The Two Laura's

Long before it's most recent regentrification, Over-the-Rhine in downtown Cincinnati is where most of my friends lived. It all started when my friend Dhyanna moved into an apartment building at the corner of Liberty and Main, which is there to this day.

I met Dhyanna when I was working the door at a now defunct bar called JR's in Clifton, checking ID's and taking money. My friend Kevin was the bartender/entertainment booker, and hired me on the weekends. Working there changed the face of my social life completely, it's where I first met Patrick as well. I was living on the corner of Jefferson and Nixon at the time, so I could drink on the job and walk home if I had to, which I almost never did.

The apartments on Liberty and Main had strange configurations, with what is known as a "Dutch split". This means the kitchen and bathroom were across a common hall from the living room and bedroom. That meant you had to leave your apartment, go into the public hall, and back into your apartment to get to the other side. (Why did the punk rocker cross the hall? Because he was safety pinned to the chicken who crossed it to get to the other side to use the bathroom).

The building, which was probably over a 100 years old even back then, was actually made up of two buildings connected by catwalks. Hidden behind the front gate was a court yard that both buildings shared.

Dhyanna lived on the third floor. Laura C. lived on the floor below, with Tamara living in the building across the catwalk with her boyfriend Bill. Our friend Jimmy lived next to Dyanna, and then their were these guys that lived somewhere in there as well. Most of them were artists and musicians, at the very least appreciators of these things. That's the role I fell into, and may have been considered by some to be a muse.

The first time I met Laura C. was while we were both at my friend Derricks. Derrick owned a small shop on Main Street that sold African American art, and it got broken into like five thousand times till he finally gave up. He lived in a courtyard apartment and had hung chinese lanterns all over.

We were sitting in the courtyard, in the summertime, drinking espresso from tiny little cups with little gold spoons. Not being the sophisticate at the time, I had no idea what a ton of espresso in little cups could do to you. Laura C. and I ended up sitting all night talking talking talking, smoking, smoking, smoking, talking, talking, talking, well, you get the idea.

Laura C. could do a lot of things really well. She knew all about music, and cooking, and world travel, and literature, and art. She was so brilliant that I got an instant girl crush on her. Maybe I should define a girl crush. A girl crush is not a sex thing, it's meeting someone that you just admire everything about, and I wanted to be just like her. Laura C. and I were way too busy chasing men to chase each other.

Laura C., along the way, introduced me to Laura B., who lived over on Court Street over a dry goods store front. Eventually, both Dhyanna and Laura C. moved next door to Laura B. on Court Street. They lived in these apartments that were huge and the rent was like forty dollars a month, no exaggeration. Instead of going into the front, where the stores were, you had to go to a back alley where the entry to the above apartments were.

Laura B. became one of my dearest friends. She is the most profoundly talented person I've ever personally known. Most of the really great pieces in my house are Laura B.'s creations. She was in the artist's union, and was a scenic artist, first for the Cincinnati Ballet, and then for the movie business. She always went to the best opening night parties, post production parties, just really great stuff that you wouldn't expect to find in Cincinnati. Whenever she didn't have a date, I got to go with. A post all in its own.

Laura B. and Laura C. have already come up in a few posts so I wanted to introduce them to you. Laura B. was with me when I met Carlos aka New York Boy, and spent that incredible night in Manhattan with me. Laura C. showed up in a post but with an alias.

During my married time, I lost track of both of them. I keep an eye out for them on Facebook and Myspace but can't find either of them. If you see them, could you tell them to call Paula? They'll know who I am.