Rose's and Christmas

It's the Christmas season and I begin to wax nostalgic about Christmases past. In 1973, I began throwing an annual Christmas open house and party, called "Freund-schaft". My way of combining two German words Freundschaft (friendship) and Gesellschaft (party).

The first Freund-schaft took place in my apartment on SW Vista Avenue. It was a great apartment, with a balcony that overlooked the entry courtyard of the building. It actually had a separate dining room and living room with a small hallway that led to the bathroom and the bedroom. At one time the Fordham was an elegant building with parquet floors and paneled dining rooms. My apartment was a bit shabbier than some with beige painted rooms and the dining room walls denuded of any sign of paneling. But I lived there for nine years and still consider it one of my favorite homes.

That first party was a riot. I don't know how many people actually showed up that night, but it was so crowded that no one could sit down. Everyone got pleasantly snogged and had such a good time, friends pleaded with me to reprise the party the next year. I had already decided that it was to be an annual "champagne" party, so that tradition was set. But I wasn't sure about the food thing. Not being a particularly adventurous or even competent cook, I chose Rose's Restaurant as my caterer of choice.

In the 1970s, Rose's Restaurant and Deli on 23rd Avenue just off of West Burnside, was a favorite neighborhood institution established by Rose Naftalin in 1956. She retired in 1967 and the deli was then bought and operated by Max Birnbach. Portland's gay community was basically centered around the NW 23rd Avenue area which was affectionately called "Vaseline Heights" by many of the gay inhabitants of the area. For that and many other reasons, my group of friends and I loved to go to Rose's for lunch or dinner and later for drinks in the bar. After an evening smoking pot or doing other drugs, we might decide to go "ruin a few" at Rose's. Gay lib was flourishing and for us it meant making sure everyone knew we were there, we were queer and we were FABULOUS!

Our friend Terry, or Miss Terri as she preferred to be called, wasn't often described as demure and retiring in 1973 and when we went to Rose's no one messed with her or us. But, as obnoxious as we might have been, the staff at Rose's loved to see us. We always got seated quickly and the waitresses found Miss Terri a delight. We were even invited to a couple of Rose's staff parties where at one unforgettable soiree Miss Terri surprised the assembled guests by appearing in Rose's waitress uniform drag. She was a hit!

With Rose's catering Freund-schaft and me buying champagne by the case, the party tradition was well established. But something was missing, so in 1979, I started to design and send out actual invitations to the party. The first year, I had a small gay press do my invitation which had a reproduction of a picture of me in the 3rd grade at St. Mary's Academy, in O'Neill, Nebraska. I was standing on stage with 7 other kids all in bear costumes. I was dressed, however, in a Bugs Bunny outfit. They had run out of the bear suits and so I was the lucky kid who got to stand out like a turd in a punch bowl and have my first of many humiliating moments on a stage.

The Freund-schafts grew more and more popular with my friends. Eventually morphing into a bash that people liked so much they began to bring along friends without asking. At one party as I was walking around making sure that everyone was enjoying themselves, I ran into a couple of really cute boys that I didn't know. So expecting to have them introduce themselves, I said hello and asked them if they were enjoying the party. One looked at me and without blinking started to diss the whole evening because the "guy giving the party didn't plan well enough and had run out of champagne!" Well, this queen was already pretty well in her cups so I introduced myself as "that guy" and told them that they could leave since they obviously weren't enjoying themselves, nor were they invited!

In the 70s, we were also pretty liberated sexually and some of my friends weren't particularly shy about tricking while they were at the party. I walked into my bathroom at one party and found three guys in the shower have pretty raunchy sex. After I excused myself for interrupting, I asked them to be a bit more discreet and at least lock the bathroom door.

I can't remember how many times I went to bed after a party only to find men and women's underwear under the sheets. I even woke up one morning following the party to find a stranger passed out in my tiny bathroom. What a great tradition. Here's to many more Freund-schaften!