Ocean Club Closing This Week

[cynsaligia]

the ocean club will be closing its doors (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Aug/20/br/br4758612093.html)at restaurant row this week. they'll be reopening elsewhere. makes sense, now that it's under new ownership and much of the staff is new, if i understand correctly. many current pearl employees are oceans vets--including the DJ, manager, and owner.

i know the demographic on HT is wide and varied, but i'd be interested to see if any of you have any amusing stories you'd be willing to share (willing to share is the operative phrase, i'm sure! ;) ). eric and i have separately gotten into so much trouble at the OC that we....must...go...to...oceans....tonight!

i will remember with fondness my nights of crawling onto the bar to shout my order at either keoni or paul...dancing on the bar counter, shaking assorted parts....closing the club on saturday nights...having my face be a vip card....enjoying the unique shows by members of cirque de soleil (spelling?) on russell tanoue's piranha nights...and practically having to be carried out on several of my birthdays because i got so sloshed. i remember i spent one fat tuesday there and got so hashed (partially bcs it was my very good friend's last night out before moving to vegas) and then having to go to work hungover for the first time ever. it was not fun to go to ash wednesday service the next day, i was soooo hurting...i kept wondering if one of the nuns could smell the alchy on me still. fun times. great to remember, but nothing i want to relive...

[joshuatree]

Wow, didn't know they were moving, you know where is the new location?

[GeckoGeek]

i know the demographic on HT is wide and varied,

I miss Studebaker's. Oceans was never my thing.

[cynsaligia]

Wow, didn't know they were moving, you know where is the new location?

I miss Studebaker's. Oceans was never my thing.


eric & i just got home from oceans. it was great to go there and hang with friends and also run into old friends...you know, those friends we used to hang with when we were single. and it was awesome to see some of the staff who are, in their own way, friends too.

we did a lot of reminiscing. there are ten years' worth of honolulu's population who all have at least one ocean club story that is dear to their heart, and those of us who were in the club tonight were in the mood to share with each other. i won't give away eric's past moments-o-bad, but i will share here that when i stopped in the ladies room tonight, i remembered the nights years ago when i barged my way into the men's room saying, "lady in the john!" because i had to pee so badly and there was no way i could suffer the 30 minute wait to get into the proper restroom nor could i trudge my way to the outside restrooms without making a fool of myself. the great thing was that the men in the men's room were always indulgent and (albeit laughingly) respectful. shoot--everytime i did this, a fresh crop of equally tipsy women would follow my lead. i'm sure a lot of guys appreciated this, if only for the fact that the men's room was often much more brightly lit than the rest of the club so they could get a better view of the "goods."

by the way, if you have any plans of going to oceans before they close on sunday (i think their last night is sunday), note that they've completely closed their kitchen as of last sunday. we, like many others around us, either brought in our own food or had pizza delivered. darn...i was hoping for one last night of half-off-garlic fries, wings, prime rib, and ahi katsu.

lastly...there are conflicting reports as to whether they're re-opening elsewhere. two of the staff told us the re-opening story is flat out untrue. however, one attorney friend of ours knows the realtor working with the current owners of the ocean club--and that the realtor is still looking for a new location. only time will tell.

btw...eric and i were lucky enough to have enjoyed the ultimate restaurant row clubbing trifecta circa 1993ish of blue zebra (now a bank, to my utter sadness), world cafe (hiroshi's & vino, now) and studebaker's/ocean club. so many of us would just go back and forth between those three establishments. those were the days!

[Mike_Lowery]

Oceans was never my thing.

Me neither. when I was going to college on Oahu, my spot on Thursday nights was the Hamilton Library. :o

It was in Gym 2, actually.

[Lei Liko]

I was like furniture there from 2000-2003. I was either Ladies' Night on Tuesday and/or Paddlers' Night on Thursday. The 21/23 thing was no factor for us. We're girls. They let us in. Kinda helped that my girlfriends hooked up with one bouncer after another.

I was also recently single when I turned 21. I have lots of stories I could tell you that'd make your eyeballs pop out, but I'll have to refrain from doing so in order to protect the "innocent".

It was because of Oceans that I learned how to dance atop a bar in stilettos. Oceans and "Mayor" Rodney. I wanted to share a picture with y'all from 2002, but I can't find it. Thought it was still saved to my UH account locker, but it's not. If I find it, I'll post it.

I'll miss all the halau fundraisers I've attended over there. Merrie Monarch season just won't be the same without Oceans.

Probably not going to be able to go before it closes as I head to the Big Island for the weekend tomorrow. If I can, it'll be one last toast on Sunday night when I get back in.

It's time they closed. Once Beau left and took his posse to Pearl and Russell took his parties elsewhere, it lost the "exclusivity" they've been billing themselves with all these years. Good move on the owners' part.

[GeckoGeek]

I have lots of stories I could tell you that'd make your eyeballs pop out, but I'll have to refrain from doing so in order to protect the "innocent".

Oh, try us. You can change the names. :D

[Frankie's Market]

I guess my friends over at the W and Indigos are going to be busier now.

[tvguy]

I always got a kick out of how us local folk refer to places in their plural form.....Oceans, Indigos. Or, we go "cruise Waiks".

As for me, very little Oceans memories. The missus and I started going out again a few years after our 1st child was born. Our last visit to Oceans was shortly followed by finding out she was pregnant with our 2nd and we never went back together again....:D