Dive clubs

avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69
layin low but staying high
What is a dive strip club? How do you define it? If you can't define it, what are some indisputably dive clubs that might be known by multiple tusclers? What are the characteristics that make those clubs indisputably a dive?

As an example, is Follies day shift a dive club? I don't think of myself as going to dive clubs. But I like Follies.


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avatar for jackslash
jackslash
7 years ago
Bogart's.
avatar for etsutwigg222
etsutwigg222
7 years ago
Anywhere the furniture is older than the dancers.
avatar for wallanon
wallanon
7 years ago
Follies is not a dive club. I'll post a few that are when I get a minute.
avatar for rh48hr
rh48hr
7 years ago
It's small. It doesn't have a lot of glitz or fancy things which define a lot of money was used to make the club look nice.

The dancers could be the waitresses instead of an actual waitresses. A jukebox plays the music instead of a dj.

Those are some things which come to mind.
avatar for ATACdawg
ATACdawg
7 years ago
McDoogal's in Baltimore would definitely qualify.

Ancient furniture, spotty (sometimes very good, sometimes very mediocre) talent, very odd stage layout.

Fantasy Island, Duncannon PA. Adjacent to a truck stop, no stage, just a circle of tables.

And finally, Club Fred, Montoursville PA. Down an industrial road right across the street from the worst Super 8 motel ever. (Not the worst I have ever stayed in, but definitely in the bottom 5!) I just couldn't make myself go in, not even out of pure curiosity. :-/
avatar for Corvus
Corvus
7 years ago
I can't define a dive club but I know one when I see it.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
7 years ago
Dive Club is a group of dedicated divers who meet regularly to talk scuba, plan local dives and dive trips.
avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69
7 years ago
A club adjacent to a truck stop is always a dive.
avatar for rl27
rl27
7 years ago
A small club, often a neighborhood club, little to no glitz or fancy things. Parts of the club are broke. Restrooms are often horrible. May or may not be waitresses. What waitresses there are, are likely old or heavy, often over the hill ex-dancers. One club I was in, there isn't even waitresses, customers and dancers just picked up their drinks and leave the tip in a jar

The dancers you find in the club usually run are one and at most two hot young dancers who bank on the fact they are the hottest their and get a lot more attention than the other dancers. A few 7's or 6's. The rest 5's and less. Lot of older dancers. Club also doesn't put on nearly as much airs. You will also see dancers walking around topless, or sitting at a table topless with a customer smoking a cigarette and relaxing.

There is often no DJ. You also might see a jukebox that the dancers put dollars in to play their sets, or and automated DJ. In some cases the dancers will handle the sound system themselves.

avatar for etsutwigg222
etsutwigg222
7 years ago
Go to most of the Washington Park, IL clubs, Adult World in Harrisburg, PA, or Blue Moon in Phx, AZ.
avatar for RandomMember
RandomMember
7 years ago
Informal place where you can dress casually, let down your hair, and have a drink.

...but there's one goofy guy in the corner wearing white polyester, who's soliciting the dancers and asking them out for dinner at Applebees.
avatar for MrDeuce
MrDeuce
7 years ago
^ Yes! Blondie's, Cheeks, C-Mowe's, Wise Guys, and certainly Dollie's in Washington Park, IL are dive clubs. So are Patty's Showbar, Lenny's, and Paradise Cove in Indianapolis.
avatar for ButterMan
ButterMan
7 years ago
I agree with those Indy dives duece...but don't forget club Venus, harem house and do you remember wild cherry?
avatar for l00ber
l00ber
7 years ago
A dive club is defined by the same characteristics as a dive bar. It's not the quality of the product or the appearance of the staff but rather a minimal attempt at maintaining the physical aspects of the facilities that define a dive. Common characteristics might include furniture that emits a puff of dust when you sit down, a bar/stage that leaves splinters, light fixtures that lack light bulbs, or toilets that give inspiration to Trainspotting.

Dancers might be really hot and engaging at a dive club. The beer and food might be amazing at a dive bar. I have been in dive bars on the west coast that serve doppelbocks and Belgium trippels along with killer ethnic food, but had milk crates and buckets for people to sit on.

