The history of "mileage"

18 comments

• Dudester

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  16 years ago

  I first went to strip clubs in the early 80's (1980-83) in San Diego. Even though I was a regular, the places were no mileage and a personal dance was 100% air. I didn't go again until 1989, in Houston. I went to the old Ricks (now Onyx). The "personal dance" was one way contact only and 75% air. 1992 was the next time. LD's were now full contact. I was surprised when the dancer grabbed my hands and put them on her tits. She also offered me the full menu, including take out. St. James, back then, had a couple of trailers out back where OTC was openly going on. So, mileage definitely took off right around 1990-91 in my experience.
• bluelens

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  16 years ago

  LDs came to the midwest 1991-92. One way contact starting show soon after. Customers didn't start touching thighs until around 1993-94. Full contact in the VIP room became more popular 1997-98. However, many clubs in the midwest are still air dances, and a very few offer the full menu. The south (especially CA, TX, FL)have always been much more progessive and lead the nation in clubbing trends.
• large

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  16 years ago

  I had occasionally been to clubs in the 70s and 80s but it was not until I was in Tampa in 1992 that I first experienced a full grind lap dance. About 2 months later in San Francisco, I had the same experience. I'm not sure when it started there because it was my first time in both places. The dances were $20 in Tampa and only $5 at the Market Street Cinema in San Francisco. Although there was a lot of touching, there were no extras. It wasn't until 5 or 6 years later when one of the girls at the Market Street Cinema, midway through a private dance, said to me "Why don't you take it out." I couldn't believe it but I did and it was great. After that, that became pretty much standard practice there.
• ozymandias

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  16 years ago

  Stripping as a profession has changed, for one thing; prior to the 90s, it was a true "outsider" profession, almost like a "carny" or the like, but in the late 80s a wider range of women started doing it, even viewing it as a kind of "part time" job. Mileage as we've come to know it definitely started on the rise in the 90s, until in the present day there's an expectation of sexual interaction in a club. I think mainly what we've seen isn't a change in stripping per se, but a change in the American woman which has affected stripping - what I like to call "the hoeification of America." The average chick is basically a hoe nowadays. High school girls are getting full brazilian waxing and having blowjob contests after school - not sure about others here, but that was NOT the case when I was in high school. It's not much of a step for these chicks to fuck anonymous guys for cash in a strip-club VIP room when they turn 18! O.
• minnow

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  16 years ago

  Maybe I should start a blog on "the tale of seven cities", but, suffice to say, the 80's were essentially "no touchee", with maybe some 1 way contact taking place. Tampa & Indy in the early 90's were my 1st encounter with 2 way mileage. About 95-97, more clubs offered at least solid 1 way mileage (shortly following the release of "Showgirls" & "Striptease" in mainstream theaters). Now, at least 2 way discreet seems to be the norm. In some cases, mileage has been ratcheded down a bit- e.g. some Tampa clubs have a 1 or both feet on the floor rule in the last 5 yrs. or so. Agree with above poster that change in SC mores/customs is a mirror-like reflection of societal changes as a whole.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Regarding this survey, I encourage everyone to ALSO put into the mix, how brothels and bordellos have gone OUT of style. In some cities as recently as the 1970s there was always a place you could go to make sure you could get some, and as those places closed down, the demand for contact moved from them over to the strip clubs. So, although the mileage opportunities at burlesque shows may have been going steadily upwards and the chance for sex there has increased, the mileage opportunities overall perhaps have been declining or remaining steady, given that a whole OTHER venue for sexual activity is all but disappearing. The strip clubs are filling the void.
• clubtreker

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  16 years ago

  My first high mileage dances were in the Waldorf, Maryland clubs of the mid-1980's. The Waldorf clubs on Route 301 - Reb's Fireplace and the Oak Tree - were a legacy of Charles County's wide-open past with slot machines, etc. All are gone now under D.C. sprawl. The action was in the open: grab their ass, get tits in the face, maybe a short grind for $5. The Tampa scene of the late-80's moved things to the next level for me. Nude rather than topless, prolonged grinding and nipple sucking for $20, maybe some hand-in-pants if you wore loose shorts, but still quite open at the Tanga and Mons Venus. Oddly, I kind of liked it that way which makes Mons an enduring favorite today. The first semi-private situation I encountered was the spaceship at 2001 Odyssey, across the street from MV. Additional cover was $10 plus a tip to the (female) bartender. Lots of hand action and occasional DATY. The hot ticket was a BBBJ on the stairway back to the main club. While I concentrate on N.J. clubs today with occasional Florida visits, I know several cities where private VIP dances have arrived at long-established clubs since the mid-90's, including Indy, Charlotte, and Niagara Falls, Canada.
• ozymandias

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  16 years ago

  Interesting point Book Guy, but I think brothels etc. didn't vanish so much as "delocalized" as an internet-based service. With CL and online escorts and review sites, it's easier than ever in history to rent tail, and far more discrete than a brothel as well. I can literally generate the thought "I want to fuck a slim, hot latina" and an hour later be doing so, at prices far below a strip club VIP room, in nearly any municipality. I just need internet access and a cell phone. But just like strippers are drawn from a broader demographic, so are internet escorts - I'd call them prongs on the same fork. Again, hoe-ification. O.
• sandyman

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  16 years ago

  Interesting topic and the only comment I can make is that the variance in availability was greater back in the "old days". Most places still tended to be stage shows, with no direct contact with the audience. The strippers would do their numbers either on a stage in front of the club, or on a runway with seats along the sides. HOWEVER, I was at the New Era club in Cleveland in the mid-70's when a stripper (nude by then)laid down on the runway, spread her legs and announced "free eats" to anyone willing to go up. I was young and very afraid of getting busted, so I didn't participate, but there were some in the crowd who did. This place was definitely the exception, rather thtan the rule, but just wanted to make the point that action has been available in some places for a long time.
• snowtime

