strip clubs of the past

"For those who have been going to clubs for awhile and have not just recently started going, how were strip clubs in the past better than they are now?"

I don't think they were better. Just different. In ways, the lack of an internet, social media, and even GPS (no... the other one) made it easier to stay anonymous way back when, both for customers and dancers.

"As a followup question, would it be possible to return to whatever you thought of or have societal or technological changes, e.g. using the internet to find women, made it difficult or impossible?"

Nope. It's impossible.

"Also, if you think strip clubs are better now then how are they better?"

Again, I don't think they're better now. Just different. But, a big difference is that I'm smarter now about how I navigate strip clubs. So, clubs today are better for me.

It’s hard for me to say, because I’m older and wealthier now, so things that were unnecessary 20 years ago (paying for sex) and impossible 20 years ago (dropping $400 on dances in a night ), are now common for me. There are probably just as many extras clubs in seattle as there were in the 90’s, though the ownership is different. Social media is poorly maintained for the clubs I go to, so the experience is still down to time, place, and chance.

Going to a club used to be a bigger deal. Naughty. Mysterious. Secret. We were more appreciative of the limited contact we got.

I agree with C.M.I. Clubs now aren't "better", or "worse" for that matter. They are different.

I've never had a problem finding what I wanted in a club, it just took longer back then because of the lack of the kind of technologies we have now. A burn phone didn't even exist back in the 70s when I started clubbing, nor did the easy ways to contact dancers, such as facebook, instagram, and snapchat, that we have now.

There are ebbs and flows depending on how the local governments will allow them to operate. I lived in Houston Texas for years starting in the 80's. Back then, clubs like Treasuries, Centerfolds, The Men's Club and the St James were sheer and utter Heaven. Gorgeous women, wonderful surroundings, and hardly any rules. They were a major reason that many conventions and international travelers came to Houston. Then a certain Lesbian Mayor decided that she didn't like them. Put in all kinds of new rules, and almost got them shut down. After she left office, the new administration was a lot more tolerant and they have gradually come back to life.

Right now, you go to Miami and you get some of the same feeling. I LOVE going clubbing in the Miami area. So reminds me of Houston in the 80s and 90's. I'm enjoying it now, but if some political figure wants to make it a campaign, they could get shut down.

My answers are specifically about Detroit area clubs.

What is worse today: Costs of all kinds have increased. Cover charges, valet parking, VIP fees, drinks, lap dances and other stripper charges. Also the City of Detroit cracked down. The famous Penthouse Club is closed and rules are enforced in Detroit clubs.

What is better today: In the Detroit suburbs, extras are even easier to get (although at an increased cost).

I think mileage and availability of extras peaked about 5 years ago. Since then it has been getting harder (the quest, not the tool!) even at extras clubs. In Atlanta at least, several of the notorious extras clubs are gone. I don't think it was because of the extras but they happened to be the ones located where local government decided they did not want strip clubs. That pressure continues.

Going WAY back, there were great areas for somewhat raunchy clubs that oozed extras. These are either totally gone or a ghost of their former greatness. the Combat Zone, the Baltimore Block and the San Francisco clubs come to mind. Tampa has gone downhill. I have not been in a long time but reading reviews I think Dallas and Houston are way off their peaks of 10-15 years ago.

politics (local and also state / national) can really change things both for the worse and also the better. it depends so much on political pressure, management rules and the laws. right now it seems to be not quite as good as I seen it some other times. but I’m hoping for less laws and less restrictions.

i’ve seen so many changes (both good and bad)here in the USA and also Mexico. I wish we could just have it out more in the open instead of hypocritical prudish behavior and belief that some have. freedom. liberty. as long as it is not hurting others.

keep in mind “most women like the money for the interaction and most men like the interaction for the money.”

I agree with Ishmael - as things are different - and I don’t think there’s any way it could go back to the old club days.

Back in my younger days - I was blown away by the hotness of the dancers - and the party atmosphere of the strip clubs. I could see how guys could get very involved in the lifestyle and blow lots of money.

That was before cellular technology. Finding your favorite dancer was highly dependent on the dancers reliability. There were dancers who would work 3 nights a week - and maybe they’d show up for 2 shifts.

There was a paper called Mentertainment that you could pick up at some clubs. It wasn’t very useful for true mongers. I remember a buddy always had a copy under the drivers seat in his car.

So far I agree with all the comments. However, most of the comments seem to be discussing whether clubs are better or worse in terms of the availability of extras in the club or outside the club. This is an important factor. What I am seeing here in Indianapolis is something of a crackdown on extras but it seems to go beyond that. There is a general decline in the clubs overall.

