I was traveling across the country on my Harley, and I had stopped in San Francisco. I had never been to a leather bar before, and wanted to check one out. I looked up "Leather/Levi" bars in my Bob Damron's Guide . The S.F. Eagle sounded good, so I went to check it out. I parked my motorcycle out front, and was surprised to see about 10 other bikes there. I walked to the door, and there was a heavy leather curtain over the entrance. When I pulled it back I was amazed at all the MEN. Good looking, rugged, masculine men. This was somewhat of a shock to me. I had never seen so many gay MEN. These guys were not effeminate in any way. I stood in the doorway for a moment until my legs would move again.
During the course of the night, I met a good looking guy who was a mechanic for United Airlines. Since I worked for United myself, we had plenty to talk about. We were standing outside on the back deck behind the bar. It was June, but the nights were still a little chilly. I had my black bandana around my neck. We had been talking for about half an hour when two other guys walked up to us. The mechanic introduced them as a couple from Australia. We shook hands and then one of the Australians tugged on my handkerchief. "What does this mean?" He asked. I was just about to respond, "My neck is cold..?" When the Mechanic chimed right in. Without pause for breath he said,
"Well it is a black bandana so you know that he is into heavy S.M. but he is not wearing it on the right or the left but look! his gloves are under his left epilet so that means he is a top."
He said this all very quickly with a matter-of-fact tone. I had no idea what he was talking about. Some secret code?
Later that night, I asked the guy working in the little leather shop inside the bar what had happened. He explained about the hanky code,
and gave me a cardboard card with the descriptions on it. I got a good laugh at the whole thing, and learned something, too.