Shifting urban demographics putting the squeeze on Minneapolis strip clubs

Sorry to stereotype, but Minnesotans are known to be more educated per capita than most other regions of the U.S. The remark how the Internet has changed the adult entertainment scene holds true when anyone with intelligence can filter out what they seek at a touch of the button, and they don't have to piss away their hard earned money on a $20 air dance. Especially when it's zero degrees outside and you need to wear an Eskimo suit into the club, which isn't conducive for lap dances.

Strippers in Phoenix may complain about giving $10 lao dances to guys in t-shirts and shorts, but they never complain about the # of customers to choose from.

"Most of the money is made from a stable of high-spending clients, regulars who come in for one-on-one time with a certain dancer the way hairstylists draw their own clients to a salon. Just one regular spends enough in two days to pay the property taxes on the place, said Lane, the DJ and manager"

In my area the SCs tend to be in places where families with kids are not going to go. Like areas with B2B warehouse stores.

The biggest issue is that Minneapolis strip clubs suck.

@Meat72 I was born and raised in the North West suburbs of Minneapolis, and I can guarantee we are no smarter than the rest of the US population. I don't live there now but some of my best customers are in St. Paul and they are morons (maybe that is why they are my customers).

Is the stabbing that happened overnight from the Choice club mentioned in this article? How ironic!

When growing up I never would have entered the N Minneapolis area, but since the liberals (there are proportionately way too many in MN) have invaded the area it has become a lot different scene nowadays. I still would only patronage the place for ball games, dinner, and some night life, but definitely not the strip clubs. Like I said, the intelligent ones will spend their money in other ways, which contributes to the decline. Also thuggish behavior....

Like they say, "artists are the shock troops of gentrification". Once you have them, then these urban areas become chick, and pretty soon it will be yuppies. And then conservative yuppies, and so sex districts go. This nothing new.

Thanks for posting the article.

SJG

The prevailing wisdom seems to be that liberals don't mind SCs and conservatives do. I've always found this simplistic. Liberals don't mind SCs in theory but when it is in their neighborhood, they become outraged. The libertarian wing of the conservatives doesn't mind SCs. Hell, we think they should sell pot there as well. It's only the social conservatives who have an issue.

Downtown cabaret has good reviews

I can understand adult-oriented businesses not being liked/allowed in residential areas – allowing them in commercial/industrial areas of a city seems like a fair compromise and better than banning them everywhere in a city.

What I have read in multiple places is that when it comes to SC's and also to straight out prostitution:

1. Conservatives see the woman as an outlaw and social menace. ( Read the newspaper articles about PP Greenville SoCar, see how they are being presented )

2. Liberals will try to portray the woman as a victim, and ongoing business as a criminal social menace. So then who to prosecute? Since it can't be the woman, or not only the woman, it might be the customers. But with a strip club, that cuts into too broad a slice of the electorate. So with strip clubs they prosecute the owners. But not being first person involved in the action, these are the hardest people to convict.

Nevertheless, when Diane Feinstein was Mayor of SF, she tried to convict Jim and Artie Mitchell. But these guy's aren't chicken. They never were in it just for the money. It was always a matter of principle for them. They beat the wrap.

So when the liberal Terence Hallinan was San Francisco DA, he announced that he was not going to worry at all about what went on in strip clubs or AMPs, as being indoor venues and as the women being victims, it was better to let these flourish as they were safer than the street.

But as for the street, he went beyond all previous limits in cracking down. But he went more after the clients. He was able to do this by bringing out this pre-trial diversion program, the Norma Hotaling Program.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/No…

So Johns, being caught in an embarassing situation, were pleading guilty in legions like never before seen. So really Hallinan was not soft of prostitution at all. It just had to be indoors.

Anyway, he is out, and the first thing his successor did was send undercovers into Market St. Cinema. She made busts, but as these were only of dancers, she didn't prosecute. In San Francisco prosecuting only the women would be political suicide. And getting the club owners will always be very difficult. But they've got what they want now, Market St. Cinema is long gone.

SJG

Dizzy Gillespie - Blues After Dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jPpYFc…

On a similar note, my CF at my home club mentioned that she's been dancing for 4 years and that her clientele has moved from predominately blue collar to predominately white collar.