This may just be specific to Indianapolis. We have always been a conservative state with a lot of people who don't like strip clubs. This was offset, though, by liberals who believed in sexual freedom. This included the right of customers to go to clubs and women to make the career choice to work in them. In recent years many liberals have switched to the opinion that strip clubs engage in the sexual exploitation of women. They have allied with fundamentalist conservative types (talk about strange bedfellows) to put pressure on government officials to close clubs. Rather than do that, they have used licensing and zoning laws to prevent any new clubs from opening for the past 25 years. The result of that is that almost all the clubs are old clubs surrounded by declining neighborhoods. This decline has spilled over into the clubs and you see more drug dealing, fights and even shootings at the clubs. This has driven off many middle class customers who would have money to spend. High quality girls, meaning girls who are physically attractive, have plenty of career options and working in a dangerous club where they make little money is pretty far down the list. Many of the clubs are losing money. The number of clubs in Indianapolis has dropped from about 20 ten years ago down to about a dozen now. I'm finding the girls in the remaining ones don't look very good. All the clubs have also switched to a rap music format to appeal to their new customer base and sitting through that is painful for an old white guy like me. I've been cutting back on my club trips recently. I don't know if this same type of slow strangulation of clubs is happening in any other cities since I don't really travel.

so, i've been hittin' the strip clubs since the early 90s. IMO, here's what's different, if we're comparing yesteryear with today's strip clubs:

*back then, the generally accepted prices for some things were different. if i remember correctly, lap dances around my way were $1.00--PER SONG. just a dollar. (then again, i wasn't visiting any 'fancy' or pricey gentlemen clubs; i hit up the local 'hood spots.) but, again, pocket money back in the early 90's was different. back then, gas was less than a $1.00, itself. and my very first job, in the early 90s, i think i was making $3.25 an hour--as a local teen working at the supermarket. if not less. so, yeah, $1 per song for lapdances in the 'hood stripclubs was par for the times, IMO. i remember in the late 90s watching my drunk friend spend $100 at a stripclub (by the end of the night) and i personally was shocked. until that point, i hadn't known anyone personally who spent $100 at a stripclub by the end of the night. (again, this is just my experience as someone who hit up strip joints, not visiting pricey gentleman clubs). after a few nights where my buddy spent $100 a night at the strip club (by the end of the night), they started giving him his own table. they even made a cake for him when it was his birthday. they found out his birthday. i couldn't believe it. i'd never seen that before. i won't forget that because i was SO jealous. here i was, someone who had gone to strip clubs since the early 90s, yet i take my buddy during the late 90s years later, he spends a total of $100 at like 3 different times at the strip clubs, drunk off his ass, and after that, the club treated him like VIP from thereafter calling him by his first name and what not. i'd been going to strip clubs for years by that point and no one ever noticed me like that. again, this is my experience. because until then, i hadn't spent more than $30 at a stripclub.

*back then there were more strip clubs around than today, it feels like. and you'd hear of a 'new' club popping up, more back then. when's the last time you heard of a new club?

*back then, the music was different (in the early 90s). the style of music was more dance-oriented. so, back then, IMO, in the early 90s, girls could DANCE. felt like everybody could basically dance. naturally dance. music was more danceable. so, stripper spots felt like a good party. you heard dance music, you saw ladies actually dancing. it visually kept your interests up.

*back then, (for me), man, strip clubs were FILLED with people. filled with patrons. i remember nights where it was kinda standing-room only. all the seats were long gone. i miss that. nobody likes crowds. but for some reason, at a strip club, i didn't mind. i loved it because i knew that the dancers didn't just depend on me and me alone to get paid.

*back then, (for me) girls would wear more riskier & interesting outfits. i remember one night a girl wearing a c-string. it was like a tiny patch of velcro on her crotch in the front. but her entire ass and entire backside were completely naked and void of any type of clothing or straps or strings, or anything at all. she was giving out lapdances like that. back in the day, for me, there was a point in the 90s where all i saw were g-strings galore. thongs. or my personal favorite, at the 'hood strip clubs i hit up, girls just walking around in thongs only--no top. tiddies out, no bra. it was a different time. i loved it when girls would wear g-strings, but pull their g-string down so half their butt was naked, the other half their butt had the g-string. there was a point where i'd see that all the time. loved it.

