The Dolphin II was a decent...

The Dolphin II was a decent nightclub when it first opened a couple of years ago. Previously a steakhouse little remodeling was needed to turn it into a strip bar. As you entered the club, immediately to your left a bar that could hold around 15 customers allowed a good view of the entire room. At right angles to the bar along against the east wall was a very long double-stage, which positioned a dancer at each end. Two other stages made for a total of four girls dancing at once on busy nights. There was no cover charge and drinks were priced average to slightly high compared to the competition. Standard (Oregon no contact) all nude private dances were available for $20. Weekend nights around 15 to 20 dancers were working with 3 to 4 being very good looking and rest being at least passable.

It didn’t take long for the Dolphin management to begin to screw things up. They started off by remodeling. They took the long double-stage along the east wall out and then moved the entire bar from near the entrance into that location. Where the bar was formerly located is now nothing (a shelf with two video games and two stools where no one ever sits). Since removing the double-stage brought the total number of available platforms from four to two they had to put a floor level stage in the rear corner so they could at least have three girls up on weekend nights. The bottom line is fewer stages and a less attractive layout--all for no apparent reason.

The next change was to institute a cover charge of $5 on Friday and Saturday nights. Some clubs are worth a cover charge and some are not. The Dolphin II is not. The best night to go is Thursday--a moderate number of girls and no cover.