Detroit Council Approves Strip Club Regulations

There's nothing like shooting yourslf in the foot, unless you reload, and shoot the other foot.

according to fox 2 news, the new regulations go into effect in about 2 weeks, man this sucks.

This looks like the end of an era in Detroit. Hope the suburbs go after tne new business. Detroit clubs will lose customers to the suburban clubs, IF the suburbs provide what Detroit clubs cannot. I wonder how many stops I can make on my farewell tour before the new regs take effect.

You Detroit guys can also cross the tunnel to go to windsor and enjoy their escort loopholes.

"the new regulations go into effect in about 2 weeks"

SuperDude, Drippy, et al - time to make good use of vacation time, sick time, etc. for one last hurrah! Might also be time to start getting names and numbers for future OTC action as dancers look to make up lost income.

Everyone else - ROAD TRIP!

A sad day for The Penthouse Club. I wonder what they will do with that 20 foot tall poster of a scantily clad bombshell which used to adorn their building on the 8 Mile side? Then again what will the valets (who get $7 per car) do when their clientele dries up? Maybe Michigan will help them out they way Oregon does with full service only at gas stations???

I think this will certainly boost the business in the clubs outside of detroit. I personally did not like any of the detroit clubs.....always seemed to be some sort of hangup for me.

Only concern i have is if these regulations may carry over to the out lying areas.

I think many strippers will migrate to the suburb clubs. With the new regs they will not be able to make as much money. How much can they make from just stage tips and air dances? Will their pay-out remain the same even if they can not do LDs. JJ, any thoughts?

Drippy- stage tips and air dances would more than likelyreduce the amount of revenue by at least 75%. I do not offer FS or OTC but I can tell you ALL of my clients want to touch a little and be touched alittle (ok alot). If these regulations are strictly enforced.........I see many of these clubs simply closing down. Relocation will probably not work as liquor lic. arenot easily attained.

Doesnt seem like a good thing for the detroit clubs.............

I could see alot of dancers going elswhere or OTC to makeup the $...I could see the city trying to enforce it so they could get the $ from fines and busting the girls trying more....be careful..

Yes, the Detroit ordinance is changed, but my car still knows how to get me to Inkster, Romulus, Lincoln Park and other ‘burbs that haven’t changed their ordinances (and probably won’t). I’m sure the dancers know how to get Inkster or Romulus, or wherever, dance cards and there will be movement to those clubs. I’ll call it following the money. Judy/judy, I always appreciate your insight on these issues, but here’s a couple more. Last night (at PHC), one dancer who does not do extras, was ecstatic because she thinks she will make money off her personality and looks. “Those skanks who do all the nasty stuff won’t be able to do that any more”, she told me. Another dancer told me she may head to Flight Club. (This is the same dancer who earlier told me that she was tired of “all these guys nickelin and dimin’ me all the time”). I think I will hit all my favorite Detroit clubs in the next 2 weeks and then move on the suburban clubs.

Market forces at work: There will be a glut of disaffected dancers on the market trying to move in on clubs outside of the Detroit city limits. Suburban club managers can become dictatorial in their requirements, i.e. higher tip outs, drink quotas, hours, fines for not showing up, etc. Dancers will become disposable. Lapdances will be available in the suburbs, but high mileage may not. Fewer lapdance clubs and less competition will drive up the prices. Look for increased cover, valet and LD costs. Make the customers settle for LD only, no mileage. This avoids trouble with LE.

Judy/judy is correct--liquor licenses are hard to move, so relocation is not an option. As Detroit clubs lose customers, they will close or convert to some other kind of entertainment--sports bars, dance clubs for the younger crowd or franchise restaurants.

My unscientific hunch is that the club scene will be reduced to a few survivors inside Wayne County but outside the Detroit city limits. They will be pricey, because the number of clubs will not expand and the market will pay a little more to get the action that Detroit just shut down.

If the clubs close, the politicos score points with the elements who supported them. If they don't close, they end up with more revenue from violations. It's a win/win situation for them. They don't, for the most part, actually care about the issue itself, just the votes they get for the next election and the money they get to control.

Sounds like Detroit won't be worth a shit if these rules are enforced. Sad, I got to experience some insane lapdances at Zooks back in my Motor City days. Value was off the charts too.

It will all come down to enforcement. Ohio's state law is almost as restrictive (it did not ban VIP rooms but prohibits any touching) but enforcement has been pretty lax in many places. I think many localities resented the state making such pronouncements and have not delegated LE resources to upholding an unpopular, impractical, and economically counterproductive state law. In a city, however, you have a great deal more scrutiny from the press and the factions who supported the law. They will be all over it for a while, but once the city's attention shifts to other problems (and Detroit has plenty of them) you might find some things slipping under the radar. It might also encourage some good old fashioned bribery, graft, and corruption as well-connected SC's try to get LE and prosecuters to look the other way. It's gonna suck for a while, but maybe not forever. Too bad I never got up that way to sample the action when it was good.

