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Friday nights - the biggest night of the week.
 Our normal hours for entertaining were from 9:00 to 1:00 during the week. On the weekends, we worked from 9:00 until 3:00.
The exception was on Friday, which we played from 5:00 pm till 7:00 for Happy Hour, then we took a dinner break until 9:00. Then we played from 9:00 until 3:00. This would make Fridays a very long day.
While at the Back Door lounge, we always served some type of snacks, finger foods, etc. Larry and I would go and shop for food on Friday afternoons and bring it in for Happy Hour. We would sometimes have pizza, chicken wings, crackers and dips, etc. We always put out the spread and then played music during the Happy Hour.
We played from 5:00 until 7:00 on Friday afternoon and then took a dinner break. Quite often we would go to local restaurants like The English Pub, The Sea Room, The Kismet to mention a few for a nice dinner on Friday Night.
We usually went with a group from the Back Door, which means we had Happy Hour, then ate dinner, then went back for the rest of the night for dancing and fun.
I really don’t know how we all survived those days. Some of our customers would spend the entire evening at our club. The drinking laws were not as strict then as they are now. Many people left the club in no condition to drive. Thank goodness, the restaurant in front of the club would serve breakfast and coffee. We also had the Clock Restaurant just down the street.
I remember one evening when we were closing, one customer was having trouble finding his car. Larry went outside to see if he could help. Larry realized this man should not be driving, so he decided to walk the guy down the street to the Clock so he could have some coffee and food.
Larry didn’t mention to me that he was doing this, so I’m looking all over the parking lot for him. I’m not saying the Back Door was a rough club, but there had been occasions when things have happened. So I imagined all kind of things that could have happened to Larry, including looking over the bank down to the river. I went to the front office and asked if they had seen Larry. They had not, but offered to call back to the lounge to see if Larry had returned. When the line was busy calling the lounge, Larry was trying to call from the Clock to let me know where he was and that he was on his way back. ( This was long before cell phones.) The lounge line was busy, I was beside myself with worry.
Finally, he came strolling in the door. I didn’t know whether to hug him or yell at him. ( I hugged him, then yelled at him.)
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