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minnow

Any place that interests me.

Many of us are probably familiar with Michael J. Peter chain clubs. We've probably been to one or more of his Solid Gold, Pure Platinum, or Thee Dollhouse locations. This article will focus on the early years, mainly at the flagship Ft. Lauderdale locations on North Federal Highway. I recall seeing MJ Peter Chain being tagged as McClub, in reference to McDonalds Chain.

IMHO, this is an erroneous moniker, as the chain leans more towards high end. Things like valet parking, tuxedoed doormen, higher level of dancer attractiveness, etc. were de rigueur for this chain.

LATE 1980's

1987: This was my first visit to Solid Gold - Ft. Lauderdale. During a time when so many clubs were stage show only, look but don't touch, Solid Gold's nude table side dances on a portable pedestal was a novel idea. It was still a nude air dance ($10 a pop as I recall), but seemed good at the time. Kept up the South Florida norm of nude stage with alcohol service.

1988: By then, the new Pure Platinum opened a few blocks away. It was clear from the get go that this new club was the MJP Flagship Club. Everything was Solid Gold elevated to a higher level. DJ's were very much part of the package, giving a quick bio entry on each new dancer opening her stage set. It seemed that every dancer was at least a 3rd runner up in some wet t-shirt or beauty contest pageant. Tableside dances were the same pedestal option as Solid Gold.

The gimmick aspect was cranked up with their bachelor/birthday party program. The DJ did his utmost to humiliate the groom/birthday boy. Usually 2 dancers would be up for ~ 3 songs, stripping the subjects shirt off. I saw multiple occasions of dancers squirting shaving cream on "victim", writing stuff like "Insert Penis" with down arrow on the lower back. To top it off, party subject got to keep VHS copy (how many millennials know what that is) of the proceedings.

Gimmicks didn't stop there with merchandise such as calendars, clothing, etc. One cool thing I got was a Pure Platinum tumbler glass. When a cool drink was poured into it, the outline of a nude dancer on the side of the glass would turn purple. Sadly, glass broke rather easily, so no demo for a Tuscl meet.


EARLY/MID 1990's

After a while, the novelty of a nude air dance wore thin for me, what with me getting a taste of nude contact dances at the Mons Venus, and other Tampa clubs. I did visit a Pure Platinum in Honolulu at this time. There were several beauties who flew in from the mainland to dance here. (Some may have been flown in, just speculation.) Seeing that it was the closest to the main cluster of Waikiki Beach area hotels, it was a no brainer for me to go there. The air dances seemed OK at the time, no bachelor party. No shortage of gimmicks (not over the top, but a gimmick, nonetheless.) Patrons were given a numbered ticket upon entry, the winner got one of those aforementioned nude dancer outline chill glasses. Whereupon the winner seated next to me (a married man, he wasn't wearing a suit, so no I didn't meet rickdugan) said "you can have this, I don't want to take it home." I managed to fit it in my carry on bag, cushioned by spare underwear. It survived the ride back to the CONUS.

Meanwhile in FL, there were some changes. Most notable was the Solid Gold - Ft. Lauderdale changing to a topless club. Now patrons had the option of getting a bikini contact dance for $10, so long as you stayed away from south pole and northern mountain exploration. I like seeing the nude female body as much as the next guy. I found the touch dance option to be more erotically stimulating, and thus more appealing than the nude air dance. Dancer attractiveness a notch below the Pure Platinum beauties, but not hard on the eyes either.


EARLY MILLENNIUM

By then, I largely avoided the large national chain clubs in favor of local chain/independent clubs, unless the large chains were the only game in town. MJ Peter seemed to have matured from the early days, de-emphasizing the gimmicks.

So it was on my 2004 vacation to So. FL that I tried MJP's latest iteration known as Solid Gold / Pure Platinum located on the west side of North Federal Highway in Ft. Lauderdale. I manage to avoid the valet parking charge by parking the next lot over. Place definitely had the upscale look, between the decor of the club, and the attractive dancers. Stage shows were nude, lap dances topless, conducted in a private area. Per dance, and VIP time pricing options were on the table. Basic food service was available after midnight. Sounds like a recipe for a good visit, except for some things amiss.

The first thing was that in the first 20 minutes or so sitting at the bar I had more tuxedoed guys with walkie talkies pass by me than club dancers. I was starting to wonder if I accidentally wandered into a Secret Service training academy. Club was trying too damn hard to be upscale to the point of obtrusiveness.

I would soon discover a clink in their upscale schtick when I went to get my shoes shined by the attendant. The guy didn't speak a word of English, and initially tried to apply brown polish to my black shoes. That didn't distract too much from my enjoyment of the dancers, but I had a better time at Tootsies (they hadn't moved to present location yet) and Cheetah-Pompano Beach. Too much pretentiousness rubs me the wrong way.

I hope this gave you some historical perspective on the iconic MJ Peter chain. Feel free to comment with more updated information.

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