My new theory is that the clubs will receive heat for the first few months from LE but after that, things may slowly get back to normal and LE will will get paid to look the other way while everything gets back into full effect but at a cost, and since we are in a recession, it wont be hard for them to get LE off their backs, my only question is how much more is it gonna cost us in the long run.

DoctorDarby is right about one thing and i have to agree.

LE will only enforce the new rules for a few weeks/months then business may slowly pick back up, because i doubt that the clubs will let all, that potential money drive out to the suburbs, and remember 65% of the people that stay in Detroit don't have a drivers license or its suspended (witch is technically the same thing)so they are not going to risk driving out to the suburbs and getting pulled over and having their car towed and/or possibly arrested just because they wanted extra mileage.

I sometimes forget how we are as a race, we are very resourceful and will keep up whatever bad things that we are doing until we get caught and or fired, so im gonna rest with ease that by spring time, everything will slowly get back to normal.

The only draw back is that a few clubs will close in the beginning, but those will be the clubs that didn't have a chance in the first place and the rest will go down fighting while a few will remain standing, that's just how Detroit is and anybody that live here will tell you the same thing.

The key to a return to business as usual is controlling conduct outside the club. If club owners, bouncers and customers can stop the bad behavior outside, a lot of people will stop worrying about what goes on inside. Club owners are correct that they have no legal responsibility for what a customer does when he walks out the door and/or leaves the parking lot. But as practical matter just trying to do something about bad conduct outside reaps political benefits.

Years ago they had what were called "Blind Pigs" where there was beer and striping. I think some of the girls will be driven to those type of clubs, as well as the suburbs, which will reap greatly from the Detroit verdict. Across the river won't see that much of an increase with the border restrictions in effect now. Oh well, Toy Chest here I come.

It looks like LE is cracking down on clubs in Baltimore as well:

Liquor license of Fells Point strip bar suspended for 1 year Chubbies was found guilty of five violations, including serving alcohol after hours

The city liquor board suspended the license of a Fells Point strip club for one year on Thursday, finding the bar guilty of serving alcohol after hours and not closing by its designated time of 1 a.m.

Chubbies, in the 2000 block of Eastern Ave., was found guilty of five violations at a two-hour hearing at City Hall and will begin serving its suspension April 1. The club, which is undergoing renovations, remains closed after shutting down last fall and will get five months credit for time served.

A lawyer for the club questioned the severity of the suspension. Peter Prevas said other bars have been found guilty of similar charges but not received such a hefty penalty.

The club and its neighbors have been at odds for much of the past decade.

"The neighbors complaining is a contributing factor to the board's sanction," Prevas said.

Once blue-collar, Fells Point over the last 15 years has seen an influx of professionals paying $300,000 or more for rowhouses blocks from the water. Chubbies is in the middle of a mix of businesses and houses and a block away from a Catholic high school.

About a dozen community members attended the revocation hearing. Victor T. Corbin, president of Fells Prospect Community Association, testified that residents have repeatedly complained about late-night parties at the club, including one on the Fourth of July last year.

A city police officer testified that he responded to a call for loud noise at Chubbies in the early morning of July 5 and found customers drinking after hours.

"We would have preferred to have it revoked, but considering the circumstances and how long of a fight we've had, this is better than what we've had in the past," Corbin said. "Maybe [the owner] will decide to relocate and say this is not worth doing business."

Chubbies has existed in some form at that location since the mid 1960s. In 2005, under different ownership, the city liquor board fined Chubbies $3,000 for a series of violations, including inappropriate touching between a dancer and a patron.

Residents have since complained about Chubbies, claiming its workers solicit customers on the street, a practice commonly referred to as 'barking' and generally reserved to clubs on The Block. Chubbies is one of the few strip clubs not located in the 400 block of Baltimore St.

Last April, Dwight McCurdy, the licensee, agreed to get rid of a sandwich sign in front of the club and to not allow his workers to encourage people on the street to come inside. The owner also said he would not hire known sex offenders or anyone who has been convicted of prostitution in the past five years.

Prevas said McCurdy, who failed in his attempt to sell his license last year, has not decided if he will reopen after the suspension.

In other cases, liquor board commissioners fined Circus Bar and Jewel Box — two clubs located on The Block — $1,150 and $1,175, respectively, for violating adult entertainment laws. The clubs were found guilty of letting dancers caress the genital area of patrons.

baltimoresun.com

clubdude, what's with the Coldstream guard taking a piss?

I have recently been advised by two dancers and one club manager that many Detroit clubs are trying to avoid the LE crackdown by eliminating privacy curtains on the VIP booths/rooms. A few clubs have already eliminated VIP rooms altogether. When I told CF that this trend will cause the end of private lap dances, her response was, "No, but it will eliminate extras in Detroit clubs."

The Ohio Laws have definitely taken a lot of the fun away. Most clubs go real strict at first then start to let up. There are some though that stay ruined forever. Sad commentary on a former thriving industry. Now in Ohio some clubs have hardly a third of the dancers they had previously and less than 25 % of the customers. Just look at the Living Room in Dayton or NYNY in Franklin. Not even a shell of the clubs they used to be before the new laws.

OTC business is about to pick up!