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  16 years ago

  The first two way touching place that I can remember was Mons Venus in mid 80's. It was like an adult amusement park compared to the other Southern clubs I had visited. Made it a point to get to Tampa as much as possible after discovering the Mons. Also discovered a small upstairs club in Nashville off Murphreesboro Rd. that had a small backroom for semi-private full touch dances. Does anybody else remember that place?
• bellman

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  16 years ago

  For many years before Mayor Giuliani (about pre-1995) cleaned up the Times Square area of Manhattan there were rows of theaters that offered live sex shows, including couples doing it. The female performers would also come down into the customer seats and do almost anything you wanted. There were peep-show places with no windows between customer and performer where anything short of FS could happen, and if a girl was horny she'd take you into a back room for FS. Also there were lap dance places like the famed Harmony Burlesque, first right on Broadway, later downtown on Church St that had nude dancers who were ready to provide a place to insert a finger for a tip, and where DATY, HJ, BJ were quite common. Ah, the good old days!
• SuperDude

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  16 years ago

  Air dances, table dances, one way contact dances, lap dances, full contact grinding lap dances and anything goes formed the progression from the 1980's until now. A lot of the opening up has to do with a generous interpretation of the law regarding "artistic expression" and the tightening of city budgets. It takes a lot of time and money to win a case against a SC. While a lot of taxpayers and homeowners want SC's contained if not eliminated, they also want safe streets, potholes patched, better law enforcement, etc. So fighting battles against activities inside SC's becomes lower in priority, except around election time. Paying off cops helps and recruiting local clebrities as regulars keeps things lively and free of raids.
• SuperDude

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  16 years ago

  Air dances, table dances, one way contact dances, lap dances, full contact grinding lap dances and anything goes formed the progression from the 1980's until now. A lot of the opening up has to do with a generous interpretation of the law regarding "artistic expression" and the tightening of city budgets. It takes a lot of time and money to win a case against a SC. While a lot of taxpayers and homeowners want SC's contained if not eliminated, they also want safe streets, potholes patched, better law enforcement, etc. So fighting battles against activities inside SC's becomes lower in priority, except around election time. Paying off cops helps and recruiting local clebrities as regulars keeps things lively and free of raids.
• Clubber

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  16 years ago

  Interesting question. Problem is, in my experience, I can't honestly say when things changed. I guess it happened so gradually it just didn't stick that well in my memory. I do remember the stage shows (burlesque), and saw a couple in Miami so many years ago. The steps along the way to get where we are were taken at different times by locations. At any point in time, during my travels, what was happening in one location (state, city) was not the same as might be happening in another location. Perhaps that is why I don't recall a real "time line".
• Cougar289

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  16 years ago

  My first SC experience was in 85 in D.C. and there a dancer spread her legs and offered eating privileges. It scared the shit out of me and so I passed. I began clubbing in earnest in 87 and essentially missed the air time only era. In 87 I went to Mitchell Bros in San Fran and they had the famous couch dances and the main attraction was the dancer would stand over you and put her pussy 1/4 inch from your lips, but some would do the accidently on purpose bump on the lips and nose and then slide down on and hump you until you came (in those days I lasted only 30 seconds and so for $20 it seemed a bit pricy). In 88 I began traveling to St. Louis and on the Illinois side I would go to the Red Garter where there was open DATY and HJ until you came. I always left satisfied. In fact it was many years before I would even venture to the VIP or private areas because the Red Garter provided everything in the main area for less than $30. Today you can at times get the same open type experiences here in St. Louis but they are not as open about it and certain conditions need to exist. There has been a little bit more of tightening the rules generally speaking. Yesterday for example at my favorite club my favorite dancer moved her thong panty aside while I pleasured her in licking her pussy and butt hole with my tongue for about 30 seconds. This was done just to entertain and get a reaction from others sitting at the bar. It tends to pick up her private jobs when we do those sort of things in public. As for me, I get a good hard on but its only a tease.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Ozymandias, yes, I think you're right, that brothels haven't so much "disappeared" (as I posited, thus providing an empty niche which strip clubs have started to fill) as much as, gone cyber. It's kind of too bad, in my books. One of the (many) things I like about mongering is the location-specific enjoyment. There are cigars, other men, general cameraderie (between me and men; between me and girls), velvet cushions, dark rooms, nerdy foreign jerks who don't speak English parking my car. It's an EXPERIENCE. Calling up the pizza-delivery number and having a blowjob come to the front door is rather antiseptic.
• ozymandias

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  16 years ago

  I hadn't really reflected on that, but you're spot-on - the "experience" is missing. It's a bit like shopping, I guess - there used to be a certain fun in, say, shopping for a car: driving different ones, negotiating with dealers, just sitting in a car you can't afford. The modern "google some reviews, visit Consumer reports for the fair MSRP, email an offer to a local dealer" is a bit bloodless, for example. Efficient, but bloodless. Maybe that's what sometimes bothers me about the exclusive "mileage" focus per strip clubs nowadays - it's too much cutting to the end of the book. A good club, a good woman... there's a value in the slow savor. O.
• Book Guy

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  16 years ago

  Yup. I would love to have some of the "real" brothel experiences, where you arrive and are taken care of (like at some upscale men's clubs), there are girls dancing for your viewing pleasure, you can order cigars or nice cognac, AND there are private rooms you can "go up" to for full-service experience. I think a lot of strip clubs are actually operating on that model, metaphorically, even if the management isn't actually planning on providing full service.