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There's a saying that initial impressions count for a lot, if not everything. In the strip club world, this is very true. However, there are exceptions to the rule, which this article will further explore. For bias reference sake, I am mainly an evening/night club patron, and didn't start making a meaningful number of day visits until the mid 90's. In the last 3 or so years, pre 7pm visits have only comprised 5 - 10% of my total visits. Still, I know all about not judging a club based on a slack afternoon visits.

TALE OF TWO GOOD FIRST IMPRESSIONS, MANY REPEAT VISITS

Both these 1st visits happened in the early 90's. The first was Mons Venus- Tampa. Even though it was an early week night (Tuesday) visit, the Mons experience far surpassed any other club I'd experienced up to this point. "I've gotta have more of this stuff." Needless to say, I've returned many times. As a side note, I visited 2001 Odyssey on this trip. I was favorably impressed on this visit, albeit not quite as much as the Mons, but still good enough for many return visits.
A few years later, I thumbed through an Indy phone book in a phone booth. Brads Brass Flamingo seemed to be the closest club. Upon entering, I thought "this is the kind of club I've been looking for." Good stage interaction, mostly attractive dancers, unpretentious atmosphere, higher than average lap mileage, good prices. I had many repeat visits over the years.
The same night, I also visited Babes East and PT's. Babes East was OK, but simply did not measure up to Brass Flamingo, and maybe squeezed in 1 or 2 repeat visits (in the 90's) just for a change of pace. I was favorably impressed with PT's. While they had slightly more attractive dancers than the Brass, the $20 laps vs the Brass $10 dances, and a bit stuffier atmosphere made me give the nod to Brass Flamingo as my go to club. I still had multiple repeat visits to PT's over the years.

MEHS AND NAYS SOMETIMES DESERVE A SECOND LOOK
My first visit to Living Room - Dayton in the early 90's was a "meh". Although club had a fairly good "normal bar" type atmosphere, good number of customers, and reasonably attractive dancers, it was lacking in the mileage department. Pasties and air dances just didn't cut it with me, given the plethora of nude, and or higher mileage options that I had in my travels, and reasonable driving distance locally.
Fast forward ~ 15 years to 2006. Reading Tuscl reviews now showed some promise. The Saturday night visit was definitely better than early 90's foray. Although a bit of a "diamond in the rough" kind of place, enough diamonds coupled with non pretentious atmosphere, and balance of good crowd levels and low drink prices made this club my go to club in Dayton area.
My first visit to St James - Houston (aka the church, chapel) was a "Wtf" kind of experience. This late 90's Saturday night 9 pm visit had high initial hopes based on my annual pocket guide strip club review. Club wasn't exactly hopping, but stage show dancers seemed attractive. When I went up to tip the 2nd or 3rd stage dancer, I asked the tall attractive brunette for some dances when she finished her set, to which she replied "yes".
Yet upon completion of her set, she made a beeline to some dude sitting at the bar, and remained glued to his side. WTF!! Just tell me you're with someone, don't tell me yes when you have no intention of dancing for me. I was feeling some bad mojo at this point and bailed to my next choice, Colorado Bar & Grill several miles away. That place was more like it, more active atmosphere, hotter and friendlier babes. CBG's good initial impression made it my go to club for my next Houston visit a few weeks later.
Fast forward ~12 years: I'm staying near IAH airport this trip. St. James being the closest club to IAH coupled with favorable Tuscl reviews and thumbs up PM from a trusted Tuscl member makes me willing to overlook prior negative experience, and give it another shot. This time I go on a Sunday night, and instantly pick up a sweet spot vibe. Meaning club isn't too crowded yet far from dead. Mostly 6 to 8ish dancers, good stage interactions and private lap dance booths. I enjoy dances with a variety of dancers ranging from buxom blonde to petite/athletic Asian. Nobody stands me up on dance requests, and I subsequently pay 3 return visits over the next 12 months with similar results. Sometimes, second time can be a charm, but clubs changing even a bit over time can be a factor too.

SHIFT MATTERS
Prior to a Phoenix vacation a decade ago, I studied PHX area club reviews, plus PM'd some Tuscl members from Phoenix area.
One common theme I picked up on was that Hi Liter was a good club with the caveat that night shift is an entirely different animal from late afternoon Happy Hour shift. I'm glad I did my research because based on a prior year night drive through, I might have entirely ignored the Hi Liter. The boom thumpa boom music vibe and more urban ethnic crowd did not appeal to me. The more laid back vibe of afternoon shift with still plenty of attractive dancers appealed to me enough to do a couple of repeat visits on next vacation.
By now I know enough not to forego an upcoming weekend night visit because of a subpar Monday afternoon visit, or to expect an early weekday afternoon to duplicate hopping Friday night atmosphere. In trying different shifts, it pays to read the reviews, or PM trusted locals.

HALO EFFECT
It can be very real. This means that if visit gets off to a slow start in familiar fave club, you'll stick around a while longer in the hopes that things will get better based on your past experiences. More often than not, it paid off. In the times it didn't, I thought "gee, if I were in an unfamiliar club, I would have bailed sooner." Much like a gambler keeping on playing too many bad hands. One such favorite club that I recognized the bad hands (or really just the bad mojo I was feeling) happened one Saturday night at Baby Dolls- Dallas. BD-D, more than many clubs epitomizes the cornucopia like feeling whereby there's plenty of hot babes going around. It seemed that way tonight, except that it wasn't working out. In short order, a rude waitress cut in on my closing a deal with a dancer to bring dancer to a couples table. Then a dancer who I'd asked on stage #4 for some dances after finishing on stage #7 ran off with another guy, and didn't look to be done with him anytime soon. The usual BD-D odds would seem to favor finding a good alternatives, but 2 busts in a row killed my mojo, and I bailed to The Lodge. I didn't quite make up for the mood kill there, but left the Lodge in a better frame of mind than I did at Baby Dolls.

Please feel free to share your experiences with initial impressions. Have you stuck with good initial experiences forever, or have you given an initial bad experience a second chance.

Adjudicators

BaggerRider

loper

Not an Original Article

Sgrayeff

Voting to approve but offering for consideration that much of the detail (a Tuesday in the 90s?) confuses rather than enlightens.

Longball300

gSteph