Hosto Files: Part 3

(Continued from Part 2)

Ang mga hosutos ng Japan

All-hosto bar. Macho dancing bar. Despite these bars employing similar kinds of guys offering paid personal entertainment, my experience inside the hosto bar is different from the macho dancing bar.

For one thing, the bar's stage is without any stripping man. There is nothing to look at, except for the stage lights, the clean walls, the occasional shows on the bar's TV set, and the waiters walking about. There are bars which have some singing on-stage, some comedic performances, and some dance routines, performed all throughout the night. But depending on the bar's entertainment lineup (if they do have performances scheduled that night), these usually happen at a much later time in the night. 

Yes, at a later time. While the bar usually opens around 10 or 11PM, the party only peaks at 3AM. I remember my friends and I being the only customers in the all-hosto bar around 12 midnight. We were not bored as we had some hostos in our company. But we were wondering why, time and again, the bar gets filled only after 3AM. What's so special about the time?

Oh yes, the bar girls. This is the time they arrive.

Hosto Files: Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

Our first foray into a hosto bar was around this time last year, when my friends and I got somewhat tired of the macho dancing bars and decided to explore other types of bars. 

When we entered the bar, we knew the bar didn't feature naked strippers. But that fact didn't stop us from staying and even returning again and again. What got us hooked were how decent-looking the men were -- properly gelled/waxed hair, their version of porma clothing, and entertaining one-on-one conversations. The lack of something to watch (ie. male strippers on stage) forced these men to entertain us with stories and jokes, unlike in the macho dancing bars where a customer can be content with just watching a naked guy dance onstage.

And of course, what we liked the most was how cheap the MD drinks were in that bar. Our bill was way below our average in the macho dancing gay bar. Even just half, I think. Not bad for a paid one-on-one "date" with a guy of your choice. 

Some hostos during their modeling

Hosto Files: Part 1

There was a time in my gay bar going that I frequented a hosto bar. Almost every weekend night, and including some weekdays, I was there with my gay bar going friend.

Now I realized, it's been a year since my misadventures with hostos.

Thinking about it, I haven't written about hostos that much in this blog, despite the term being included in this blog's URL "machos and hostos." Most of the entries focused on macho dancers, but nothing specifically on hostos. 

It may be because I haven't encountered them again since I started this blog.

What is a hosto anyway? Funny thing is, I get a lot of questions about this, even though I thought the term was widely known, as the term "macho dancer." Perhaps, talking to actual hostos, I got a sense of what they are, and how different they are from macho dancers.

Lord II Gay Bar: An Update

I wrote a few months back about a rumor that the hosto bar in Manila, "Neighborhood"*, would be turned into a full-fledged macho dancing gay bar "Lord, 2nd coming."* That rumor we actually confirmed, as my friend, Ringo, and I visited that bar two months back. We also found out that the gay bar "Lord II" was co-owned by the owners of "Neighborhood" and that of "Lord" in Quezon City; hence, the use of the widely popular gay bar name in this bar.

Rumor now has it that "Lord II" is already closed, and was re-launched into another bar. I first heard this from my hosto friends who we met in "Neighborhood", but were now working in "Answer for The Emotionally Needy (ATEN)" bar disco level. 

I wouldn't be surprised if this rumor would be true. Based on our first and only visit to this gay bar, the dancers working here were so-so. Not so good-looking. Mix of oldie-looking veterans and provincial-type boys. The venue and interiors were fantastic, fine. Modern. But even if the bar borrowed the name of the lord of all gay bars in Quezon City, it failed to achieve the mystique of the original gay bar. Add to that its hard-to-find location, it isn't surprising if "Lord II" would close down.

According to a macho dancer friend, the reason why "Lord II" was closed down was because it failed to obtain the right business permits from the local government (they didn't get approval, I think). Just like how the supposed new gay bar along Roxas Blvd couldn't operate because of business permits they couldn't get (and why some former "Home Base" dancers and managers are still jobless now).

When I passed by M.H. Del Pilar Street in Malate last night, on the way to ATEN gay bar, as I saw with my own two eyes last night, the gay bar where Lord II used to be located was still open. Except that the "Lord II" sign was already brought down. 

What remains is the "Neighborhood" sign, which was never taken down when "Lord II" occupied the spot.  

So it's true. "Lord II" Gay Bar was re-launched, back into the "Neighborhood" bar. Not just the hosto bar of before, but with macho dancing as part of the entertainment. 

