THE NIGHT STUFF
Fridays are for play at Pipeline

On a recent Friday night, at least 1,000 people crammed into the Pipeline Cafe to have a good time, a few drinks and mingle with the opposite sex. The club's Foreplay Fridays attracts throngs with its can't-miss musical selections and unpretentious atmosphere. A bit of innocuous PG-13 rated sex appeal adds to its attraction. Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pipeline Cafe patrons enjoy the atmosphere of Foreplay Fridays. From left: Aya Inamura, Brandi Lelepali, Robb Omura, Eric Takemoto.

At Foreplay's peak hours — between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. — on a recent Friday, at least 1,000 people created a wall-to-wall swell, rubbing up against each other in Pipeline's massive downstairs confines. The place was just as full when we regretfully decided that a full hour of Saturday morning daylight activities minus a hangover ranked higher than another hour of drinks (excellently mixed, by the way) and dance (a crowded floor saved by a teasingly salacious dance mix).

I'm usually about as fond of squeezing through a crowded nightclub or having my eye taken out by an elbow on a dance floor as I am of listening to J. Lo tell anyone within earshot how she's still actually human, much less "Jenny from the block." But Foreplay's thankfully unpretentious masses — people were there to dance, drink, perhaps hook up, and little else — and PG-13-rated sexual come-ons — female patrons were invited on stage to grind for dance-floor howls and little else — proved enough to keep us entertained even when we weren't on the dance floor.

DJ Wu-Chang's nicely paced turntable menu of current and archival Top 40/R&B/hip-hop, while crowd-pleasing and dance-friendly, mostly stood out thanks to a few unexpected aural surprises complementing the evening's sexual theme.

"You know, those two don't look like guys you'd want owning negatives of your (expletive) and (expletive)," said a guy near me, as we watched a couple of house photographers shoot close-up snaps of a few of the 30 women grinding on Pipeline's stage to Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty."

Or a wide shot of one's even wider ass, for that matter.

A petite female in tight low-rise jeans and a cut-off tank accentuating just about everything it clung to was pouring her entire being into an on-stage slow grind with a pipe railing to Lil Kim's simply nasty "How Many Licks." Just below, on the dance floor, a couple of guys ogled her like a Grace's plate lunch after a full day of surfing. Confident in her sexual lock on her loser admirers (not to mention the security staff keeping most of the male species safely off stage), she smiled at both before cutting their line and disappearing backstage. One of them actually looked like he was going to cry.

When the Pipeline stage was crowded with grinding women (a few of them unofficially competing over who could work up the largest number of males in the crowd), it seemed to bring about 90 percent of the guys at Foreplay to our small table up front. When the girls on stage dwindled, so did the guys — save for one homeboy in gold pimp-daddy glasses, reeking of the entire men's fragrance section of Sephora, who seemed to sprout roots near us.

Foreplay promoter Rick Rock's focus on maintaining dance floor satisfaction kept Pipeline's environs blissfully free of effects (no smoke machines, lasers or strobes) and unnecessary accoutrements. Pipeline's staff — in particular, its security and door crew — was excellent. Table service was surprisingly fast and attentive for such a crowded room.

"I'm sorry that clashes with your blouse," a Pipeline doorman said with a smile when a female patron frowned at the day-glo orange 21-and-over wristband being fastened to her.

Awwww.

What: Foreplay Fridays

Where: Pipeline Cafe, 805 Pohukaina St., 589-1999

When: 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Fridays

Cover: $5

Younger than 21 OK?: Yes.

Age of crowd: 18-early 30s

Dress code: No athletic wear, no hats, no tanks (on males), no slippers.

Attire we saw: On women: tight tank tops and camisoles, low-rise jeans, mini-skirts, jeans shorts, short shorts, dresses, flats, heels. On men: solid and print T-shirts, aloha and dress shirts, polo shirts, loose-fit jeans, khakis, cargo pants, sneaks.

Our arrival/departure: 11:30 p.m./2:30 a.m.

What we drank: Bombay Sapphire martini, Belvedere cosmopolitan ($12.50)

Peak crowd while there: 1,000-plus

Queue?: Yes, about 5 minutes long at 11:30 p.m.

Sample music: "Big Poppa" (Notorious B.I.G.), "Oh Boy" (Cam'ron), "Dirrty" (Christina Aguilera), "My Neck My Back" (Khia)

Dancing? Yes.

Overheard line: "I'm guessing someone moonlights at Rock-Za on weeknights." — one male to another, while ogling a female stage dancer.