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Hustler Detroit going PG-13??

A recent afternoon visit to Hustler Detroit featured a short middle-aged man in baggy Levi jeans with a microphone and a questionable sense of humor. According to the staff, he was from "corporate headquarters." He was running around the dance floor arranging for promotional events, such as dollar dances (not a bad idea in that it increases interaction between the dancers and the customers) and promoting something that he called "cooter ball." Cooter ball involves several dancers sitting on stage holding a shot class in front of their bikinis while he encouraged encouraged a small group of male patrons to throw folded dollar bills at the shot glass. Any patron who "scored" got a shot poured down his throat. Cooter ball reminded me of a really bad college drinking game and most of the club customers simply stared in disbelief at the group of patrons who were throwing dollars around and consuming copious amounts of liquor.

Even more disturbing, I heard reports that the guy from corporate headquarters was planning to remove all the doors from the VIP area (one of the best features of this club) in an effort to curb any "fun" that might occur between consenting adults in the privacy of those VIP dance areas. I also heard unconfirmed reports that he had spied on a dancer and customer who were having too much fun in the VIP. He entered the room unannounced and fired the dancer and had the bouncer toss the customer from the club.

On my way out of the club I offered my opinion of the "improvements" that he was pursuing-- my comment was something like, I'll direct my business to other clubs that are more respectful of privacy and more permissive of fun between consenting adults-- Detroit area has a good collection of such strip clubs. His reply was Hustler is the most successful men's club in the U.S. and we're going to make sure that nothing illegal is going on here. I found this ironic (feel free to insert a harsher word) coming from a man who had just spent 20 minutes pouring alcohol shots down the throats of patrons who then left the club inebriated to drive the Detroit freeways. Ah yes, he was a paragon of corporate responsibility and marketing savvy.

So it appears that Hustler Detroit could be morphing into a PG-13 club-- no private lap dances and very limited fun. It reminds me of my experience at the only other Hustler club that I've visited, Hustler Baltimore, where I was yelled out by the lap dance gestapo for touching a dancers hips while in the VIP (the dancer had encouraged me to do so). I find this culture shift at Hustler to be especially ironic because the founder of Hustler, Larry Flynt, was famous for legal battles to uphold free speech and to liberalize obscenity laws. Larry is still alive and, if he is not senile, I hope that someone tells him that his clubs are well on the way to senescence and irrelevance. I hope that the changes do not materialize but if they do I'll certainly take my business elsewhere. I never thought that Hustler would digress so much as to make their other corporate competitor Deja Vu look down right cutting edge.


So, if your idea of a great night out is a PG-13 topless club that promotes sophomoric games, then by all means, Hustler is for you. Me? I'll be spending my money elsewhere and hoping that the club and its corporate parent files for chapter 11 and sells the facility to someone who can run a strip club.