PT's topless bar: Solving a mystery

12/6/2024 2:31:33 PM

I got my introduction to strip clubs when I was 7. Sort of. I was at a baseball game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis when an airplane flew overhead pulling a banner that said "PT'S TOPLESS BAR."

I asked my parents why someone would build a bar with no roof. Dad snickered and excused himself for a couple minutes. Mom gave him a dirty look and said she didn't know when I repeated the question. The next day, I was reading the recap of the game in the sports section of the newspaper and saw an ad for PT's in there. But the ad also didn't explain why PT's didn't have a roof and why not having a roof would be a big deal. Mostly it said there were girls there. That didn't quite register in my 7-year-old mind either. Aren't there girls pretty much everywhere?

Soon after I turned 21, I decided to wait for a day with good weather and visit PT's. I could see even before I pulled into the parking lot that it had a roof, so I didn't know if I should be disappointed. I went inside. A nice man at the door checked my ID, collected the cover charge, and explained what a topless bar was in case I didn't know. He also said I could get a drink at the bar and they could break bills for me, then sit at the stage, tip the girls, and have a good time.

I wandered over to the bar, ordered something to drink, and changed most of the money I brought into singles.

There was this really attractive girl dancing at the stage in a skimpy bikini, and only two customers were watching her. I sat down at an empty seat. She said hello and told me her name was Krystal. She told me she did bikini contests in addition to dancing there. I said I bet she wins all those bikini contests, and I gave her a tip. Then she showed me what topless meant. I thanked her and she said to stick around. And during the next song, when I tipped her again, she showed me that PT's could be a bottomless bar too sometimes. As good as she looked in the bikini, I liked how she looked without it.

After Krystal finished on stage, she sat down with another customer and I watched a few other girls on stage. Like Krystal, they all got nude on stage during their last song. Maybe the club had been topless only all those years ago, or maybe topless was a euphemism. Either way, I wasn't going to complain. I had a lapdance with the third or fourth girl to take the stage, which was even more fun. Later, Krystal came over after she'd finished with her other customer and asked if I'd like a lapdance. Krystal's lapdance was even more fun. Lapdances were topless, at least that night.

PT's became my usual place on the St. Louis east side while I was in my 20s, and the rules seemed to relax a bit as I went more often. I saw other girls named Krystal, and other girls who said they did bikini or wet t-shirt contests on the Missouri side, but I never saw the same Krystal from my first visit again. I guess she moved on to another club or another city soon after, and that was too bad. I would have liked to have gotten a nude lapdance and VIP with her.

Sadly, PT's closed after the pandemic. The town of Centreville didn't like being known for clubs, even though they needed the tax revenue. The owner of the chain saw the writing on the wall and closed. Someone else bought the club and operated it for a year or two, but the town of Centreville eventually merged with two other nearby towns so they no longer needed the tax revenue from strip clubs, and that forced the former PT's and its neighbors out of business. PT's Centreville was nicer than a dive club, but not as upscale or as expensive as its sister club Diamond Cabaret, which was more of a gentleman's club. It never got as much love from the Riverfront Times, St. Louis' alternative weekly newspaper, as the Diamond Cabaret or Roxy's did. Roxy's had the reputation for being naughtier, but with both clubs, it really depended on the girl you found and how the two of you vibed. When you found the right girl, at least in my experience, you could get a very similar experience to Roxy's at PT's Centreville while being easier to get to.

The owner of PT's sold its clubs to RCI a few years back, and the PT's-branded clubs have all disappeared from the St. Louis area, either closing or changing names. But PT's clubs do still exist in other states. Yes, there were multiple PT's clubs in the St. Louis area at one point, and all of them had roofs. I did eventually learn that "topless" was referring to the girls, not the building. And I wasn't disappointed.