Everyone heard about Kokie’s the same way: “Hey, have you been to Kokie’s? It’s a COKE bar called KOKIE’S!”
Vice just published a great oral history on one of my old haunts—Kokie's, a bar on Berry and N. 3rd that served low-grade cocaine out of a "DJ booth," and sometimes, alternately, a utility closet. (The location is now a bar called The Levee.) I mostly went there circa 1999 - 2001. It was about a tenth as classy as the picture above would indicate. I seem to remember dirty walls and folding tables and chairs in the back room. There would usually be Hispanic people dancing to like salsa music or something along those lines. In the front, on the bar, there was a water cooler and little plastic cups for all the people who were there to blow the last of their evening's cash on blow. I actually would never really hang out there. I was always quickly in and out, because I was often by myself, and well aware that I attracted the wrong kind of attention. That was back when I was really into dressing like a party extra from Bachelor Party, so I was usually in fishnets, fake lashes, a ratty rabbit fur coat and a pleather skirt. I looked like a hooker straight outta 1984.
God, the idea that there is a lore surrounding Kokie's and that "adults" who once led a wilder existence are telling the new kids all about the seemingly magical bar that sold coke makes me feel so old. How is it that I've been living in this city for over a decade? I have to say though, that honest to goodness, I'm really enjoying growing older, thus far. I'm glad I did what I did, drugs wise, for the most part, and got it out of my system. But I'm gladder that I stopped messing with it. Now it's just for special occasions, like trips in Vegas, rather than Tuesdays in my living room.
And while I don't mind getting older, I mind looking older—older than my age, anyway. If I were to keep on with the benders and shit, I'd look 50 by the time I turn 30. Fucking, on the other hand, is supposed to help keep you young. And it will never get old for me.
Please Snort Me Part 1 [Vice]
Man...two days in a row, I come and find new posts on one of the best sites there is...fucking christmas man...
Posted by: worst_1_yet | January 22, 2008 at 08:37 AM
ah, kokie's. gurrl, if only i had known thee during my stint there circa 1999-2002, i would have taken you to the turkey's nest (williamsburg), an even worse hole for happy dust.
Posted by: boy | January 22, 2008 at 08:38 PM
i really really wonder what the music scene was... i would have been there but never done anything...
Posted by: vinny | January 23, 2008 at 03:53 AM
tracie.... miss your frequent posts! so glad to see so much new stuff up!!
Posted by: trigger | January 23, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Man, Kokie's! Now THAT'S a blast from the past....
I used to be freaked out to have to go behind the creepy curtain and buy bags for me and my friends... and the crazy, twirling couples dancing to frantic salsa. Wow.
Posted by: charlie_girl | January 24, 2008 at 02:37 AM
The first time I heard of Kokie's, I was told it was run by an ex-cop. I guess that ended up not being true. But we did stop in one night when I was visiting (Chicago guy here) and ended up following a Mayan chick and her biker boyfriend about two miles (felt like it) later that night to continue partying. We railed til 11:30 am the next day and I almost missed my 3 pm flight. I was so freaked out after Hoovering about $200 of the most stepped-on yak ever, then going through security ... thank god that was more than a year pre-9-11. Thanks for the memories ... I just got coke (koke?) flashback shudders ...
Posted by: Eric | February 07, 2008 at 04:41 PM
the kokie's profile is hilarious, thanks so much for the link.
Posted by: jeannette | February 09, 2008 at 09:12 AM