Want clues about the actual name of the gay bar? Next time I visit, I hope to see a true neighborhood or village of good-looking boys, including those from next door, the next street, or the next town. 

Macho-Go-Round in Manila

Musical Chairs with Macho Dancers, anyone?

 A year after going around the macho dancer gay bars of Manila, my friend Ringo and I couldn’t decide where to spend our night last Saturday. There was no question that we’d go to a gay bar; the question then was which.

We drove through Manila’s dark streets, as we crossed out each gay bar that we passed by – “Kingdom Come” lacked interesting boys, “Answers for the Emotionally Needy” (ATEN) didn’t have parking, Quezon City was too far, “Mexican Knife” too slasher-suspense-movie scary. We contemplated on going back to “Home Base,” but after four visits in the previous seven days, we wanted to explore other men in other gay bars.

Then we found out the new “Lord II” opened that night.

The story and realizations, after the jump:

Heard Through the Gay Bar Grapevine 3

This will be the last in a short series of posts about gay bars this part of town. Again, all these I heard from the gay bar grapevine along Roxas and Pasay. Some information may be true, some may not.

Enjoy!

When two bars close, two others open 

After long-time gay bar in the heart of Manila, “Mr. Heart of Manila”, closed down around Sept-Oct last year, another bar closes.

Hosto bar in Malate, “Neighborhood”, is now closed, after less than a year of existence. If the first one closed because of the new mayor’s policies on prostitution, as rumored by one macho dancer, the second one shut down due to “corpses and flies” (Bangkay na, nilangaw pa).

Even with the addition of macho dancers on its 2^nd floor late last year, Neighborhood just couldn’t get enough customers. I think their strategy was similar to "Answer for The Emotionally Needy" bar -- to have a floor dedicated to hostos and their hostess clientele, and another floor dedicated to macho dancers and their more affluent guests. Sounds logical. Most of the bar's dancers, including the lone gay floor manager, came from "Mr. Heart of Manila", when it closed down. 

So where did the customers go? Maybe to ATEN. But, don’t ask us. My friends and I left months before the bar’s demise.

Rumor has it, the “Neighborhood” space will be turned into a full macho dancer bar. But not just any other macho dancer bar. As the MDs who were privy to this information told us, the lord of all gay bars in QC will lend its name to the new bar: it's going to be called “Lord, 2^nd coming.” It's not confirmed though if it's a branch or an extension of the top QC gay bar. Or maybe just a copy cat.

That's good news for ex-Neighborhood dancers who were previously ex-Mr. Heart of Manila dancers. They can work again in the same area, but in a bar with a more popular name. 

However, just like Mr. Heart of Manila, the new bar may get into trouble again, because of new mayor's policy on prostitution, if that was true at all.

Coming soon: A new gay bar will open in the general vicinity of Airport Road, in Paranaque. Yes, that area filled with the cheap beergarden-type KTVs. There's an spot there with a building that's either being demolished or re-constructed, and turned into the only gay bar in that vicinity. Yehey, Miss Universal may already have her partner, a Mr. Universal perhaps.

And as heard from the grapevine, the place is gonna be huge. Even bigger than Home Base or Kingdom Come. One of the biggest in Manila, maybe.

When will these two bars open? Let's wait for the next news from the gay bar grapevine.


GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; Follow at twitter: @gbgoer

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Photocredit: http://www.edupics.com/

Heard Through the Gay Bar Grapevine 2

As mentioned yesterday, this week, I will feature a series of posts, as I heard from the gay bar grapevine along Roxas and Pasay. All these are based on hearsay, gossip, chismis, not about macho dancers, hostos or managers, but about the gay bars in this part of town.

Enjoy!

Bar on the Rise

Long-time gay bar along Libertad, “Answer for The Emotionally Needy” (ATEN), is booming more than ever.

It has two floors for entertainment – the ground floor being the entrance, then the second floor for the macho dancers and the third floor disco for the models/hostos. That floor’s biggest draw? Cheap drinks, unlike the P400+ per drink of other macho bars. That’s why most of the clientele of ATEN are supposedly GROs from the nearby girlie bars in Manila. Ooh! Cheap drinks for cheap… skates.

Before, when macho dancers were forced to leave Home Base as they couldn't reach the monthly quota, they would always consider applying to ATEN. If we ask where certain ex-Home Base MD was working, the usual reply was "sa ATEN." So, my friends and I had an impression that ATEN was a run-down bar filled with "unsellable" MDs. In short, bagsakan ng mga MDs na laos o walang customer.

