Clubs that didn’t survive
BabyDoc
Wayfaring Stranger
I was going to write and submit an article, an obituary actually, for one of my most interesting places that rumor had it did not survive. I asked what happened and always got different answers. Then I saw some lights on in what should have been an abandoned club and two people inside. I had to ask and approached an old gentleman who was the owner. What happened I ask. The club died he said bitterly. What from I asked (as I had heard different stories). Covid he answered. But you have a lighted open sign I pointed out…
The rest of the story will have to wait because (spoiler alert) the club is only “mostly” dead (movie reference) and is illegally (ah yes there is more to the story) operating speakeasy fashion as a shadow of its former self. Will it arise like a phoenix? I don’t know but I can’t risk outing them while they try to sort things out.
On the other side of the world, I have been informed (with accompanying photos) of the Covid demise of a TUSCL listed club in the Philippines and I happen to find it a bit humorous. Master Poseidon was a Korean run club located in a US style strip mall with six to eight other clubs sharing the same strip mall (no pun intended). The Philippines locked the country down hard and the owners locked the front doors to await an eventual reopening.
Construction for these clubs was typical cinder blocks with corrugated steel roofs. The front facing façade of these clubs did not allow the roofs to be seen from the street. For those playing at home, you probably guessed it. The roofs magically disappeared. Wind, rain and sun did the rest . What electrical and plumbing was left was looted and the entire strip mall is unsalvageable. Barring new construction or moving to a new location (unlikely in my opinion) I think we can be confident that Master Poseidon is no more for good.
Any interesting or sad stories?
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Some light reading...
Behold! A generator!
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Multiple lawsuits
https://www.sacurrent.com/food-drink/cit…
Something about COVID protocols
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/…
...and then there was that machine gun incident.
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020/08/…
I last tried to go a couple of times in September but saw that it was under construction but the sign visible from the freeway still made it appear open. Now the sign is blank. I'll have to do a drive-by again to confirm that it is gone for now. It is kind of in my neighborhood, but I don't drive by close enough to see the parking lot and building, typically. Not that it's a big loss but it was convenient to me.
A number of small mom and pop businesses locally went under. Three of my favorite local burger joints went under. The economy for the country as a whole was permanently weakened, for little reason. Florida didn't lock down and, adjusted for age distribution, had a death rate at the national average. Over in Europe, Sweden didn't lock down. Recently it came out that the lowest overall mortality for European countries from 2020 to 2022 was Sweden.
Cheetahs and to a lesser extent Pacers decided to rebel against city requirements and largely won once the early extreme restrictions were lifted.
I do think the challenge of evaluating clubs and covid is almost 3 years later a lot of clubs would have died anyways. Locally it's basically impossible to open new clubs. A church bought out a (bad) club's building to wipe it off the map. The industry definitely is consolidating.
Almost three years ago I was having some medical work done and was trapped in a hospital. I felt like a caged animal and spent hours planning the celebration party I was going to throw myself when I got out. A noon start until drunkenness would take down the last celebrant there was going to be an open bar, two roast pigs and extra girls imported from other clubs.
And I knew exactly which club would cater and host this party. A sweet spot mom and pop (actually just pop) neighborhood club between upscale and dive bar. I have yet to execute my plan because of “The Troubles” and I was greatly disappointed to hear that my planned club did not survive the coof. I just now have gotten confirmation that those earlier reports were false and the club is open just as it was.
I’ll hire a photographer to take some fotos.
Kokomo is blue collar city about 50 minutes due south of Indianapolis with a population 60k with numerous automotive parts manufacturers and surrounded by farmland. I'm not sure how many active strip clubs it's had over the years but Big Daddy's is the 5th club to close in the last 10 years or so.
The Hip Hugger is the last but carries on. Owned by the same gentleman for the last 53 years.