When and Where Did Lap Dancing Begin?

avatar for Club_Goer_Seattle
Club_Goer_Seattle
Seattle, Washington
(In strip clubs, that is. Perhaps some well known ancient and amorous civilizations such as Romans or Greeks invented it, but I'm talking about modern day strip clubs:)

WHERE ??? I have heard it said that modern day lap dancing in strip clubs was a Canadian invention. Can any of you Canadian contributors speak to this?

WHEN ??? 1992 for me. I first noticed lap dancing about 1992 in L.A. My local clubs were those in the San Fernando Valley, then. I do remember the exact club where I first noticed it: The (then) Oddball Cabaret (later Valley Ball Cabaret, now Bare Elegance) in Van Nuys, CA. I recall $30. was the standard price at first, and not just in that club. Customers had to keep their hands behind their backs! The term “mileage” or the phrase, “YMMV,” hadn't been created yet.

In those early years modern strip clubs were emerging from the prior generation of “topless bars.” These were really neighborhood beer bars that, over time, added a small stage for bikini or topless dancers. (No stripper pole yet—that seemed to come with full blown strip clubs.) Maybe just three or four dancers would rotate on stage. When they weren't dancing, they were waitresses. There was no cover, a beer was cheap, and all you could really do otherwise, to spend money, was to tip the dancers on stage.

Once lap dancing became the main attraction, most of those old neighborhood topless bars faded away. I know of a few in the San Fernando Valley that converted to strip clubs, but the space they could devote to lap dancing was minimal, mostly.

Is anyone aware of lap dancing prior to 1992, if so, where ??? Perhaps there was a progression of where it started and where it migrated across North America ???

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avatar for DeusAlea
DeusAlea
14 years ago
You should read this blog http://stripclubhound.blogspot.com, it's excellent! He talks about his experience as a stripclub manager, as well as his own experiences at SCs. Among other things, he talks about how it was going to SCs in the 80s, and what the lapdances were like then. I can't remember which post touched that subject, but all his posts are a great read so I suggest you read them all.
avatar for Club_Goer_Seattle
Club_Goer_Seattle
14 years ago
Thanks DeusAlea, I am well-acquainted with the Strip Club Hound! Yes, I agree, his writings (and guest writers) are fantastic! I have read the entire blog! (Maybe I should read it again.) He won't fess up as to which club he was the manager of, but, if you're familiar with L.A. strip clubs, I'm certain he was the manager of the Jet Strip. Several things he's mentioned would isolate that club as the one he managed.
avatar for londonguy
londonguy
14 years ago
That was interesting reading DeusAlea, thank you.
avatar for mmdv26
mmdv26
14 years ago
They were doing lap dances at Bachelors III in Kansas City, KS in 1987. Straight-backed cafe chairs along one wall. Had to keep your hands by your side, but if you were careful, and the girl was game, you could touch the outer thigh. The club moved to a new location in '88 or '89 where the lappers were done in booth like you would find in a diner. The girls wedged in between you and the table, and rubbed her goods on your lower belly, and what ever else happened to be sandwiched in there. Got my first HJ (inside the pant) there! By '88 or '89, there were several other clubs in KCK doing basically the same thing as B3.
avatar for Velcro
Velcro
14 years ago
Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco lays claim as the originator of the lap dance in the 70s. This wiki article doesn't say so, but I've read it in different places that I can't find in the minute I have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Br…
avatar for SuperDude
SuperDude
14 years ago
First heard about laps in Detroit in the early 1980s, but I was not going to clubs back then. LE tried to stop laps, with limited success, in the mid '80s according to newspaper reports. At this time Windsor, Ontario, Canada--all nude--was strictly no contact table dancing. Contact laps in Detroit kept the dollars on the U.S side of the border. Windsor retaliated with legal escorts. All of this is legend.
avatar for Dudester
Dudester
14 years ago
In the early 1980's I hung out at a SC in downtown San Diego. In 1981, a "bed dance" was offered for 25.00 for 3 minutes. If your take home pay was 360.00 a month, 25 was a lot of money (I didn't partake). One night, a bunch of us watched (with gleeful anticipation) as a sailor went with a stunner to go in the private room for the bed dance (it was a private room-with a door). He was in there for 10-15 minutes, emerging with a dejected look. The girls at the club told us that no contact was allowed.
avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong
14 years ago
I distinctly remember getting lapdances, with little contact allowed, in the early 80s, but I don't think I could remember where. Aside from Western NY, that is.
avatar for gatorfan
gatorfan
14 years ago
Eve plopped her ass on Adams apple
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
14 years ago
Clubs used to pay dancers to perform on stage, and they danced either topless or nude but not on customer laps. You could tip the girls on stage and sometimes the girls would drink with you at your table. I think it was in the 1980's that I first saw dancers come off the stage and dance at the customers' tables. In Canada in the 80's I got table dances from nude dancers (no contact allowed), and you paid the girls directly for these dances. Then in the US, lap dances started at the customers' tables, where the girls were topless and sat in your lap. You could not touch them with your hands. The club owners figured out that they could get away without paying the dancers, and the dancers found they could make more money from tips than from wages. Sometime in the 1990's I first encountered "Champagne Rooms" or "VIP Rooms", which offered more privacy and more contact. Later clubs added private booths or rooms, and then the era of extras began.

