A few of my former students have gone on to work as strippers. Most of them were of normal intelligence. One of them, who is still dancing, was clearly of above average intelligence.
All of them went into it because they thought it would be a relatively easy way to earn good money w/o having to do anything tedious like go to college or a vocational school.
I said “quite”, not “disproportionately.” While a few were top-notch thinkers, most were of average or slightly above average intelligence. One might expect strippers to be, in general, as dumb as a bag of spatulas. At least that’s the stereotype.
Depends on the club – or on local ordinances. In Hillsborough County, Florida (where Tampa is), there are “bikini bars” that serve alcoholic beverages, and all-nude clubs that, by law, do not. I guess the County Commissioners at some point decided alcohol and nudity was just too dangerous a combination.
Laws and ordinances notwithstanding, strippers are routinely required to perform oral sex on the owner and his friends. (The Sopranos.)
Actually, it’s that they can’t ban nude dancing, as it is protected speech. They can, however make just about any law they like about who can serve alcohol. Thus a bar that has any nudity can be denied a liquor license, and forced to sell juice. Around here, it’s total nudity that will prevent you from getting a liquor license. Boobies are OK.
I have only one thing to contribute:
[Chris Rock]
There is no sex in the champagne room!
[/Chris Rock]
Ah, Tampa! Dale Mabry! Mons Venus! Damn. I’ve crawled out of that place more than once. Used to be you could bring in your own bottle and there was an ABC liquor across the four-lane highway. That way, when you’ve finished your bottle of Jack Daniels you can stagger across the highway for another! Good times, good times.
Wonder where that stereotype comes from. Couldn’t be … movies or TV, could it?
[Ultra Chris Rock]
Well, not the one that let the black people into!
[/Ultra Chris Rock]
Go-Go bars have live bands.
I’ve been to almost every Go-Go bar in the north half of New Jersey (not for fun, I was a driver/bouncer) never saw a band.
CMC
The ABC Liquor is still there. Dale Mabry is six lanes, plus the center turn lane and the occasional turn lane. Please be careful if you’re crossing it drunk. The Mons no longer allows you to BYOB. Joe Redner, the guy who owns the Mons, has come out of the closet. The 2000 Odyssey across the street is almost as famous, and now has a Sonic practically next door. Just south of both there is now a plaza with lots of shopping, like a new Target, Wine Store, Macaroni Grill (I think), etc.
Just so you have the update. BTW, an unforeseen consequence of not allowing alcohol with nudity is that the nudie bars can pretty much stay open as late as they wish, whilst the Tampa bars must close by 3 am.
RE both of these, I sense that hereby hangs a tale…
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but a recent visit to Bare Assets included both alcohol, nudity, and a last call at 2am. Were they just kicking us all out early, or is there some exception to this new rule?
Actually, I think I misunderstood. You’re saying that alcohol + nudity = close at 3am and no alcohol + nudity = open all night.
Right?
maybe I ought to pay better attention or head to bed…
Or go out to a strip club.
Not much of a tale, but here they are:
I learned this at a strip club in Rochester, NY - the Mirage Palace, a very nice place I’d recommend. They had a feature dancer, Melissa Wolf, who had been in Penthouse. She came out and did her dance, then brought out a kiddie’s wading pool and took an onstage bath in it. Part of this bath involved pouring Pert shampoo all over her naked body - which as I mentioned was flourescent under the UV light (the shampoo not the body). This story remind me of an additional thing I learned at a strip clubs: Always clap and cheer like a lunatic for the feature dancer.
Why? you ask. Because the final part of her act consisted of Ms Wolf picking volunteers out of the audience to assist her in reaching those hard to wash areas. Unlike my friends, who had been seeking to prove they were cool, I had shown my appreciation for Ms Wolf’s performance and was one of the lucky chosen few.
Of course being Melissa Wolf’s sponge boy was nothing compared to what happened that time that Nina Hartley picked me to come up on stage. Now that woman knew what audience participation was all about.
