Remembering The Naked I

New Jersey

Sunday, February 6, 2011 2:39 PM

I had been to maybe one strip club before, in the early 80s, but they always held a fascination for me. Later, married for a few years, and feeling the need for more variety, but not wanting to cheat on my wife, I found my way to The Naked I in the remnants of Boston's old Combat Zone. At the time, this end of Washington Street featured a bunch of Chinese restaurants, a few small businesses, a couple of strip clubs -- The Naked I and The Glass Slipper (which is still there) -- and streetwalkers. I don't remember how I knew it, but I heard that The Glass Slipper was an awful dive, and that The Naked I was where you really wanted to go. I confirmed this a bit later, wandering in toe The Glass Slipper, being completely grossed out, and walking out about five minutes later. Now honestly, both places were dives, but at The Glass Slipper, the strippers were some combination of fat, old, and strung out. The Naked I was a dark club with two rooms. In each room was a well lit stage, one larger and one smaller.  It had these goofy cardboard signs that said, I think, "What's a Naked I?".  I think it was a nude club, but I really don't remember. This was all pretty new to me, and it was just overwhelming to look at tits, and to be in an environment where that was not only okay, but expected. I went there only a few times, whenever I could slip away discreetly for a couple of hours. I slipped up once -- this was when smoking in clubs was permitted in Boston -- and my wife smelled the smoke on me. I feigned ignorance about where the smell came from, and fortunately she didn't follow up. I remember a few of the girls who danced there. There was a really young girl, whose gimmick was to go on stage in roller skates. Another had really obvious implant scars. While I don't like implants at all, this was the first time I had seen anything like this, and it was oddly compelling. My favorite was this stunning, slim, olive-skinned girl with long straight brown hair. After her set, she came over to talk and said "I saw you sitting over there while I was dancing". And I said "I saw you dancing over there while I was sitting." She considered that, looked at me like I was the biggest idiot she ever met, (fair enough) and moved on. The club closed a few months later.

4 comments

clamheart
•
13 years ago
Ah, the old Combat Zone. Talk about shaking cobwebs from memory. The Naked I was probably where I saw my first real pussy up close and personal except on Japanese playing cards! Actually the Old Howard in Boston was a classic burlesque parlor that would let high school kids in if they could reach the counter to slide the entrance fee over. That was where I saw my first professional pussy, but the Naked I brings back lots of memories. In fact if you had a long enough lay over at Logan, you could catch the T, catch a quick warm up at the i and make your next flight. It was a sad day when the Combat Zone got cleaned up. If I remember correctly the stabbing death of a star football player from Harvard or maybe BC was one of the reasons the Zone basically disappeared. I was in the Glass Slipper about 7-8 years ago (about 40 years after high school!) and it was still full of overweight, old, strung out whores, and beer was $9 or $10 a pop.
spandexman
•
13 years ago
I remember the Mouse Trap in the 70s, where there was a live three piece band that played and a stand-up comedian would host in the evening. The Pussycat was my favorite hangout in the 80s, with the infamous Mardi Gras behind it where well dressed prostitutes that were called the Stepford Wives plied their trade, a place to go to for laughs. The Zone was always crowded on weekend evenings and people had to watchout for pickpockets, drug dealers, and bums. Harry's Bar was a good place to get a cheaper drink before venturing into the clubs, some had really ugly dancers though.
Columbo
•
13 years ago
When I was first stationed at Ft Devens, Mass. with the Army, we were warned to stay out of the Combat Zone. This of course meant it was the first place we went on leave. I was 18 and inexperienced, so the old Combat Zone was my first education. My memories of the clubs is fuzzy but fond. I do remember the Naked I but not many details. Wished I had picked up one of those old "I survived The Combat Zone" t-shirts. I do remember that the entire area was owned by Chinese merchants, with the local Chinatown bordering it. The merchants were lobbied hard until they started taking back the leases and expanding Chinatown. The Chinatown expansion never seemed to fully take off. The big problem was instead of having all the adult clubs and shops in one place they then moved all over. So much for getting rid of them.
Knightline
•
13 years ago
Boston is so liberal - except when it comes to strip clubs and prostitution! If you were there in the mid-70s you might have watched Jay Leno who used to entertain between stripper acts. Either the Naked I or Glass Slipper - don't remember which one. I used to frequent the area on occasion in the late 70s, but then the place went down-hill and I haven't been back since - not for a play destination anyway. Now I hear the nicest strip joint in the area is Centerfolds, which is about 6-7 years old, but I haven't been there either. Mass has a '3-foot' rule - so you can't go closer to 3 feet from the dancers - so why bother?

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