*back then, it feels like there were more weird strip club gimmicks to attract customers. like foxy-boxing. one 'hood strip club i hit up had a open shower installed on stage and you'd watch the girls shower on-stage. i loved that. and you may think, blah, blah, blah, i've seen showers in the stripclub. um, here's the difference. for some unknown reason, this particular shower strip club was open during daytime hours. so, i'd be there at noon, watching a naked girl taking a shower on-stage. noon on a tuesday. WTF! times were so different back then. i don't know how buinesses like that supported themselves. that strip club only lasted a few months when i discovered it, but before i did, it was around for a little while. also, "lock-door" strip club parties, which i hear started in the 80s. there were still around during the 90s. i kept missing those because i ran outta money by the time they started. and it was like you'd heard it: lock-door party, where the management would lock the doors so noone else could come in and it's whatever going on inside. gosh, so much could go wrong with that. today's times wouldn't much stand for that. another strip club in the 'hood literally advertised they gave BJs--because they just opened and figured this was a way to grow clientele. that's how i knew about it and went to see for myself, like "no way!". but they did. i got my first strip club BJ there. i can't remember if i saw the ad online or on a flyer. i remember i didn't hear about it--word of mouth. i remember it was worded either on a flyer or on a flyer in a chat room. i remember the dancer that gave me my first strip club BJ said, "I only do BJs, don't ask for anything else." You could see girls on their knees at the bottom of the closet-sized VIP rooms facing someone's sneakers. i was like "fine! bj is all i want!!". it was a condom BJ and of course, she fucked me after the BJ and she came. i didn't come. i was still weirded out that this was so "open" and so easy. i was used to this being discreet. and not advertised. taken aback to find dancers so cool about it. i just asked the dancer standing next to me at the time, i had just walked in and she willingly went for it like it was nothing. it was so easy. didn't have to buy a drink, no convo with her. so pleasant. of course i went to that spot a bizillion times after that. i know i sound like a dream world.

*back then, clubs around here at one point wouldn't close for the night until 6am or 7am--on the weekends. first one stripclub did that. then, they all followed suit. i miss that so much. i remember looking at my watch, it'd be 5:30am and the strip club was absolutely PACKED with people STILL coming in. i'd be leaving, SMH, like there's no way they're closing at 6am today, maybe 7am, too many people inside.

*back then, felt like dancers were way more open to giving lapdances in crude places, crude corners, doing risky shit. like today, a dancer is quick to avoid you if you want lapdances in the 'infamous corner' of the club where the perverted customers love to be. back then, dancers would shrug and go for it and give you crazy fun. feels like today's girls can do without it.

*back then, there was a strip club that closed at 4am--nightly on the weekdays. weekdays! i miss that so much. sure from like 2-4am, there weren't many patrons or dancers in there, but sure as anything, they'd be open. tuesday, wednesday, monday, thursday, didn't matter, still open until 4am. always put a smile on my face. there'd only be one person in the booth to take your money. and, then one 'security' dude. but he didn't stay inside, he'd stay outside the club sitting in a chair, sometimes talking with other buddies he'd invite who'd have chairs pulled up. so sometimes you are one of the few customers inside the club at 3am on a tuesday and a dancer gives you a lappie and you could just take off all your clothes right there, no need to be in their VIP. loved that. miss that so much.

*back then, some 'hood strip clubs i went to had hardcore pornos playing on TV. they'd just pop in a random 8-hour video and let it run. miss that. i don't know why that's disappeared. now it's sportscenter.

a good debate is if today there are more girls dancing than yesteryear. offhand, i'd say of course--because there were more SC back then compared to today, there had to be more girls dancing. but i dunno. feels like around the same number of girls. i can't say if they look better today or yesterday.

but the vibes are totally different.

gosh, back then, you didn't have girls stuck looking at their phones all through their shift. or all the tatoos.

correction: my first BJ in a stripclub, was actually no condom. can't remember the price but i remember whatever price it was it was almost complimentary. they were trying to build clients. the sex was with a condom.

and to answer your 2nd part, could the old days revisit nowadays? most are saying no. but i think there's a sliver of a chance, yes. because: we've done it once, so it was possible, why can't we replicate it? i know times and vibes are different, but what else can i say, it happened at least once, so why can't it ever rebound, even if for a short while?

we've seen dancers leave the game and some time later, return.

in the stripping dancing world, anything's always possible, right? i've known an SC that burned to the ground. years later, it returned. (of course, it burned down AGAIN. and now it's gone gone.) i've also seen a "quiet" SC disappear from existance. now, suddenly, it's back. still "quiet" though.

i think for the old days to come back, the music has to change. more dance music is needed. and camera phones gotta somehow go away. if not go away, be so common that folks don't use them. it'd take time, but IMO, old days can come back. just needs the effort put in.