Spent a recent Saturday night in...

Spent a recent Saturday night in Springfield, and managed to check-out all four clubs in town that night. I am not a local but have been visiting these clubs about three times a year for the last five years. Club 1444 was always my favorite until spring of 2012, but has since gone way downhill. Sweet Illusions is now the place to go for the young college girl type dancers.

I had not been to The Brickhouse for more than two years, but I was pleasantly surprised when I did this time. It is located in the heart of the downtown, just around the corner from the police station. The physical building is superior to any of the other clubs. When I'd been here previously, it was always completely dead; only a handful of customers who usually sat at the bar and just 2 or 3 dancers on shift. Once there was only one. This time, when I drove up and parked across the street, I could see that the parking lot next to the club was full. When I entered, the club was really busy.

The club itself is pretty large. The front room has the bar at the far end from the entrance and a small stage on the left. There are tables in the center and on the right. There are video poker machines just inside the front door to the right and the private dance area is just beyond them. A second room to the right of the bar has a pool table and the DJ booth. There is a third room beyond this second one which appears to have another (larger) dance stage with a pole, but it was not lighted and I have never seen it used. One dancer, midway through her set, asked if she could use this second stage, but no one answered her. Overall, the interior is fairly worn but not too bad.

The customers on this night were quite obviously almost entirely blue-collar locals. The usual strip club guys, but also couples and several pairs of non-dancer 25-35 YO women came in and out. I feel comfortable in this atmosphere due to my blue-collar background and really enjoyed myself.

The 15 or more dancers working were also Springfield locals apparently. Mostly 25 to 35 YO; no U of O spinners here. There was one blonde who I'd classify a spinner but she was about 30. Another dark haired dancer put on an impressively athletic stage show. Several of the others were a little thick but compensated by having good sized chests. You can sit at the rack and tip but they also do the dollar taxi dances at your table. This is a Springfield institution, originally started at Club 1444 years ago. All the dancers were very friendly and easy to talk to. The music was rock.