Current State of the Strip Club Scene in Atlanta
VeryBigDawg
Georgia
Sunday, August 14, 2016 12:00 AM
Many TSUCLers have asked me questions about various strip clubs in the Atlanta area, and have responded with requested information. But it is time to put together a more thorough description and article of the the strip club scene in the greater Atlanta area. Unfortunately it is turning for the worse (with one notable exception). First some background information is required to understand what and why this is happening.
Here is the background information. The greater Atlanta area is composed of several counties. Most counties have an affluent and a deadbeat part. The affluent part has gotten tired of supporting the deadbeat part with their tax dollars. It is politically incorrect and infeasible for the affluent part to say or even enforce this. So they have found a very clever way to work around this and keep those tax dollars close to home. The affluent parts have incorporate themselves into a separate city! Those overnight cities are popping up in the greater Atlanta area with names like: Brookhaven, Doraville, Johns Creek, Chamblee, to name a few. The first order of business of these new cities is to get a shiny new city hall built and shiny new fleet of police cars with the new city name. After this is completed, they discover that their overpaid staff of lawyers is twiddling their thumbs, because the majority of citizens in the new affluent city are well behaved. What to do with all those idle lawyers? Aha! Let's turn them lose on the strip clubs, so we can clean up the area. How does this effect strip clubs? Well let's take a look at some individual cases. My most recent visits to all the clubs below has been in the last two months, so is up to date.
Pink Pony (PP). PP used to be a really great club with nice action. PP used to be in Atlanta, but suddenly it became part of Brookhaven. PP had a horrible epic legal battle with the city of Brookhaven that was finally resolved last year, with PP paying a large licensing fee to Brookhaven and curtailing all contact between strippers and customers, not to mention the VIP rooms being glass so common PL can watch. Basically PP went from a decent strip club to a place to observe nude girls and get air dances. Yuck!
Oasis Goodtime Emporium (OGE). OGE used to be a really great club with nice action. OGE suddenly found itself in Doraville. OGE is in the throng of a protracted legal battle with the city of Doraville. Unfortunately they lost the latest round of the legal battle, but still remain open for business. OGE has agreed to do a periodic 'artistic performance' which normally consists of a fully clothed lady swinging on a rope on the main stage. OGE still has nude dancers in a Cheers like atmosphere. Basically OGE went from a decent strip club to a place to observe nude girls and get air dances.
Mardi Gras Lounge (MG). MG used to be a really great club with nice action. MG now finds itself in Sandy Springs. MG has been hassled by local authorities, and has cut the action way back to keep them happy. MG still has nude girls but is limited to mostly air dances, unless you get really lucky with the right girl and pay extra to go upstairs. But it is a crap shoot. Also the bouncers patrol the VIP area like hawks.
Shooter's Alley (SA). SA was a high mileages great club. SA basically closed down last year and moved to a new location to avoid the legal hassles. It's old location was on Buford Highway near I-285, and its location was not affluent but the surrounding area was affluent. There is some disagreement on the exact reason why SA failed and maybe somebody else has more information to clarify.
Follies. The one exception! Follies is still great place and has become the 'go to' place in Atlanta not because it is so good, but because all the other clubs have become so horrible. Follies is actually located in Chamblee. Chamblee in the last month has raised its hand a little bit, they found that Follies dancers did not have adult establishment permits (commonly called 'permits' by the dancers) so next month they will require the dancers to get permits, which will be a source of revenue to the city. Unfortunately some of my favorites have a checkered past and may not be able to get the required permit because of the background check. Anything that limits talent is bad for us PLs. Hopefully this will turn out to be a minor inconvenience.
Here is the strange part, the urban sprawl of great Atlanta has made cities like Brookhaven, Doraville, Johns Creek, Chamblee, and even Atlanta to be one continuous area. So unless you are a native you would not even realize that you passed from one city to another as you are driving along. Follies and Pink Pony are only 2.5 miles apart according to google maps, but if you visited both you would think you stepped into two different worlds.
What is the trend of new cities in the greater Atlanta area? The trend is even more of them after 'The Great Recession' as the rich get stingier.
