In the winter of 1993, Dave Jackson (not my real name) was thirty-two, newly divorced, and freshly unemployed, sitting in the half-empty parking lot of the Pink Pony on Buford Highway with divorce papers still warm in the glovebox. The club’s neon bled pink across the windshield while he nursed a vodka he couldn’t taste. A dancer named Cinnamon asked if he wanted company; he heard himself answer, “I just want to know the rules.” She laughed and said there weren’t any, and something in him snapped awake. That night he bought a ninety-eight-cent spiral notebook and began writing down everything that actually mattered: which clubs had safe parking, which bouncers earned their tips, which girls would talk about real life if you shut up and listened. It was supposed to be private, a survival map for a country that had revoked every other visa he owned.
By the following spring the notebook had multiplied into four, then a shoebox, then a filing cabinet that smelled like bar smoke and desperation. Divorced programmer friends started begging for photocopies; strangers in AOL chat rooms mailed him handwritten reviews from Tampa and Vegas. Dave spent nights at Kinko’s feeding dimes into the copier until the clerk knew his order by heart. One drunk evening in 1994 he registered theultimatestripclublist.com for thirty-five bucks because every clever name was taken and he figured the site would die quietly anyway. It didn’t. Within weeks the guestbook filled with reports from men who sounded exactly like him two years earlier—lost, broke, and grateful someone had finally drawn the map.
The message board went live on phpBB in early 2000, maroon background, stolen flaming-skull GIFs, rules pinned at the top in angry ALL-CAPS: no real names, no creepshots, no bullshit. They shortened the name to TUSCL because no one wanted to type the whole thing sober. Men who would never speak in daylight confessed everything here: the dancer who cried about her sick kid in the champagne room, the club that felt like church on Tuesdays, the one that felt like a crime scene on Fridays. They argued over mileage ratings like monks over scripture and built a country out of shared loneliness. Dave moderated at 3 a.m. between contract gigs, banning the worst and promoting the best, writing new commandments every time the world tried to break the place.
By 2005 the site paid the rent and then some. A reporter called it “the Yelp of stripping”; Dave told her it was a lighthouse for guys who thought they were the only ones drowning. The quote never ran, but traffic tripled anyway. Advertisers—energy drinks, bail bondsmen, a lawyer who only did DUIs—kept the servers humming. Old-timers swore the soul was gone; new kids flooded in wanting hidden-camera videos. Dave walked the same tightrope for twenty years, tweaking the rules, killing the pop-ups, trying to keep the signal louder than the noise.
Some nights he still drives past the old Pink Pony, now a Korean church with the same neon cross it once used for sin. The notebook that started it all sits in a safe deposit box, pages yellow and curling. TUSCL is older now than Dave was when he founded it, a sprawling, contradictory republic of reviews and regrets. He never meant to build a monument, just a private map out of the dark. Turns out the dark had a lot of other people in it, and they all needed the same damn directions.
Comments (30)Latest
Cool 😎 Someone had to do it. Ya done good.
Now we know. Ya done great.
Thank you for your service
And to think Follies was right up the road…
Lemons into Lemonade
TUSCL...A valuable service to mankind.
Re: "... the old Pink Pony, now a Korean church..."
Great article!
I think the Pink Pony you're referring to is still there? I also sat in that parking lot in 1993, my relocation papers to Atlanta still warm in the glovebox. I unfortunately didn't a significant epiphany like you, but have enjoyed going ever since - longer than most of today's dancers have been alive.
Not an Article. Should be posted on Discussion Board. (Kidding, kidding. Thanks much for the site!)
Thanks for the history, and for creating a great source of info without the advertising popups that litter most websites these days. Keep on "keeping the signal louder than the noise"!
Hey founder man it definitely strip clubs more fun. Being able to share the stories with fellow mongers. BTW I always you were an LA guy not an Atlanta guy, I guess I was off, must be the dodger fan thing.
Excellent
That was awesome...
They always say you should pursue your passion.
Enjoyed the article. Thanks. Well written.
Thanks, founder. I'd almost put your story up there with Southwest Airlines being hatched on a cocktail napkin by a Philadelphia lawyer who wanted to do something else.
An outstanding read. Thanks for all you do founder!
Thanks, founder ! The site is well appreciated 👍🏻
I get a chuckle out of that, because it sounds like something a software developer would do. I know I use sites like these to compile results and build a list of places. Ones to check out, what to expect, ext.
I have grown tired of sitting around bored, and have started to experimenting more with life, and this is on my radar for my next venture. This site has thankfully given me the information I need (sadly not a ton to pick from, seems my state isn't the best, but at least I have a better understanding of those locations, how they work, and what to expect)
...and we are glad, and thankful. Sometimes the most unexpected thing is what really clicks, isn't it? And it is especially good to see how TUSCL has endured through so many years by staying true to your vision. Here's to what may yet come!
Loved the back story of the sites creation. I especially liked that it started as a series of notes to yourself. I have used it in many locations and have had some interesting experiences because of it. Kudos
Great story, great site.
We should nominate Founder for a "Noble Piece Prize" for adding joy to the world.
Thanks for the history lesson! Some good things can come out of a divorce!
Happy Anniversary, titty bar website!
Always appreciated
Was it 2000 that the message board went live? I would have sworn it was a couple of years earlier! I was on, under a different name, in the early years. The SF SC community was always large and tech-savvy, and for years we'd drifted around a few different message boards, before we ultimately found Redbook in the 2000s and that remained our home. I don't remember all the boards we drifted around to, one of them was definitely yelp's old terrible message boards.
Anyway, for a year or two we all came to tuscl. It was a pretty simple text-based interface as I remember. Ultimately we found REdbook as I mentioned, and then Nightshift, and then FOSTA/SESTA blew that up and the SF SC community has never reconstituted. A recognize a few old names here, on various hobbyist forums that have SC subforums, on reddit, etc
Just saw this article! Thanks for all of your efforts!
Thanks, cool story. I like hearing about how a business actually started, sometimes with low expectations and turns into a profitable business. Sadly sometimes the exact opposite.
Great history. I have enjoyed your creation for many years. Great job 👍
Loved hearing about TUSCL origin.
Great story, buddy’s would tell me I need to write a book on strip clubs. Nope TUSCL IS HERE! Thanks
I’ve been consulting TUSCL for decade. Thank you, “Dave."