Clubs that didn’t survive

Wednesday, December 7, 2022 1:54 AM

This may have been done but I haven’t been around for a while. So this thread is prompted by a comment by @misterorange in another thread (“Covid changed things here. A few of the best spots didn't survive, and the ones that did just aren't the same.”) as well as something just down the street from me. I was going to write and submit an article, an obituary actually, for one of my most interesting places that rumor had it did not survive. I asked what happened and always got different answers. Then I saw some lights on in what should have been an abandoned club and two people inside. I had to ask and approached an old gentleman who was the owner. What happened I ask. The club died he said bitterly. What from I asked (as I had heard different stories). Covid he answered. But you have a lighted open sign I pointed out… The rest of the story will have to wait because (spoiler alert) the club is only “mostly” dead (movie reference) and is illegally (ah yes there is more to the story) operating speakeasy fashion as a shadow of its former self. Will it arise like a phoenix? I don’t know but I can’t risk outing them while they try to sort things out. On the other side of the world, I have been informed (with accompanying photos) of the Covid demise of a TUSCL listed club in the Philippines and I happen to find it a bit humorous. Master Poseidon was a Korean run club located in a US style strip mall with six to eight other clubs sharing the same strip mall (no pun intended). The Philippines locked the country down hard and the owners locked the front doors to await an eventual reopening. Construction for these clubs was typical cinder blocks with corrugated steel roofs. The front facing façade of these clubs did not allow the roofs to be seen from the street. For those playing at home, you probably guessed it. The roofs magically disappeared. Wind, rain and sun did the rest . What electrical and plumbing was left was looted and the entire strip mall is unsalvageable. Barring new construction or moving to a new location (unlikely in my opinion) I think we can be confident that Master Poseidon is no more for good. Any interesting or sad stories?

18 comments

The fall of XTC in San Antonio was worthy of news (and popcorn). Once the city cut their electricity and they resorted to generator power it was only a matter of time...

wallanon

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a year ago

XTC was a major club if I recall correctly. It sounds like the city shut them down. Politics?

BabyDoc

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a year ago

Mostly dead is slightly alive

groundball

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a year ago

I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of these club closures yet it’s gonna get ugly in ‘23. The average American doesn’t have any money left everybody using their credit card for basic needs right now. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__VQX2Xn7tI

Muddy

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a year ago

You can always throw in politics when it comes to strip clubs, but XTC had drama before the pandemic. The pandemic dialed all of it up because most of the clubs were closed so it was way too crowded and open way too late. So then all the city was looking for was a reason. Some light reading... Behold! A generator! https://news4sanantonio.com/amp/news/local/xtc-cabaret-uses-generator-to-stay-open-after-city-shuts-down-power-to-the-business Multiple lawsuits https://www.sacurrent.com/food-drink/city-of-san-antonio-asks-judge-to-shut-down-byob-strip-club-xtc-cabaret-judge-says-nah-25793972 Something about COVID protocols https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/XTC-Cabaret-open-without-permit-16009657.php ...and then there was that machine gun incident. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020/08/27/security-guard-shoots-man-who-fired-ak-47-inside-xtc-cabaret-police-say/

wallanon

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a year ago

Between that all Sugars bullshit remind to avoid San Antonio in the near future.

Muddy

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a year ago

Ah XTC. I remember running into a dancer in 2019 who I had worked with back in 2016 over at that club over at a different club. I remember when she told me at that time she had left XTC because it got too ghetto for her, which at the time made me go ??? because it was (in my opinion) pretty ghetto back then too. But the news articles later on clarified things for me. Which is a shame and even though it didn’t take me too long to bail out of that club and dance in Austin for most of 2016&2017 I still have an odd nostalgia for that place. RIP 😭

nicespice

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a year ago

Everywhere else I had danced at previously is still intact as far as I know. I’ll probably do my part to write a club review soon of a place in the Midwest where the problem for that club is finding dancers—but the customers base was still mostly there. In the hopes that club still stay around and I potentially have the option to go work there again lol

nicespice

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a year ago

I'm pretty sure that Pure Platinum in San Diego is either gone or on a very extended remodel. It had a new owner just before Covid hit and the couple of times I went in the last couple of years were pretty sad as far as the number of dancers and patrons. I'm sure the San Diego license rules and other regulations didn't help. I last tried to go a couple of times in September but saw that it was under construction but the sign visible from the freeway still made it appear open. Now the sign is blank. I'll have to do a drive-by again to confirm that it is gone for now. It is kind of in my neighborhood, but I don't drive by close enough to see the parking lot and building, typically. Not that it's a big loss but it was convenient to me.

