I visited the newly re-opened Key...

I visited the newly re-opened Key club the Saturday after it's grand re-opening. They had hired 3 porn stars for the grand opening weekend and brought in lots of other talent, so while this was an exciting event, it would not be necessarily indicative of the normal operating environment.

This club had been Caligula's for about 20 years, then the Penthouse Club for about 5 years until it ran into legal problems about 3 years ago and was forced to close down for a year. Though it re-opened, business was never quite the same afterwards. Then, about a year ago, they lost their liquor license, and things spiralled downwards. They went to free entry, and it became mostly an afterhours club. Now, under new management, they have re-acquired their liquor license and re-opened it as the Key club. Entry fee is now $12. Except for sewing Key club badges over the chairs, the setup and decor remain the same from the old Penthouse club. There is a main room with about 20 small tables in a lower level around the main stage with an aquarium as backdrop. Then there are about 10 booths around the walls on an elevated level. The long main bar occupies the entire wall of the rear. Behind the bar area, there is a lapdance room, with about a dozen comfortable booths, but not much privacy. In the pre-liquor license days, this room cost $20 to enter for the eveining. This room is now free. Behind that, there is a champagne room which is a lot more private. I didn't inquire about the entrance fee to this area, but in the old days, entry fee here is the purchase of a champagne/wine bottle for about $150. You can stay back there for the entire evening after buying one bottle. For ultimate privacy, there is a skybox area upstairs, which the old club used to charge $300 per night for.

I got there about 10 pm on a Saturday, and I have to say it was pretty much dead. There were only about 2 waitresses, a half dozen dancers, and less than 10 customers. It was open until 4 am on Saturday, so perhaps it picks up after hours. I was immediately unimpressed when I sat down for over half an hour before being approached by a manager who then rounded up one of the two waitresses. I ordered some food off the menu, but the menu was very limited, and the food was not very good at all. Too bad, because the food was excellent in the old Penthouse club. There were only about 6 dancers on duty. Being inside Houston limits, breasts had to be covered in latex, and full bottoms had to be worn instead of thongs or g-strings. 3 of the dancers were under 21 so had to wear special bands indicating they could not drink. They were all cute, but very skinny and inexperienced. Coincidentally, they all wore glasses. There was one attractive black dancer, another slightly older white girl, and a Hispanic girl which they played Mexican dance music for everytime she went on stage. The girls were all fairly attractive, 6's and 7's. The black dancer who was tall and skinny like a model, instead of having a thick body like many black girls, stopped by and was very friendly. I ended up getting about 5 dances from her in the free lap dance room, but the dances were pretty tame.