When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go (Part One)

It had been four years since I had been to Philly, and I had a little less than a two-hour window on a Saturday afternoon to make it to two of my favorite haunts – Purple Orchid and La Pearl/Outer Space Club. This is Part One of my outing.

Visited Purple Orchid first, from 3:15-4:00. Plenty of free parking available in a large paved lot shared with a flea market and other businesses.

I had arrived a little later than planned, but it wouldn’t have made any difference because when I got there, the house lights were still turned up bright. The only people in the place were a manager, the door guy/DJ/announcer, and, now, me. I said to the manager “It looks like I came too early,” and was told, “Well, we’re getting a little bit of a late start today. What can I get you?” A bottle of water was $5.00, and I was not charged a cover. I asked if they had any girls working, and he said “Yes, one. I’ll bring her out.” He dimmed the lights, asked the DJ to crank up some music, and went to get the girl.