Rick's strip club to reopen Friday under new owners
samsung1
Ohio
Rick's strip club, shut down in a federal racketeering case more than a year ago, will reopen Friday under new ownership.
The iconic neon sign will again illuminate the street outside the notorious strip joint at 11332 Lake City Way N.E. But Rick's now belongs to the Déjà Vu chain, and is officially renamed "Dreamgirls at Rick's."
The new owners say it's been remodeled, and that they "intend to operate the most beautiful club in the area, attracting the most beautiful women."
"This site has such historic significance, we're looking forward to providing a top-notch Adult Cabaret experience," Club Manager Andy Wallock said in a news release.
A memento of Seattle's seedier past, Rick's was seized as part of racketeering charges against Frank Colacurcio and his son, Frank Jr., and their associates in 2010. Colacurcio was chased by law enforcement for six decades and painted as the Northwest's own organized crime figure. Rick's was one of four clubs shut down after a lengthy investigation into prostitution inside them.
The elder Colacurcio died last year, and his son pleaded guilty, agreeing to forfeit more than $1 million and his interest in four strip clubs and the group's nearby Talents West office, which was auctioned late last month.
In June, Rick's was auctioned for $2.35 million. Soon after remodeling began, an electrical fire torched the ceiling and walls. Firefighters had to cut into the roof to vent billowing smoke.
The fire delayed the reopening, which is now scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/R…
The iconic neon sign will again illuminate the street outside the notorious strip joint at 11332 Lake City Way N.E. But Rick's now belongs to the Déjà Vu chain, and is officially renamed "Dreamgirls at Rick's."
The new owners say it's been remodeled, and that they "intend to operate the most beautiful club in the area, attracting the most beautiful women."
"This site has such historic significance, we're looking forward to providing a top-notch Adult Cabaret experience," Club Manager Andy Wallock said in a news release.
A memento of Seattle's seedier past, Rick's was seized as part of racketeering charges against Frank Colacurcio and his son, Frank Jr., and their associates in 2010. Colacurcio was chased by law enforcement for six decades and painted as the Northwest's own organized crime figure. Rick's was one of four clubs shut down after a lengthy investigation into prostitution inside them.
The elder Colacurcio died last year, and his son pleaded guilty, agreeing to forfeit more than $1 million and his interest in four strip clubs and the group's nearby Talents West office, which was auctioned late last month.
In June, Rick's was auctioned for $2.35 million. Soon after remodeling began, an electrical fire torched the ceiling and walls. Firefighters had to cut into the roof to vent billowing smoke.
The fire delayed the reopening, which is now scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/R…
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This past Wednesday night, I was in Little Darlings and a dancer there, who will now work at the new club seemed to think that what was the former VIP room will have a price tag of three dances for $100. I'm not expecting this new club to be like the old Rick's. It will probably just be another, but fancy, Deja Vu club. (Yawn.) It's always been my experience that any new strip club, anywhere, is very careful and cautious in its first year of opening. After that, they tend to loosen up. Here in Seattle, Club Sin Rock is an example. I was just there Wednesday night also, and things are a little more enjoyable now.
Owned by Deja Vu?!? No thank you.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Talents…
You really had to dig to find my old review. That visit sucked. The Vu on the 2nd floor (at the Fish Market) was MUCH BETTER!!! Also liked the new (had just opened) Lil Darlins (just north of downtown).
What comes to mind was the scene at the old Rick's: 19-yr old guys sitting in the front row with no money sipping soda, watching the full nude stage dancing. The hostess seated us near that scene and we were almost attacked by the starved dancers (assumption made we were older and had money). I almost lost a nipple on a sneak attack.
I think the club would do better to offer the choice of $30. individual dances in the room where it's currently priced 3/$100. Without this, a customer either has a $20. choice, or a $100. choice. Something in between might be a good offering, just like at up the street.
Though even at that, it isn't as bad as the last time I was in the Louisville DV. They wanted *three* hundred for that15 minute room.
Did they run any of their flashing blue light 2-for-1 dance specials while you were there?
No dance specials at the new Vu?!? If ever there again I'll have to make like the 19 yr olds: spend little, but sit in the front row and drool...
1. Honor your employer. The company is giving you a job. You would do well to respect that and at least some of the time, do something nice for your employer, like give customer dances on the specials. It doesn't have to be for all of the specials, just some of them. If a club manager sees a dancer consistently avoiding the specials, I would wonder what that manager thinks of that dancer.
2. As CTQ. alluded to above, I feel the dancers who do seek out customers for the specials are smart. Although the dancer is making less money during that moment, maybe a dancer who gives a special will get a special customer in the long run. I certainly like it when the specials are on. I've met many new dancers during specials, that I am now a regular of. Consumers like a bargain now and then. The dance specials are just that, a deal to get you interested in the company's product.
The Wrap by Ron Judd
Seattle Times staff columnist
Our long regional nightmare may finally be over.
For three years, we've all been thirsting for a sign that the global economy is on the rebound. And boom, here it is.
Not those record Boeing orders. A grand reopening in little old Lake City.
The return of Rick's Nightclub, the former establishment of the late indicted racketeer Frank Colacurcio Sr., is as firm a sign as you'll find that Americans — at least those of the skeezy variety — finally have loose, dispensable singles in their pockets again.
We wonder, though, why the new owners chose to associate with the joint's criminal past by calling the strip club "Dreamgirls at Rick's" — a name also completely lacking in imagination.
In keeping with our long tradition of just trying to help, we offer a selection of clearly superior marquee choices:
• Rick's Chris Striphouse.
• The Experience Mammaries Project.
• T & A Supply. (Oops, sorry, already taken.)
• The Implantation.
Except that technically in many cases, they are not in fact giving the girls a job, they're giving them the shaft. True, they're letting the girls work there, but they aren't employed, and the fees many clubs charge are outrageous. Many clubs make more off the girls than the girls make.
It's one of the reasons why OTC offers work as often as they do. For me, anyway.