Opened last fall, the Seville Club...

Opened last fall, the Seville Club probably has the best location of any strip club in Minneapolis. Taking over the spot that used to be the blues club called, natch, Blues Alley (which before was a hotel called, double natch, the Seville), it's on the shady side of Target Center, the basketball arena where the Timberwolves disappointed fans this season, and across the street from First Avenue, the Place That Prince Built and still the only good concert hall in the city. Getting there by vehicle on weekends will be a bitch, because it's located on the west end of the Warehouse District, a row (basically First Ave.) that is teeming with horny women and men hopping from bar to bar.

I don't know the full story so please correct me if I get it wrong, but the Seville Club is owned by two guys. One of them, Dino, used to be a DJ at one of the two other upscale Minneapolis GC's, Schiek's or Rick's. He had a reputation for being really good (meaning professional) to the girls there, so when he and another guy named Brandon set up the Seville, many of the strippers from his former place of employment followed him out of the heart of downtown to work for him. Without talking in-depth with any of the dancers, you get the feeling that they feel they can work there knowing they have the support of management and don't have to deal with any bullshit from on high. Good morale helps one's enjoyment in the club in some ways, but not in others.

A nattily dressed man will ask for ID under the club's awning. Pay the girl $8 cover (this is a weekend night), give her any coats to check, and grab a mint if your breath stinks. (Although it looks like they have a dress code, I've gotten in with a sweatshirt and jeans, so don't worry.) Through the curtain and you'll see an elegant, if small, two-story club. The bar, and the really hot waitresses clamoring for drink orders, are on the right. The Y-shaped stage is to the left. Every square inch of floor is taken up by those thigh-high tables and plush rolling chairs. In the back corners are another bar and what I believe is an area for "private" dances, the cost of which I don't know. There is a second floor for VIP's only; there are chairs and tables up there, as well as a square for a dancer to gyrate on, but the main difference between that and the main floor is that the second floor is darker.