My first visit to Partner’s can...

My first visit to Partner’s can best be described as a mix of good, bad, and ugly. I happened to come through Erie with some time to spare, so I figured I’d check this place out. The club is located on the east side of town, no issues with the neighborhood (suburban commercial strip) or parking (ample space in the lot right up front). Even considering it was a weeknight and only a couple of hours before closing time, the place was pretty dead when I arrived [The Bad]. I paid my cover to the door guy, who was also handling DJ duties from his computer by the entrance, then wandered in to check out the setup. The main floor area is somewhere in the medium/large category, with an L-shaped bar along the front and right sides of the room, loose table seating around the central stage, and private dance cubicles with curtained fronts to the back left. Restrooms, backstage, and more private VIP rooms are to the left off a separate hallway.

The stage – if you can call it that – is just bizarre. Dancers are surrounded on three sides by tip rails, but instead of a raised platform they’re basically at floor level, meaning the rails block the view of anyone not sitting right on the edge (or if the dancer goes low/horizontal, actually leaning over). Other than the low ceiling throughout the room, I couldn’t see any reason for this. I don’t see how it can be considered practical, but it does pull customers in, with a corresponding likelihood of tipping for the stage performers.

Speaking of the performers, I’d say their quality was average to slightly above, but only slightly [The Good]. Top of the scale on this night was a blonde 7+, and I didn’t see anything worse than a hard 5 (with decent personality). A slender, dark-haired 8 was also on duty but unfortunately ending her night just as I arrived (had I realized she was the hottest girl in the club when I first saw her, I would’ve been more aggressive in approaching her – lesson learned). Most of the girls went through pretty normal stage routines (topless only), one pair performing as a duo with some rather tame interaction that nevertheless got the excitable frat-boy types riled up a bit. When not on stage a few of the girls – unfortunately including the 7+ blonde – went right to their apparent regulars, and/or back to the VIP rooms. The others worked the room reasonably well, although as usual the banter and salesmanship skills varied widely.