Hope this clarifies the Atlanta scene and PM me if you are strip clubbing in Atlanta, as it is always fun to meet TUSCLer brethren.
Here is the background information. The greater Atlanta area is composed of several counties. Most counties have an affluent and a deadbeat part. The affluent part has gotten tired of supporting the deadbeat part with their tax dollars. It is politically incorrect and infeasible for the affluent part to say or even enforce this. So they have found a very clever way to work around this and keep those tax dollars close to home. The affluent parts have incorporate themselves into a separate city! Those overnight cities are popping up in the greater Atlanta area with names like: Brookhaven, Doraville, Johns Creek, Chamblee, to name a few. The first order of business of these new cities is to get a shiny new city hall built and shiny new fleet of police cars with the new city name. After this is completed, they discover that their overpaid staff of lawyers is twiddling their thumbs, because the majority of citizens in the new affluent city are well behaved. What to do with all those idle lawyers? Aha! Let's turn them lose on the strip clubs, so we can clean up the area. How does this effect strip clubs? Well let's take a look at some individual cases. My most recent visits to all the clubs below has been in the last two months, so is up to date.
Pink Pony (PP). PP used to be a really great club with nice action. PP used to be in Atlanta, but suddenly it became part of Brookhaven. PP had a horrible epic legal battle with the city of Brookhaven that was finally resolved last year, with PP paying a large licensing fee to Brookhaven and curtailing all contact between strippers and customers, not to mention the VIP rooms being glass so common PL can watch. Basically PP went from a decent strip club to a place to observe nude girls and get air dances. Yuck!
Oasis Goodtime Emporium (OGE). OGE used to be a really great club with nice action. OGE suddenly found itself in Doraville. OGE is in the throng of a protracted legal battle with the city of Doraville. Unfortunately they lost the latest round of the legal battle, but still remain open for business. OGE has agreed to do a periodic 'artistic performance' which normally consists of a fully clothed lady swinging on a rope on the main stage. OGE still has nude dancers in a Cheers like atmosphere. Basically OGE went from a decent strip club to a place to observe nude girls and get air dances.
Mardi Gras Lounge (MG). MG used to be a really great club with nice action. MG now finds itself in Sandy Springs. MG has been hassled by local authorities, and has cut the action way back to keep them happy. MG still has nude girls but is limited to mostly air dances, unless you get really lucky with the right girl and pay extra to go upstairs. But it is a crap shoot. Also the bouncers patrol the VIP area like hawks.
Shooter's Alley (SA). SA was a high mileages great club. SA basically closed down last year and moved to a new location to avoid the legal hassles. It's old location was on Buford Highway near I-285, and its location was not affluent but the surrounding area was affluent. There is some disagreement on the exact reason why SA failed and maybe somebody else has more information to clarify.
Follies. The one exception! Follies is still great place and has become the 'go to' place in Atlanta not because it is so good, but because all the other clubs have become so horrible. Follies is actually located in Chamblee. Chamblee in the last month has raised its hand a little bit, they found that Follies dancers did not have adult establishment permits (commonly called 'permits' by the dancers) so next month they will require the dancers to get permits, which will be a source of revenue to the city. Unfortunately some of my favorites have a checkered past and may not be able to get the required permit because of the background check. Anything that limits talent is bad for us PLs. Hopefully this will turn out to be a minor inconvenience.
Here is the strange part, the urban sprawl of great Atlanta has made cities like Brookhaven, Doraville, Johns Creek, Chamblee, and even Atlanta to be one continuous area. So unless you are a native you would not even realize that you passed from one city to another as you are driving along. Follies and Pink Pony are only 2.5 miles apart according to google maps, but if you visited both you would think you stepped into two different worlds.
What is the trend of new cities in the greater Atlanta area? The trend is even more of them after 'The Great Recession' as the rich get stingier.
Hope this clarifies the Atlanta scene and PM me if you are strip clubbing in Atlanta, as it is always fun to meet TUSCLer brethren.
Want 4 weeks free VIP to tuscl?