Quite the contrary now, apparently. Sources said the hostos here (the non-strippers) are frequently tabled, with around three girlalu customers per night. Never vacant; never bangkay. Each girlalu may afford to buy them just 2-3 drinks, but with more customers a night, an MD can easily reach 10 drinks daily. "Kahit na wala raw customer na mayaman na magbabagsak ng 20 drinks," as one MD said, "at least may kita naman araw-araw para maabot ang quota (Even if there's no rich customer to give 20 drinks, at least, there's income everyday to reach the quota)."

But lately, the bar's second floor, the macho dancing one, is also gaining ground. Apparently, more “big time” customers are going to the bar for its macho dancers. MDs of competitor bars are also wondering why. Parking is supposedly difficult (fine, they can take a taxi), the place a bit run-down, and the vicinity dimly lit and unsafe at night.

When asked if they are interested to transfer, an MD responded in the negative, reasoning "maraming awayan, siraan. Tapos ang pangit ng lugar. Feeling mo pwede ka masaksak kahit kailan. (there are lots of fights, backbiting. Then the place is unsightly. You get the feeling of being stabbed anytime)."

Maybe his mind may change about working for that bar, once he becomes unsellable in the bar he's working in now and fail to meet his monthly quota.

Apparently, it was the first gay bar to open in Pasay. This was according to an MD friend who rode a taxi to work one night, and requested to be dropped off at another gay bar. Nearing the gay bar, the taxi driver asked if he was working there, and the MD responded truthfully. That taxi driver who was in his mid-to-late 30s said he used to work at ATEN years ago. My MD friend wasn't surprised; that driver had an aged pretty face.

But if ATEN was really the first gay bar in Pasay, I wouldn't know. I was still too young when it opened. When I asked my more mature vecky friends, they also haven't heard of the bar before in the 90s or early 2000s.

Well, now ATEN is really making its mark. Just Google "gay bar manila", and at the top of the page, that is the only bar that appears on Google Maps.



Last: When two bars close, another two bars open

GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; Follow at twitter: @gbgoer

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Photocredit: http://www.edupics.com/

"Javier": Hosto Turned Macho

I only met "Javier" once in a hosto bar. It was August, my first time in the bar, “Neigherbood.” My two gay bar-hopping pals visited the place the previous week, and were raving about the "quality" of men there -- not only good-looking. but can converse well (and even text properly in English). One of the guys they tabled was "Javier", and they told me to get him on our next visit.

I didn't get to table Javier the entire night in that August visit. He was occupied with another guest at that time. When his guest left a few hours after, he went to our group, but unfortunately, I was occupied with another guy already.

Javier, late 20s, was totally good-looking. Yeah, boys in these hosto bars were supposed to be good looking at the very least, in their own kanto-boy-ish, er-ish (constuction work-er, driv-er, etc), or korean-pop-inspired-ish appeal. At 5’8, he was not the tallest. He was not muscular at all but not too thin, had a fair complexion, quite smooth and flawless in his symmetrical face. He had a boyish face that also revealed he’s nearing 30. He had attributes that sounded like the average Pinoy man working in these bars. But he seemed different.

He seemed to have been raised in a middle-class or well-to-do family, from his manners and his clean-cut refined image, and not in the streets of Tondo or fields of the province under the scorching skin-darkening sun. He could've been a commercial model for a toothpaste or shampoo ad, with his smile and neatly styled naturally wavy hair. Or if he just had more height, he could’ve been in runway shows for some local designer. He could've been my schoolmate, possibly the popular upper classman surrounded by the campus heartthrobs, or the soccer varsity jock surrounded by fellow handsome team mates. I could've seen him before, as the lead actor's best friend in a local TV show somewhere, or the officemate who was always in demand to host the office parties, or the gentlemanly suitor of my cousin living in Alabang. But there he was, a clear stand-out from the rest of the boys, sitting among us, working in a hosto bar.

From the snippets of stories I got from him and my gay pals, apparently, he has already worked as a hosto in Japan before, for more than a few years. He has done VTRs for some modeling jobs, but never got to an actual advertisement. He said he simply wanted to try out this type of “hosto” job, but he vowed never to work for a macho dancing bar (He couldn’t see himself trying to dance bare sensually in front of crowds). He was coy about his love life, if he had a girlfriend, or wife, or even kids.

