The San Jose Flinch

My hometown. I’ve been critical of it in the past, most especially regarding the gender inequity (thanks Intel!). And I know I complain about the dangers of club hopping on First Street/Market and the dress to impress attitudes at the bar (No hoodies! No hats! No Sneakers! No blank shirts! Means no style and a lot of dudes wearing XXXL striped shirts and Doc Martins with baggy jeans). The long lines with 90% ratios of dudes to dudettes is also intimidating, not to mention the wall of girls inside that are only interested in dancing with each other or the homeboys they grew up with since birth. But the one thing I will say about San Jose that is much different than all the other places I’ve been to in the world is what I will dub the “San Jose Flinch”. Guys know what I’m talking about. The SJ Flinch occurs when you’re out at Glo, Agenda, Vault, Fahrenheit, VooDoo, Wet, Vivid, Taste or Toons (eat your heart out Vegas, the San Jo game has the one name club lingo down better than you!) and you accidentally bump someone. You (and him/her) immediately turn around and apologize. Profusely and quickly. The other situation? You both start gearing up for a beatdown. But in all likelihood, you BOTH apologize. Anyone that has spent some time in SJ knows that the likelihood of a fight is relatively high. And for those of you asking, San Jose lost its 6-year reign as the safest biggest city in America thanks to El Paso, Texas and Honolulu, Hawaii in 2007.

PS. Thanks car load of dudes for tossing a half empty can of Bud at me and my folks outside of the Children’s Discovery Museum last night. You are a scholar and a gentleman, and a wasteful drinker of watered down spirits.