romance more than raunch – and that’s not something a drunk 18-year-old boy can easily provide.

These days, the glory days of Tijuana are forgotten or ignored, but to a certain percentage of guys and girls who grew up then, it will always be remembered – every time they masturbate.

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