Kaonashi Ga Suki

So, this Labor Day weekend I celebrated my *cough* 30th *cough* birthday with my boyfriend, family, and friends. Overall, it was wonderful and everyone had a good time, but something happened that put a blemish on things.

My boyfriend and his parents are members of this beach club in Santa Monica called the Jonathan Club. Although his parents no longer live in Santa Monica, they retain their membership because they like to go there with friends and relatives whenever they’re in town. It’s a nice beach club where members can play paddle tennis, swim in the pool, work out, have a few drinks, or use the beach. They have a great Sunday buffet brunch that includes prime rib and seafood. I’ve attended the JC as a guest for as long as I’ve known my boyfriend (about 10 years) and have always had good things to say about them. Until now.

After brunch had ended, most of my guests went home except my family and my sister’s two friends. The three girls had wanted to enjoy the beach, so my boyfriend escorted them to the car so they can retrieve their swimsuits and stuff, then showed them to the ladies’ locker room to change. He told them to meet him back at the table where we had brunch, with the rest of my family Meanwhile, he and I went to our car to get our own swim stuff.

Now, here’s the kicker. Every Labor Day, the JC offers tons of activities from chili cook-offs, to volleyball tournaments, to weenie roasts. Since tons of people tend to show up, members and their guests are required to wear plastic bracelets to indicate that they’ll be using their beach priviledges. This bracelet thing happens only during Labor Day. After getting our stuff then, my boyfriend and I went to the front desk to get bracelets for ourselves and for my sister and her friends. While I went into the ladies’ locker room to change, my boyfriend returned to the table and was surprised to find the girls already wearing bracelets. He asked them what happened, and they told their story.

On the way back to the table, one of my sister’s friends noticed a woman carrying a grilled cheese sandwich. Seeing that she didn’t eat much during the brunch buffet (she’s a picky eater) and wanted to know where to get the sandwich. My sister then asked the woman, “Excuse me, where did you get that grilled cheese sandwich?” According to my sister and her friends, the woman seemed highly offended and asked the girls if they were members. When they tried to explain that they were guests, the woman continued to interrogate them, asking why they weren’t wearing wristbands and demanded to know who they were with. When they gave her my boyfriend’s name, she haughtily replied, “I don’t know who that is. I’ve never heard of him.” Yeah- like she knows every member at the club? She proceeded to harrass them. “You’re lying to me. How do I know you didn’t sneak in here?” and then forced the girls to come with her and get wristbands.

Of course, when my boyfriend heard this, he was furious. Coincidentally she and her family were seated at a table not too far from ours. He said, “How DARE you harass my guests!” When she countered that they weren’t wearing wristbands and that “If I have to wear one, everyone has to wear one”, he tried to tell her that they hadn’t been wearing one yet since they had just come from brunch (bracelets weren’t needed at brunch). She told him that the girls had been rude to her, which I know is completely untrue. My sister and her friends aren’t sweet little angels, but they show respect and courtesy to other people. I raised my sister from birth and know that she would never be rude to anyone unless they were rude to her first. The argument between her and my boyfriend became heated to the point when he screamed at her, “Go back to Nazi Germany!” or something like that. I also know that at one point my dad got into it and said something to her like, “You may feel safe here, but outside is a different story. I never forget a face.” When she asked, “What- are you going to hurt me?” he replied, “No, I’m just saying that I never forget a face.” Finally a JC staffer came over and listened to both sides of the story. Of course my boyfriend denied the Nazi remark, and in the end nothing came from it since it was basically a “He said/She said” kind of thing.

What an ugly way to end such a lovely brunch. I feel bad not just for my sister and her friends, but for my boyfriend’s dad. He was really nice in letting us have this brunch for me under his name, and now he may get dragged in this. And while I know that my boyfriend and dad went too far with their accusations and threats and wish they hadn’t said those things, I understand that they were very upset at this bitch who just decided to make it her mission to harrass the three girls.

Frankly, we all firmly believe that the reason my sister and her friends had been given such a hard time is due to racial profiling. My sister is Filipina-American and her friends are Mexican-American. About 90% of the members at the JC are white, and I’ll bet anything that if that bitch had seen three blonde haired, blue-eyed girls, she may have still asked them about the bracelets (which I doubt), but she would have taken their word for it that they’re guests, maybe even members’ children. She must have had such a hard time believing that they let people like “our kind” in her beach club. And even if it wasn’t a racial thing, she had no business policing other people’s guests. I can understand staff members enforcing the rules, but other members have no right to do that. I think that if a member sees something they don’t think is right (like someone breaking the rules), they should tell a staff member, not take it up themselves.

My family and friends were having a nice time up until that point. They liked the club. After that, they no longer felt welcome and simply wanted to leave. The girls decided to stay and use the pool, but my parents were just disgusted with the place and left.

I’m really disappointed in the Jonathan Club. I know that it still has primarily white members and an ethnic staff, but I thought that times were changing. Apparently, some of its members don’t like the change.

Jonathan Club, beach, racist, racial profiling