A fantastic time with a whole lot (no really, a lot) of caveats.
Have you ever ended up in a situation that should have sucked, but you had a blast anyway? Apologies if this turns into more of a story than a review.
Charleston WV is city that I have had to pass through 3 times in the last 5 years or so and each time it just keeps getting nicer. Within a couple blocks of the club are a beautiful riverfront, free parking garage (after 5 and weekends), a several taprooms/restaurants. It's getting up there with Chattanooga or Asheville as fun little walk-able downtown areas.
I was in the area and walked by. This club is right across the street from a courthouse, that would never be allowed in my home town. There was a neon "OPEN" sign that was not turned on, everything looked dark, but the posted hours showed they were open. On a lark I pulled on the door just to see what would happen. It opened and I figured I might as well see what was up. There was a $10 cover through one of those plexiglass windows, but the entire thing was blacked out / covered up, kind of eerie.
Ok, I know it was a Monday night about 9pm, but this place was deserted. There were 4 or 5 guys working (bartender, manager?, announcer?, bouncer?, doorman). They just about outnumbered the number of dancers and patrons. I walked in and there were 3 dancers and 1 patron, not usually a good sign.
The main room is small, but cozy. There is a bar immediately on your left as you enter. There are maybe 20 chairs and 5 tables. At the far left is the stage with a pole and mirrored walls behind (plus) as well as the men's room. On the right is the lap dance, private, vip, hot tub, who knows what. Above the bar is a menu of all of the dance specials. They ranged from $25ish to Crypto Billionaire. Anything more fun that watching a stage dance seemed to start around $200, so out of what I was looking to spend.
I sat down with a $3-4 domestic and took in the lay of the land. The only other patient was very much a regular. One of the girls at the table with him got up and sat with me and we sparked a bit of conversation. I was a little confused as to why I hadn't been asked for a dance or a drink when they announced they would start the stage rotation. I told my new dancer acquaintance that it seemed rude for someone to be dancing with only 1 patron tipping, so I was headed to the rail, and she would be welcome to join me.
I know you probably won't believe this, but all 3 of the dancers were absolutely smoking hot. All three were petite but with a curve or 2 in just the right places. Everything looked natural except for a few piercings.
The pole was jammed and wouldn't spin, so there were not many tricks to write home about, but 2 of the dancers gave a really good show despite this. I got the feeling it was supposed to be a clothed-topless-nude rotation, but the first 2 dancers went full nude from song 1. The playlists were not what the dancers picked and there was a lot of avant-garde EDM from probably 2009 in there. There was a lot of interaction and even a bit of laughter back and forth. Something about a beautiful naked woman laughing does it for me more than a lot of other things.
After 2 rotations of the first 2 dancers, they mentioned that nobody else was coming in and it was just going to be the 2 of them back to back all night. That was when my new acquaintance mentioned that it was legit her first ever day ever as a dancer and she was just getting the lay of the land and was going to be added to the rotation later in the week. Well, I knew my new mission in life was to get her on that stage tonight.
So after a lot of compliments, encouragement from her colleagues, and me promising to break a few $20s she is headed up. I know this sounds made up, but I swear it was like True Lies. She started stiff and nervous and had zero moves, but every handful of cash, every cheer, and every tip yelled out by the other dancers melted away inhibitions. She was full nude by the end of the first song and worked it. The other dancers were shocked, they both said it had taken them a day or two to work up the nerve to lose the bottoms on stage.
On that note, it was time to hit the road. I spent about an hour and $140 drinking beer and watching 3 smoking hot dancers on stage, chatting with locals, and feeling like a king. Nobody ever brought up private dances or lady's drinks (there is a >0% chance they were all under 21).
I don't see where I ever end up in this town again, but it was a night to remember.