mike710

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a year ago

There were a couple strip clubs in Indianapolis that didn't survive Covid. They were barely hanging on before Covid and the long shutdown with no income delivered the coup de grace. Three other strip clubs also went under but someone else came along, bought them, and reopened them under different names. A number of small mom and pop businesses locally went under. Three of my favorite local burger joints went under. The economy for the country as a whole was permanently weakened, for little reason. Florida didn't lock down and, adjusted for age distribution, had a death rate at the national average. Over in Europe, Sweden didn't lock down. Recently it came out that the lowest overall mortality for European countries from 2020 to 2022 was Sweden.

docsavage

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a year ago

@mike the one time I went to pure platinum in San Diego it seemed like a chill spot to grab a beer ... But not buy dances. Cheetahs and to a lesser extent Pacers decided to rebel against city requirements and largely won once the early extreme restrictions were lifted. I do think the challenge of evaluating clubs and covid is almost 3 years later a lot of clubs would have died anyways. Locally it's basically impossible to open new clubs. A church bought out a (bad) club's building to wipe it off the map. The industry definitely is consolidating.

JamesSD

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a year ago

Another sign of the effects of Covid was the reduction of day shifts. A lot of my local strip clubs now open later in the afternoon or have entirely eliminated day shifts. I used to stop at clubs on the way home from work but started teleworking during Covid. I seldom go now in the afternoon. I don't want to make the drive. I also picked up new hobbies and rediscovered old ones during the lockdowns and spend more time on those now. Some older guys were just going out of habit and fell out of the habit during the lockdowns. The changes seem to have hurt day shifts more than night shifts.

docsavage

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a year ago

I guess I’m kind of hijacking my own thread but I just received some great news. Almost three years ago I was having some medical work done and was trapped in a hospital. I felt like a caged animal and spent hours planning the celebration party I was going to throw myself when I got out. A noon start until drunkenness would take down the last celebrant there was going to be an open bar, two roast pigs and extra girls imported from other clubs. And I knew exactly which club would cater and host this party. A sweet spot mom and pop (actually just pop) neighborhood club between upscale and dive bar. I have yet to execute my plan because of “The Troubles” and I was greatly disappointed to hear that my planned club did not survive the coof. I just now have gotten confirmation that those earlier reports were false and the club is open just as it was. I’ll hire a photographer to take some fotos.

BabyDoc

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a year ago

Kings Cabaret down here in Texas also went down. Don't remember if it was due to covid or not. Shame, it was a lot of fun

TheSingularity

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a year ago

A Covid closing gave the city an opportunity to make sure Follies never reopened.

goldmongerATL

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a year ago

Deja Vu in Springfield, Illinois. A fav club (byob) of mine before COVID. I made a one-and-only post COVID visit when it "reopened". There were only two dancers working. I had a couple of good dances with one of the two. But she would not be everyone's cup of tea, her preferred body mod was patterns of scarification. But, just when I thought she was going to make the trip worthwhile, she told we we had to stop, because the club was closing at midnight.

ilbbaicnl

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a year ago

Big Daddy's show club in Kokomo Indiana closed its doors like 3 weeks ago leaving only one in operation The Hip Hugger Kokomo is blue collar city about 50 minutes due south of Indianapolis with a population 60k with numerous automotive parts manufacturers and surrounded by farmland. I'm not sure how many active strip clubs it's had over the years but Big Daddy's is the 5th club to close in the last 10 years or so. The Hip Hugger is the last but carries on. Owned by the same gentleman for the last 53 years.

elmer

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a year ago

I'm sad to hear from elmer that Big Daddy's in Kokomo, Indiana shut down. In recent years strip clubs in Muncie, Lafayette and Anderson in this state also shut down. Indianapolis strip clubs dropped by a third, from 18 to 12. Strip clubs are becoming a little bit of an anachronism. Things always eventually go out of fashion. I watched an old movie last night where all the men wore hats and smoked cigarettes constantly. Their interactions with women felt much different than now.

docsavage

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a year ago

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