This story happened several years ago, back when New Orleans was still in its full glory. I was visiting the city for a few days and was wandering about the French Quarter. Bourbon Street is pretty much a 24 hour a day party and the bars and strip clubs are open round the clock. I decided I should check one of the strip clubs out and picked Big Daddy’s because it advertised itself as being full nude and no cover. And they had a nude girl in the doorway beckoning in customers.
Now as I wrote above, I’m a firm believer that the ladies have to make a living. I tip all the dancers and I tip all the waitresses. But I hate being hustled. And hustle was the name of the game in Big Daddy’s. I ordered a drink and the waitress flat out asked me for a tip before I had a chance to give her one. And it was the same with the dancer on stage. I gave them the same tips I had planned on giving them anyway but I was becoming annoyed. And I usually don’t get annoyed at naked women.
So after only about fifteen minutes, I was already considering leaving when this dancer came up to me and asked me if I wanted a private dance. On the one hand, it was another hustle for my money. On the other hand, she looked like Jennifer Aniston. So off to the back room we went.
And the hustle wasn’t over. Once we got back there I asked her how much the dance would cost and she told me twenty dollars was the regular price but for thirty dollars she’d do a “special” dance. More hustling, more annoyance. But how many chances are you going to have to get a lap dance from Jennifer Aniston? So I figured I was going to leave after the dance anyway and gave her the full thirty bucks.
Now there’s an unwritten code for lap dances. Or at least there should be. And that code should clearly state that your private dance should last for one complete song. If the music’s already playing the dancer can talk with you until the next song begins. But this dancer was apparently working on a schedule. She began dancing in the middle of the song that was already playing. Then she spent half the time that remained wearing her costume before stripping naked. For my thirty dollars I probably got about thirty seconds of nude dancing. And if her dance was special in any way, I’d have been really disappointed by her regular dance.
So I left. With the waitress asking if I wanted to buy another drink and the dancer on stage asking if I wanted to buy another private dance. The irony is that if they hadn’t been so eager to get at my money I’d have stayed a while and spent five times as much.
Bare Assets (Not personally familiar, had to Google) has locations in Key West, Melbourne and Holiday. None of those are in Tampa. Holiday is nearby, but just north of the Hillsborough County line in Pasco. I believe that Pasco has nude and alcohol, but note the earlier closing times. Also ordinances will go by county PLUS municipality so it can get a bit complicated. Mons Venus is definitely in Hillsborough county and I believe it’s also within Tampa city limits. I think the Mons stays open to at least 4-6 am, maybe varying by the day of the week. It’s been a really long time since I was at a bar or similar (in the USA) until closing time, so these are approximations. The site where I found the info (probably semi-worksafe, but just in case it’s www stripclublist com) lists the 2001, Mons, and 7 Seas (even more notorious and WAY more skanky than the first two) as non-alcohol and open until 5 am.
Tampa bars are open until 3 am, which is pretty late in my book, but if you feel compelled to be out in a bar after that there seem to be a lot of afterhours clubs around and they are easy enough to get into.
After talking with the designated driver from that night, we DID go to the Holiday location, because our county doesn’t have nude and alcohol. You are 100 percent right there.
Haven’t been to Mons yet, but I’ve heard good things.
Drug dealers openly set up lines of coke in the booths, because it’s inconceivable that a cop would go to a strip club. (See my OP for the inherent contradiction there.)
<bolding mine>
HA! I knew it! I had a vauge memory of having been to a Bare Assets before but couldn’t remember where (or when).
After my big motorcycle wreak, after leaving the hospital in Daytona, I was sent to a Rehab Hospital in Melbourne FL to learn to walk again.
On my very first “day out” since the wreak three months before, my friends came and asked where would I like us all to go? “A TITTY BAR” says I! After asking some of the male staff, we were directed to Bare Assets in that town. I was still in a wheel chair at that point but we found that if I unlocked the footrests on the chair, they would swing to each side and I could be wheeled right up to the runway. Oh yeah! Fun was had by all that afternoon I’ll tell ya.
I wanted a tee shirt to commemorate the event but alas, they were all out of black in XL. Except for the one the bouncer was wearing. After a brief discussion, he agreed to let me have his since I was offering to buy him one of the others.
<sniff> I still have that shirt here somewhere