The Borneo Bar - Chapter 13

I came home from Dallas heartbroken, pissed, but determined!  And I had a great jolt of new energy from visiting the Radio Advertising Bureau!  I was looking for new ways to expand this new concept of making money.

I had just started working with a group of Indonesians a few months before.  This was the craziest coincidence ever!  A son of an Indonesian Ambassador graduated a Hotel Management  School in Switzerland.  As a graduation gift his father gifted him any “boutique” hotel  he wanted – anywhere in the WORLD!

Well, the son was a HUGE fan of Baywatch!  So he talked his fellow graduate friends into coming to California and running a hotel in Ventura, which on a map looks very close to Malibu!  And so they did!

He came with several friends from Greece, as well as what seemed like body guards and Spiritual advisors.  They took over what USED to be a Doubletree hotel in Ventura, and turned it into the Ventura Beach Hotel.  There was a small ballroom and patio with a private entrance off the side, so they decided to turn it into an exclusive club like you would see somewhere in Europe. 

I AM NOT JOKING when I tell you that all of the furniture came from the Borneo Jungle in Indonesia!  There were a hundred relics in there that were each all carved out of a single piece of wood, by hand, by the last cannibal tribe of Indonesia.  There was a large curtain that went around the entire dance floor- a dark wine velvet with 24k gold elephants spun into it.

And these relics came with spirits!  I never used to believe in spirits until I worked here.  But forever more I do!  There used to be a spirit that hated women.  And demanded a cigarette and a shot of whisky every day.  One time I saw that no one had left the spirit these things and so I did it for them.  Spirit was so pissed that none of the DJ equipment or lights worked all day – so Teddy, the resident monk, came in and prayed and yelled at me to never do it again!  This place was nuts!

But it was soooo awweeessooommmeee!!!!  The Indonesians gave me free reign on whatever I wanted to do in the club!  I put on themed parties all the time.  I would have my high rollers come in and buy drinks for the whole place.  Celebrities that would come into the radio station would come to the hotel, have dinner, drinks, and then be on their way to a concert they were performing at.

Some of the artists we had come through were Eminem, Eve, Nelly, Tank, the cast of The Original Real World practically lived there… It was nuts!

Because you never knew what was going to happen, I could charge $20-$40 to get in, and have a line out the door for hours!  No one wanted to miss out!

The Indonesians were having a great time!  They bought matching Lamborghinis, brought Rich Hollywood types back to the hotel for three day parties, it was amazing!  I was there so often that they just gave me a room that was mine!

Then one day I met a girl that told me that she was just in a Bikini Contest up North.  She said she entered every year and that she was bummed because they would not be doing it anymore because the person who was doing it lost their license.  How does that work???  I did my research and found out that the bikini contest she spoke of was for Venus Swimwear Catalogs.  And you could actually own the rights and hold your own contests to find new models for their catalog.

WHAT?????

I had the Indonesians buy the rights for California for me and ran it through the radio stations.  We had a SIX WEEK, all Summer, Poolside Party.  I was now making money on Saturday and Sunday afternoons too! 

I would charge people to come in, I would get a percentage of the food and drink sales, I would sell Sponsorships and make the commission on them – all while promoting the radio stations.

There were more than 250 girls over six weeks.  And HUNDREDS of loyal audience members.  This is the summer when Sisqo’s Thong Song came out.  Jennifer Lopez had just launched her first hit – Waiting For Tonight.  Santana and Rob Thomas came out with Smooth.  And Destiny’s Child was scream’n SAY MY NAME.  Damn that was a great Summer!

It turned out to be a party that lasted for THREE YEARS!  I hosted every year so that I could keep pushing the drink and food sales.  It was  a very profitable party!

Many of the girls moved on to be models for different catalogs, swimwear lines, and some of them became playboy bunnies!

All in all – I think I would call it a success!