Write an article
18 comments
I often think SCs' best days may be behind them and they may sorta be a 20th-century relic - perhaps their future survival may be if they are located in bad areas that want & need the revenue or at least be in out of sight industrial areas - we shall see what the PL-future holds but it seems the recent tide has been anti-SCs where once many areas had thriving SC scenes now are a shadow of their former selves.
Great job !
Question: Do you have an option for fully-clothed, contact dances? We do, but the clothed dances are one-way only.
Papi_Chulo is correct. Pink Pony, Oasis, Follies and Shooters were all in DeKalb County. Brookhaven annexed the property that Pink pony was located on. Doraville got Oasis. If Shooters had been on the other side of Buford Hwy, they would have gotten it too but it stayed under Dekalb County jurisdiction. I talked to a stripper at Follies that told me she was a bar tender at Shooters and even she didn't know the whole story behind the shut down. They were only told that it was a liquor license problem. Perhaps that is why they opened up the second club inside Atlanta city limits.
Brookhaven fought a legal battle with Chamblee over the annexation of the Follies property. The prize was the Century Center business complex on Clairmont Rd. The voters chose Chamblee and the city got Follies in the process.
On the south side, the City of Forest Park shut down 2 clubs back in 2012 but since have allowed for them to reopen under strict restrictions. "Rumors" & "Horse Face" will have a tough time competing with the other Atlanta area clubs.
"
The affluent part has gotten tired of supporting the deadbeat part with their tax dollars.
"
It doesn't work this way, it is the otherway round. The affluent are supported by the spending of the poor. Such money, via on the books income, off the books income, or government social programs or private charity, recirculates. Money in the hands of the poor recirculates the fastest. So our economy builds from the bottom up.
And yes, the Atlanta Metro is known to have definite muni Atlanta boundaries. Though not uncommon in this country, the situation is quite extreme in Atlanta because it is a "Black Mecca". So you have suburbs, seeming with their own strip clubs, which have organized against Muni Atlanta. They have brought you people like Newt Gingrich.
Politics in America is still organized around race. And as it is today it is largely the result of Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, as that is 'till this very day, the only thing the Republican Party has got.
SJG
Papi, I am history buff too. It is amazing to see the 'arc of time' and its effect on things.
Sorry about the mistake on Doraville GA ... but this gets me wondering if Doraville GA saw the shakedown that Brookhaven was doing on Pink Pony ... let's join the club and go after Oasis!
Mental note: Don't go to Cleveland for strip club action. I don't know of any fully clothed clubs, but the others in GA are topless. Somebody with more info can chime in.
Yep, MG is in Sandy Springs (barely) which is unfortunate for them. Forgot about Flashers, but it is not nearly as good as it used to be.
Shadow thanks for the details, and Forest Park shutting down those clubs in 2012. One of them was Pink Pony South and was nicest club in the area. Have not bee to the reopened restricted new version.
SJG come to the town meetings of Brookhaven, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Chamblee to explain your trickle up philosophy. Be sure to have bail money ready. :)
The Confederacy was let off way too easy. They are still trying to secede. Should have redistributed all land and executed anyone who had ever held a US Military Officer's Commission.
SJG
I checked out PP too and if that place was good those days are long gone.
Mardi Gras still has a lot of good looking babes, and is beginning strip club for a lot of time. You get them before they become jaded with too many years in the business, which is very refreshing. Mardi Gras is still worth a visit.
Personally, I think around 2008 some areas took a conservative jump. Lilburn passed serving laws at some point. And to this day I laugh at them. They didn't like bars serving if there was dancing, karaoke, and card games (Probably even darts) going on. Some places tried to fight it but eventually closed. How do you do karaoke without drinking? I can stay at home watch TV, do internet porn and have a beer. Probably why the specialty beer stores have opened. About 2 years later they tried to tone it down some. The Bars and business that were there didn't bother coming back.
So the other funny thing. Around the corner from PP is a place called LIPS. I don't know what goes on inside and I don't want to experience it first hand. But under the name it has "Fine Drag Dinning"