Strip clubs have become an endangered species in many parts of rural America during the last decade. If this pace keeps up you won't be able to see a naked woman on stage (or in a lap dance room) between Minneapolis and Denver within another decade.
North Dakota is down to 4 strip clubs in the entire state. Two are located in Williston, a single small city in the middle of oil country on the western edge of the state. The other 2 are located on the eastern edge of the state, in Fargo and Wahpeton, communities about 50 miles apart. There is almost 400 miles between the 2 pairs of clubs. That is a lot of ground without a place to sit and have a cold beverage while watching naked woman dance.
There were never a lot of clubs in the state, it is a conservative part of the country. But at one time there were at least a dozen clubs operating in North Dakota and several other bars that held special "lingerie nights" or other events. Over the past several years communities across the state have found ways to force clubs out of business or made them change their business model.
Mandan, a community across the Missouri River from the state capital, once had 3 clubs. None of them still have dancers. Minot, on the edge of the oil field, recently forced their strip clubs out. They also had 3 clubs at one time and had 2 going strong up till the end. I know that 1 is remodeling to have live music, I don't know what the other is doing. Both Minot and Mandan instituted new regulations on the adult industry that forced the clubs to stop having dancers. Other small towns have forced their strip clubs out by regulation or by just making life miserable for the owners.
North Dakota is not alone in the shrinking ranks of strip clubs. South Dakota has lost several clubs in the past decade. Other clubs in South Dakota are only open for a couple of months in the fall, during hunting season. The rest of the year they are plain bars.
Rural Minnesota has also lost a number of clubs. Even St. Paul has seen this trend, with only 1 club left in St. Paul. Luckily, Minneapolis seems to have avoided the trend and still has a good selection of clubs. Other well established clubs in parts of rural Minnesota are also still going strong.
This trend started well before the economy went bad. And the economy in much of this area is actually still strong, so the economy is not a major factor in the covering up of America. I hope this is a localized problem, and that it is not bleeding into other parts of the country. But from my location it seems like the social conservatives are winning and our favorite hobby is slowly fading away. That's a shame because I really miss stopping down at a local club on a regular basis. It's a lot more work when you have to drive an hour or more each way just to watch some dancers.
Now that oil-rich North Dakota is so obscenely wealthy, I guess Nodaks can just summon up a jet and go clubbing in Detroit or Dallas whenever they want. The Peace Garden State used to have some fine strip clubs, but they are now a casualty of what passes for progress. Winnipeg and Minneapolis are the closest refuges for the Stepchild of teh Arts.