A relevant story: I was at Bogart's (in Detroit) on Tuesday night with wongy, Jackslash, and vincemichaels when a mouse ran through and freaked out a number of dancers. The thing is, I don't think Bogart's served food. So the mouse must have been checking out the dancers' menu. *rimshot*
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
7 years ago
100ber, Bogart's does serve food. I have eaten there. But I've never taken a Bogart's dancer--shudder-- to VIP.
avatar for l00ber
l00ber
7 years ago
Yeah, slim pickings for $10 dance day. Even Bogart's dancers had the PHC/FC attitude when we were there this week. I would tip them and ask that they come by after their stage set, and they would slink away to their regulars. Maybe I should have asked the mouse for a dance.
avatar for CouldBe
CouldBe
7 years ago
I agree 100% with MrDeuce on the WP clubs. They were the first ones I thought of when I saw this discussion.
avatar for mark94
mark94
7 years ago
If your shoes stick to the floor, it's a dive club.
avatar for warhawks
warhawks
7 years ago
You know a dive when you walk in. Your feet stick to the floor.
avatar for Tiredtraveler
Tiredtraveler
7 years ago
No bathroom troll LOL.
avatar for beekers
beekers
7 years ago
If I feel like I might not get out of the club unharmed with my wallet, keys and clothes on me, it's a dive in my book. Some of the old Clancy's clubs in DC were like that.
avatar for mark94
mark94
7 years ago
On the other hand, you are in an upscale club if there is anyone who expects a tip besides the dancer and waitress.
avatar for MrDeuce
MrDeuce
7 years ago
ButterMan, I'm [not] embarrassed to admit that I've been to Club Venereal and Buster Wild Cherry a couple of times each -- and to Harem Scarem *many* times :)
avatar for gammanu95
gammanu95
7 years ago
Uncle Paulie's Pub in Glendale Heights, IL
Any club on the west bank in New Orleans- KJs Lounge, Cherry Bombs, the Green Door, whatever the fuck they're called now
avatar for JohnSmith69
JohnSmith69
7 years ago
Ok. I don't go to dive clubs, cause I've never heard of any of the clubs mentioned. Except Bogarts, but that's because Heck lived there and talked about it all of the time.
avatar for ArtCollege
ArtCollege
7 years ago
et says: "Anywhere the furniture is older than the dancers."

No. The true dive club has furniture 30 - 40 years old--but not older than dancers.
avatar for Doces300
Doces300
7 years ago
The vip couches are so worn and so nasty the dancer brings a clean towel to cover it with. No waitresses, no bathroom troll. Old Christmas lights around the stage. No smoking in the club, but three plastic chairs right outside the front door serve as the smoking area.
avatar for chessmaster
chessmaster
7 years ago
The 3 clubs in duncannon PA are dives. Adult world in Harrisburg PA is a dive in the back of a porn store. Adult world had a few decent strippers though.
avatar for warhawks
warhawks
7 years ago
You ask them for a craft beer and they say they have 2 kinds.

Busch and Busch Light.
avatar for datinman
datinman
7 years ago
Dollie's Washington Park IL
Outhouse Lawrence KS
Blue Moon Phoenix AZ
I usually have a lot of fun in dives, but afterwards can't get the shower water hot enough to truly feel clean.
avatar for lizard27
lizard27
7 years ago
Clermont Lounge, Ponce de Leon Ave, Atlanta GA.

/discussion
avatar for chessmaster
chessmaster
7 years ago
"The door girl might give you a BJ at the front door"

That might not be a bad deal since the door girl might be hotter than any of the dancers.
avatar for UGK.22
UGK.22
7 years ago
A dive bar is were old dancer's go to retire
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
7 years ago
^^^^^^^^ Very true. It was like that at our own George's Rockin' Robin. When you see a place where the girls don't make much money, then you know that there is some other reason they are there. If it ain't the parking lot, then it's OTC.

SJG

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Simon's Cat
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avatar for Digitech
Digitech
7 years ago
Dives are dives. It goes beyond just not being a high end club. It has to be genuinely tacky/cheap or even shabby.

A dive club can be a great club or total shit.

Some current and former dives TUSCL members may recognize...

Pleasant Moments in Bridgeport, CT (great)
Chicas Bonitas in Las Vegas, NV (great)
Tropicana Club in Scranton, KS (now closed, but great in its time)
King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea, MA (now closed, but great in its time
Lucky Lady Cabaret in Sweet Springs, MO (total shit)
Aga's in Boston, Ma (total shit)
Crazy Horse in Springfield, MO (now closed but total shit in its time)
avatar for chessmaster
chessmaster
7 years ago
surprised nobody has mentioned talk of the town in Vegas.
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