I don't know where the first lap dances occurred, but I don't think I had one before the late 1980's.
avatar for rl27
rl27
14 years ago
The earliest I recall having experienced a lap dance in Ohio was 1992 or 1993, in Cleveland. I recall reading about them in as early as 1986 in Tampa Florida. The first I heard about them in Ohio was around 1988, again in Cleveland.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
14 years ago
Like Club_Goer, I grew up in So. Cal. and experienced the same topless bar maids that he did, etc. Of course we did go to TJ back in the 60's, which was a totally different game. My first recolection of a lap dance was at Danny's in Memphis TN around 1990. They were done on wooden charis out in the open and I couldn't believe that touching was allowed.
avatar for sandyman
sandyman
14 years ago
They were giving table dances in Memphis back in the late 70's. I can't remember if they were bikini or topless.
avatar for harrydave
harrydave
14 years ago
Sorry guys. History buffs have uncovered ample evidence, from preserved bodies positioned in familiar poses in excavated peat bogs, that lap dances originated over 400 years ago in northern Europe. The explanation is that long winters in northern latitudes led to promiscuity, drunkenness, and broad experimentation in sexual activities. The consensus theory is that lap dances were invented in Finland around 1625. To this day, the people there are known as "Laplanders".
avatar for inno123
inno123
14 years ago
Most people credeit the invention of Lap Dances in clubs to Mitchell Brothers O'Farrel Theatre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_dancing
avatar for minnow
minnow
14 years ago
My first experience- Mons Venus, Tampa, 1990. It had probably been going on for a few years there already. I've "heard" that LD's as we've known them 1st happened in Houston in early 80's.
avatar for looneylarry
looneylarry
14 years ago
Nice one, harrydave. Lengthy set-up, but good payoff.
avatar for steve229
steve229
14 years ago
"I have heard it said that modern day lap dancing in strip clubs was a Canadian invention."

Canadian invention? You were grossly misinformed. Sheesh!

avatar for Clubber
Clubber
14 years ago
Agree with looney, but still an interesting topic. I recall the earliest in the late 80's, or perhaps early 90's.
avatar for Otto22
Otto22
14 years ago
First LDs I ever experienced were in Memphis 1982. All the clubs near the airport seemed to offer them, pretty high mileage too.
avatar for Prim0
Prim0
14 years ago
First Lap Dance Ever.... http://www.bmoviegraveyard.com/reviews/O…

My first lap dance experience was probably the one I had at Mons Venus back in the late 1990s. Haven't really had one as good as that since I've lived in Cbus!
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
14 years ago
I have to side with the group that is leaning towards the early 1980's rather than those that are saying late 80's/early 90's.

I remember going to the Peek-a-boo Lounge in Bradenton, Florida in 1980/1981. Perhaps not a lap dance per se, but for five bucks the dancer would stand up in your booth and put her boobs in your face and you were allowed to cup her ass.

But I really cut my teeth on strip clubs in Indianapolis in the early to mid 80's. Most of the clubs offered private table dances, but they were no contact, all air. Still, they were exciting for the day.

My first real friction lap dances were in Michigan in the late 80's and my first "touch" dances were also at the Mons Venus in the late 90's.




avatar for sandyman
sandyman
14 years ago
The clubs in Biloxi, MS were pretty wide open back in the 70's. I don't remember getting lap dances, but I do remember having dancers sitting in my lap and offering extras. One club had a marquee sign for years that announced a featured dancer named Ophelia Twat.
avatar for farmerart
farmerart
14 years ago
I had no clue about lap dances and all the rest until April, 2010.
avatar for yndy
yndy
14 years ago
My first was in fall 1982 at "Trader Vic's" or "Tom's"? in Gainesville, Florida. When dancer asked if I wanted one, I asked what it was. She replied "A dry f*ck." I think it was $10, then A LOT of money for me. I likely got only one (out in the open in an non-comfy wooden chair). I did return many months later and she remembered me.

Bc I was much younger then w/similar age gfs, I don't think I had my next one until ~1995!
avatar for WetWilly
WetWilly
13 years ago
I did my first set of lap dances in the mid 1990's, soon after my divorce. Tampa, Florida, believe it or not it was not Mons Venus I used to frequent, but two other places: The Tanga Lounge over on the Causeway, and a place called Sweethearts in Clearwater, since sold and renamed Personality's.

They were real lap dances back then, lots of grinding, plenty of happy endings, and all in all, very much like modern day dances in the more liberal places.

Since then, things have only gotten better across the nation.
avatar for JuiceBox69
JuiceBox69
13 years ago
I was born n the 80s damn son ! The first ld was when my fat asss walked n lol !
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