On our next visit to the same bar the following week, we found out Javier already left. He only lasted for more than a week. But during his stay, he was apparently one of the most sought-after guys there. Never vacant, he always had a customer requesting for him. A potential star of the bar had left, and we didn’t know for what reason. Pahinga (to rest), perhaps

Three months after, just last December, my gay pals and I visited “Home Base,” the macho dancing bar. We wanted to see who the new recruits were, and apparently there were quite a lot since we last visited. The manager introduced the new boys, three at a time. On the third set, to our surprise, “Javier” was being introduced to us as a newbie. Even if we knew him before, we didn’t pick him.

That night, I was observing Javier dance up on stage. He added a bit of weight -- fat, not muscle. His age of 30 was now obvious. His hairline, which was just slightly receding, was more obvious than before. He never removed his sando when he danced, though it revealed a tattoo on his arm that we never saw in the wholesome hosto bar. On stage, he just stood there, barely moving from side-to-side, and looked very awkward, self-conscious and obviously amateurish. But he had a smile on, chuckling now and then to some unseen macho friend or guest in the bar, as if he was making fun of his new job, or just in disbelief that he was on stage dancing. Amidst the macho dancers in Home Base, he now looked very ordinary.

The once-upon-a-time star of the hosto bar has become just-one-of-those in the macho bar.

Last I heard, Javier has not showed up for work for a week or two, and apparently, “resting” again.

GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; Follow at twitter: @gbgoer

Machos vs Hostos

A masseur once asked me if I had boyfriends before. I said "yes, three this year." He asked me where they worked, but I told him to take some guesses first, which he tried. For some reason, he thought aloud "ano ba mga easy-money na trabaho?" He assumed all my relationships were with guys in the "easy money" industry (what made him think that?)

Anyway, I told him I had one with a macho dancer this year and then with a hosto afterwards.

"Ano ba yung hosto?" asked the masseur.

From someone in their so-called "easy money" industry, he didn't know what it meant. Quite odd. We hear often of "hostess" in girlie bars, but almost none of those "hostos." Before I entered into this world, I've only heard of male hostos going to Japan for work. But what do they do?

I thought hostos and macho dancers were one and the same. I even thought they were the same as "call boys." But talking with guys from different bars, apparently, there would be differences... huge.

Macho dancers, obviously, dance on-stage, half naked with their signature snake-like movement.When you "table" them, they would be wearing their sando/wifebeaters, boxer briefs and their boots. Hostos (or sometimes referred to as "models" in some gay bars), on the other hand, don't dance on stage. They are fully clothed the entire night, even when you "table" them.

Both entertain you -- macho dancers impress with their faces and bodies, hostos impress with their faces and chit-chat.(Masseurs, on the other hand, impress with their face or body AND hand skills).

There also seems to be a heirarchy among them. I think they consider "call boy" as lowest (those peddling their bodies on the street). Both hostos and machos seem to find dignity that they are not sex-workers strictly speaking and offering paid sex -- just purely dancing or entertaining. One macho I talked with was thinking of "ibenta ang katawan" (selling himself) as a "last resort" just to make money. Unless the gay bar condones "bar fines"; but not all machos in these gay bars accept these out-of-bar offers. Maybe because they "respect themselves" ("parang nawawalan ako ng respeto sa sarili ko kapag gawin ko yun"), or they have sugar mommies/daddies who forbid them to go out with another customer.

In "pure hosto bars" (no macho dancing, only male "GROs"), hostos feel relieved they are not working as macho dancers -- they don't need to bare their bodies, which they think is just one step higher from being "call boys". Some of these hostos even detach themselves from "macho dancers", often referring to them as "sila"/"them", even if where they work can be considered as part of one big gay bar industry. However in macho dancing bars, some hostos (or models) feel they are not the "stars" of the bar. They feel they are not skilled enough or buff enough or brave enough to be macho dancers. The result -- these models get less exposure, thus get less customers, and less income, of course.

Who gets higher pay? I think it will only depend on the bar they work in -- how much "budget" or "daily allowance" the bar gives (usually ranges from P150-200 a day) and how much commission per drink they get (around P80 to 100 per drink). But mind you, drinks for these boys (called macho drinks) in macho bars are much more expensive than a pure hosto bar. So clientele for these two bars will also be different (and another blog post altogether).

So how did I answer the masseur when he asked me what a hosto is? Simple. Those guys working in a bar, only entertaining customers over drinks and chit-chat. In which he replied, "oh, just like a guy version of hostess". Nagtanong ka pa.


GB Goer
Learn more: Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila
http://machosandhostos.blogspot.com/
email: char.affairs@gmail.com; follow me at twitter: @gbgoer