Olongapo City, Philippines.
Hello my friends todays painting is from one of my memories of Olongapo City, Philippines .my visit to Olongapo was special in many ways.Since I was in the navy at the time it was a chance to get the hell off the ship (U.S.S Callaghan DDG-994) google it haha I was a plankowner of that ship which meant I was part of the first crew on board which was a destroyer,anyway time to write about the the most exciting town in the Orient. The stories I heard about this place before even stepping foot off the ship were amazing,lets just say I was happy to be a single guy, this was my chance to experience what had become legendary - a night in Olongapo. For the bar owners it meant money, and lots of it. And for the Filipinos employed at the various clubs it meant not only income, but often the chance to meet the right guy and, if they were so disposed, to start the move eastward. the famous line of I love you Joe no sh&t take me back to the states was a line I heard almost every night, not me but some sailors actually got married to some very beautiful Filipino women, just walking down the streets would cause women to flock outside to you grabbing your arm like your some kind of rock star, to them you were rich, which is certainly not the case as everyone knows service men and women don't make jack squat really, but to them yes your rolling in the doe,its really a sad situation looking back on it the way alot of people and especially woman have to live but at the time being a young punk with a bunch of like minded navy men out to get drunk we were in heaven,at least in the minds of a bunch of young punks,another thing I remember is before you came into town you had to go over a little river known simply as the "Sh&t River." only a sailor could of thought up that name , but it was fairly appropriate given that raw sewage from the town was often dumped into it. Boys in little, flimsy boats beckoned from below the bridge, telling passers-by to throw pesos or centavos into the river. When a coin did get thrown, the boys would dive into the filth and somehow retrieve the coin. The navy eventually tried to discourage this practice by putting a fence along one side of the bridge. which is a good thing because no telling how many diseases one could get from such a practice,once in town and in a bar Most of the Filipinos who worked in bars, did not consider themselves prostitutes. In many ways this was true.
A bar fine worked like this: if a guy sat at a bar and got to talking to one of the girls behind the counter, he could ask her to leave the bar with him. The girl had the option of saying yes or no, though the bar owner or mama-san would often discourage refusals. Still, girls could, and did, refuse invitations by servicemen to go out on the town. This was one aspect of the barfine which distinguished it from prostitution. lucky for me Im a good looking guy and women would often want to pay me hahah sorry I guess I still have some of that navy jackass in me, just joking,any how
If the girl was agreeable, however, there would be a fine. Technically, you were not paying for the girl. In fact, the money you paid to the bar was to compensate the owner of the bar for the loss of the girl's work that night. This is because most of the girls worked for little or nothing other than tips. So if you wanted to deprive the bar of what was essentially free labor, you had to at least compensate the owner for the loss. Thus the "fine."
Granted, the girls did normally receive half of the fine. But this was merely a bonus paid by the bar to the girl for bringing it repeat business. Barfine amounts depended upon the bar. In the 1980's, barfines at the flashier places could go for as much as 500 or even 600 pesos a night - about $30 to $40 US. In the smaller bars fines averaged 400 pesos and sometimes even less. So what did a barfine get you? The only thing a patron was guaranteed was that the girl would be allowed to leave the bar with him. This came as a rude shock to some Olongapo newcomers, who assumed that the fine ensured him of a night of sex. It did not. True, the girls were highly encouraged by the bar owners to consent to sexual requests, and the girls themselves sometimes did so simply to ensure another barfine the next day, but the girls were not obligated to do anything. On most first "dates" the best you could hope for was a kiss, unless the girl was an unabashed "professional." Most were not, however. Most were girls from villages or other islands who served customers drinks most of the night, but who suffered the indignity of wearing a one piece bathing suit every hour or so in order to keep their jobs. They did this in order to make a few pesos for their family, and more often than not, in order to find a nice American guy who was marriage material so that she and her family might actually have a future of some kind. These Filipinos tended to cluster together in groups for safety and solace, If concrete relationships were established, a serviceman could sometimes buy a lifetime barfine from the bar. This would be a large, flat fee paid to the bar to ensure that the girl would always be available for the payee. Some of the girls liked this arrangement because of the implied commitment, and because it often served as an excuse on their part not to accept barfines from men they didn't find attractive. Note that a lifetime barfine did not necessarily prohibit the girl from accepting barfines from other men,especially if your ship pulled out even for a few days, and it did not carry over if the girl quit one bar and began working at another. Also, most of the girls were hopeless romantics. From the start most of them made it clear that they were not sexual partners. They were girlfriends, or "honey-ko's." You would take them dancing and out to eat and give them everything else which a girlfriend was due. She would meet your friends, and your friends' girlfriends, and you would take vacations together (for example, to Baguio). You might meet her family (usually an awkward affair).. Those pre-port fantasies of choosing a different girl every night would evaporate for most guys. If you decided to take out another girl, your own friends would question why you were "cheating" on your girlfriend, and you could bet that the "Filipino Network" was working at lightspeed to get word of your infidelity to the right parties. Despite their most stubborn efforts to remain a "playboy," sailors and Marines usually found themselves in relationships. Which implied - yes - commitment! It was a very humbling experience.
When the ships pulled out, that was a time of tears and promises. The girls who had found boyfriends would cry, the girls who had not welcomed the arrival of new ships and new hope. Promises were made by the sailors and Marines to come back, to write, to remain faithful...promises normally broken. Not always.Im pretty sure the navy no longer has a base there after many years and with the service men gone I have no idea how that place is now, after all even with all the crazy stuff that went on alot of money was pouring into that little city every night from servicemen around the world,
Olongapo City, Philippines.
