Gary

Gary, Indiana used to have a pretty good strip club scene with rampant extras in most clubs. As of late, the scene is going the way of the buffalo. The main reasons are: a city council who are anti-strip club and the drugs and prostitution in the clubs were far from a secret. The town council and local black Baptists pushed to close the clubs down and are placing heavy restrictions on any new ones who dare to open up in Gary. You would think a dying steel town full of abandoned houses would welcome any tax revenue and visitors they could get. Here are a few of the clubs that have closed in the last few years: -CT’s by the airport shut down in July. The building is currently being demolished. -Temptations recently closed down. The owner was trying to secretly sell the building without the dancers knowing about it. -Shangri-La has been shut down for years and is being overgrown by weeds. -There was a bar/lounge called AJ’s back in 2013 that was illegally operating as a black strip club and got shut down. All of these clubs were hit with raids upon which drugs and prostitution were found. There are probably many other strip clubs that I am forgetting that closed in the further past. Gary had always been a town of vice, at one point having over two hundred bars and many brothels. The only two clubs still open in Gary are Scores NWI and Honey’s. Someone bought the old Pandora’s Box and is trying to turn it into a nightclub with bikini dancers called The Man Cave. Apparently the city is not allowing alcohol to be sold at any new clubs unless there is no nudity or toplessness. I drove by The Man Cave a Friday night and there was only one car in the lot. After all, who wants to go to a bikini club? Nearby Fantasy in Hammond has been known to be an “anything goes” peeler palace. They were also raided recently and arrests were made. A stripper and a john were caught fucking when the po-po came with the blitzkrieg. I think things have returned to business as usual. The other two clubs in Hammond are “clean”, I think... If you are ever in Gary, check out 2300 Jackson Street. This is the home that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, grew up in. Another place to check out is 1349 Washington Street. This used to be a brothel owned by Anna Sage frequented by many of the gangsters in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Today an elementary school is at the site. With about a third of the town being abandoned buildings and houses, there is plenty of fare for urban explorers.