I’M SURPRISED THAT Washington City Paper‘s article about the Yacht Club of Bethesda (“The Old Man and His Scene,” 11/26) described this gathering place for pretentious singles, and the host who panders to them, in such glowing terms.

To its detriment, the “singles scene” includes an excess of phonies, liars, and showoffs of both sexes. It seems to get worse as you get older; thus, the popularity of the Yacht Club. As a sincere, unpretentious, middle-age divorced guy, I would not want to even set foot in an establishment that has the temerity to call itself a “yacht club,” expressly to fill a niche in the singles market by attracting the aging poseurs among us and glorifying them to their peers.

Any of the opposite sex who choose to bedeck themselves infinery and buy overpriced bar drinks they may not even want, just to meet a male counterpart, are probably not the type of women I want to meet. The popularity of this place, and City Paper‘s flagrantly positive spin on it, is lamentable.

Gaithersburg, Md.