I am heading out to LA for work and looked up a club that I had been to in the past in the state list. It had been closed. I am sure that some of the closures were COVID casualties. I then scrolled down the entire list of closed clubs. I know CA is a big state, but it is interesting to see the long list of closed clubs.
Do any of you club in states where many of the clubs have been closed. Were the closures based on lack of demand or things more like never opening again after COVID shutdowns?
CA and MI seem to be amongst the states with most overzealous and power-hungry of the already overzealous and power-hungry dem gubernatorial despots. (Excepting themselves, as Pelosi and Newsom put the UK's Boris to shame when it came to breaking COVID shutdown protocols.) Even in blue states and sanctuary cities which want to legalize every violent crime, strip clubs and sex workers do not seem to get the same breaks that other businesses and entrepreneurs do. Except for the VIP room activities, strip clubs operate much the same as any other over 21 venue with bar staff, bouncers, managers, DJs, waitstaff, etc. Someone must have done research on how much the adult entertainment industry contributes to local economies in the major SC destination like Detroit, Miami/FLL, and CoI. Cities like Chicago and NYC are large enough that their SC contribution is probably an immeasurably small drop in a massive ocean, but other places might see a significant loss in tax and general commercial revenue. Vegas and New Orleans are known for the strip clubs and importance to the economy, but people like us know that they are simply strip clubs.
Writing about this also makes me wonder how Tijuana had fared during the worst of COVID when internation travel was strictly limited and COVID was rumored to be running rampant at the border.
I'm not convinced that state governors have much to do with regulation of strip clubs. Many regulations are local ordinances and some municipalities are vigorous in enforcement and other municipalities are very lenient.
It might be of interest to know that many of the recent Detroit club closings occurred during a Republican governor's administration. But they were the result of heavy lobbying of the Detroit political leaders by evangelical Christian groups.
Said another way, if you're concerned about personal liberties, including access to strip clubs, you should pay more attention to the religious zealots who want to impose their moral values on everyone.
LA clubs were suffering way before covid. Same with Las Vegas. I think the shutdowns came at an opportune time for a lot of clubs and saved them in the long run. Even now with it being so slow. It's better than the few months before covid
Some are really closed. But some probably are not places that drew many reviews, and they still don't, so they could be open.
SJG
The Pretenders - My City Was Gone - Chicago School of Rock youtube.com
LA clubs had a no contact rule imposed before Covid that really hurt them. I think it applied just to stages and maybe main floor dances. I had quit going to LA clubs before it was imposed so I didn't bother to get the details. But there is not a single religious zealot on that council. But the woke zealots can be just as crazy.
FRMOS, then back room, then take her home with you.
SJG
Georges Delerue, Movie Music youtube.com
The no contact rule was made by Republicans and heavily supported by Lapd and the real estate lobby. That was like 12 years ago.
I would assume the areas/clubs that were strong w.r.t. SCs b/f Covid; I assume have pretty-much bounced back – perhaps some areas were hit harder from the shutdown either b/c those areas were locked-down longer, or those areas may be very expensive to operate in making it harder to stay-afloat or bounce-back or get re-started.
IDK that much about the LA market but seems most of the clubs that were popular pre-Covid are still around and seemingly doing well(?) (per perusing the daily TUSCL reviews) – I wasn’t aware there was some kinda mass casualty of LA-area clubs b/c of Covid that never made it back.
Here in SoFlo the clubs that were doing well b/f Covid seem to be doing well today – not aware of any clubs, at least any worthwhile clubs, that closed b/c of Covid and didn’t reopen; or that were doing well pre-Covid and not doing well now. I haven’t clubbed since the Fall of ’21; but the big/strong clubs seemed to be doing well at that time; only the smaller dives seemed to not have been back to their pre-Covid levels (as of Fall of ’21 when I was making the rounds).
LA clubs started to really hurt around 2018. A few months before covid shutdowns it started getting really bad. Girls would only make money on weekends or party nights. Then covid hit. After a few months into the shutdowns. Things actually improved for some. They started holding underground stripper parties at different locations. Clubs would sponsor them. Some were stupid though like spearmint rhino and illegally opened only to get shut down. But cheetahs did really well with its ace of spades parties. Then after reopening there was a huge surge of customers and girls. But for theast 2 months or so it's been a sharp decline again.
Clubs that are niteclub strip club hybrids are still doing okay but it's going downhill too
And there are clubs more popular as drug dens than strip clubs
Agree with shadowcat on Atlanta area. One exception was Riley's (pre-covid) which got sued out of existence. A drunk stripper killed someone in a DUI. The typical reason is a new city forms or a city annexes a parcel of land. Sandy Springs ran off Mardi Gras, Flashers and Dollhouse. Chamblee killed Follies. Doraville is running off Oasis.
Probably no coincidence that 3 of these were extras friendly and of course Follies was the Gold Standard of orgies.
I haven't looked at the whole state of Georgia but I have looked at the Atlanta metro area and most of the closed club were the result of actions taken by the cities they were in. I don't think we lost any to Covid. This is a red state.