I am just now reviewing my...

I am just now reviewing my first (but not last!) visit to Arnie's Idle Hour, which took place early on a Friday evening in July. After a fire early in the year that caused me to think that I had missed my chance to sample the pleasures of Arnie's, the club is back from the dead and offering those pleasures as it has for many years.

I arrived at 6:30, thus avoiding a $10 cover that kicks in at 7, and took a seat at the bar to drink a beer while I surveyed the situation. Immediately a young ebony lovely sat beside me and greeted me with the Harvey Handshake, hinting that more fun could be had in the private dance area. No, "hinting" is not the right word at this joint -- the dancers are quite open about what options are available and at what prices. She was not really my type -- too young, not curvy enough -- but she made such a persuasive case for some private time that I eventually went back with her. We negotiated two lap dances plus CBJ for $80, which I suppose is OK, though I get much better deals than that at Dollie's Playhouse in Washington Park. The BJ was adequate but a bit mechanical. I also gave her $20 "for the bouncer", but I never saw him and don't know whether he actually received the money.

During the hour that I was there, I saw about 7 dancers, all black. I think only two of them were on stage the whole time I was there, since this club, as anyone knows who has ever been there, is all about the enthusiastic service in the back room and not about stripping on stage. The customers, on the other hand, were about half and half. Though Harvey is a pretty sketchy ghetto suburb of Chicago and I'm extremely white, I didn't feel threatened at all. Quite the contrary: everyone was very friendly and welcoming to me. I will certainly go back to Arnie's, probably again during the period before 7 when entry is free, the club is not too crowded, and Harvey is not too scary.