Hello my friends todays painting is from one of my memories of Olongapo City, Philippines .my visit to Olongapo was special in many ways.Since I was in the navy at the time it was a chance to get the hell off the ship (U.S.S Callaghan DDG-994) google it haha I was a plankowner of that ship which meant I was part of the first crew on board which was a destroyer,anyway time to write about the the most exciting town in the Orient. The stories I heard about this place before even stepping foot off the ship were amazing,lets just say I was happy to be a single guy, this was my chance to experience what had become legendary - a night in Olongapo. For the bar owners it meant money, and lots of it. And for the Filipinos employed at the various clubs it meant not only income, but often the chance to meet the right guy and, if they were so disposed, to start the move eastward. the famous line of I love you Joe no sh&t take me back to the states was a line I heard almost every night, not me but some sailors actually got married to some very beautiful Filipino women, just walking down the streets would cause women to flock outside to you grabbing your arm like your some kind of rock star, to them you were rich, which is certainly not the case as everyone knows service men and women don't make jack squat really, but to them yes your rolling in the doe,its really a sad situation looking back on it the way alot of people and especially woman have to live but at the time being a young punk with a bunch of like minded navy men out to get drunk we were in heaven,at least in the minds of a bunch of young punks,another thing I remember is before you came into town you had to go over a little river known simply as the "Sh&t River." only a sailor could of thought up that name , but it was fairly appropriate given that raw sewage from the town was often dumped into it. Boys in little, flimsy boats beckoned from below the bridge, telling passers-by to throw pesos or centavos into the river. When a coin did get thrown, the boys would dive into the filth and somehow retrieve the coin. The navy eventually tried to discourage this practice by putting a fence along one side of the bridge. which is a good thing because no telling how many diseases one could get from such a practice,once in town and in a bar Most of the Filipinos who worked in bars, did not consider themselves prostitutes. In many ways this was true.
A bar fine worked like this: if a guy sat at a bar and got to talking to one of the girls behind the counter, he could ask her to leave the bar with him. The girl had the option of saying yes or no, though the bar owner or mama-san would often discourage refusals. Still, girls could, and did, refuse invitations by servicemen to go out on the town. This was one aspect of the barfine which distinguished it from prostitution. lucky for me Im a good looking guy and women would often want to pay me hahah sorry I guess I still have some of that navy jackass in me, just joking,any how
If the girl was agreeable, however, there would be a fine. Technically, you were not paying for the girl. In fact, the money you paid to the bar was to compensate the owner of the bar for the loss of the girl's work that night. This is because most of the girls worked for little or nothing other than tips. So if you wanted to deprive the bar of what was essentially free labor, you had to at least compensate the owner for the loss. Thus the "fine."
Granted, the girls did normally receive half of the fine. But this was merely a bonus paid by the bar to the girl for bringing it repeat business. Barfine amounts depended upon the bar. In the 1980's, barfines at the flashier places could go for as much as 500 or even 600 pesos a night - about $30 to $40 US. In the smaller bars fines averaged 400 pesos and sometimes even less. So what did a barfine get you? The only thing a patron was guaranteed was that the girl would be allowed to leave the bar with him. This came as a rude shock to some Olongapo newcomers, who assumed that the fine ensured him of a night of sex. It did not. True, the girls were highly encouraged by the bar owners to consent to sexual requests, and the girls themselves sometimes did so simply to ensure another barfine the next day, but the girls were not obligated to do anything. On most first "dates" the best you could hope for was a kiss, unless the girl was an unabashed "professional." Most were not, however. Most were girls from villages or other islands who served customers drinks most of the night, but who suffered the indignity of wearing a one piece bathing suit every hour or so in order to keep their jobs. They did this in order to make a few pesos for their family, and more often than not, in order to find a nice American guy who was marriage material so that she and her family might actually have a future of some kind. These Filipinos tended to cluster together in groups for safety and solace, If concrete relationships were established, a serviceman could sometimes buy a lifetime barfine from the bar. This would be a large, flat fee paid to the bar to ensure that the girl would always be available for the payee. Some of the girls liked this arrangement because of the implied commitment, and because it often served as an excuse on their part not to accept barfines from men they didn't find attractive. Note that a lifetime barfine did not necessarily prohibit the girl from accepting barfines from other men,especially if your ship pulled out even for a few days, and it did not carry over if the girl quit one bar and began working at another. Also, most of the girls were hopeless romantics. From the start most of them made it clear that they were not sexual partners. They were girlfriends, or "honey-ko's." You would take them dancing and out to eat and give them everything else which a girlfriend was due. She would meet your friends, and your friends' girlfriends, and you would take vacations together (for example, to Baguio). You might meet her family (usually an awkward affair).. Those pre-port fantasies of choosing a different girl every night would evaporate for most guys. If you decided to take out another girl, your own friends would question why you were "cheating" on your girlfriend, and you could bet that the "Filipino Network" was working at lightspeed to get word of your infidelity to the right parties. Despite their most stubborn efforts to remain a "playboy," sailors and Marines usually found themselves in relationships. Which implied - yes - commitment! It was a very humbling experience.
When the ships pulled out, that was a time of tears and promises. The girls who had found boyfriends would cry, the girls who had not welcomed the arrival of new ships and new hope. Promises were made by the sailors and Marines to come back, to write, to remain faithful...promises normally broken. Not always.Im pretty sure the navy no longer has a base there after many years and with the service men gone I have no idea how that place is now, after all even with all the crazy stuff that went on alot of money was pouring into that little city every night from servicemen around the world,