A Dive Bar Experience

La Chambre is your basic dive bar with topless dancers--NTTAWWT. In Detroit with some time to kill between the end of my meeting and my hotel check-in time, and stopped by this place. While the location is obscure, it's very easy to find--in an old strip mall on the east side of Telegraph Road immediately north of the Jeffries Freeway (I-96). The layout is straightforward--lap dance area and bouncer station just inside the door; a rectangular main room with a long bar on the north side, a stage with runways on wither side along the south wall, and tables in between. La Chambre is reputed to be the oldest strip club in Detroit (their Facebook handle is "detroits1st") and it shows. Not unsafe or unsanitary, but a genuine, no-pretense dive. Honestly, I'm a fan of these sorts of clubs (for FL PLs, the Porthole Pub is a favorite), and La Chambre has that relaxing vibe. At 3:00 pm, the "crowd" was a handful of what seemed to be regulars, and 6-8 dancers. Budweiser was $6, which seemed fair; service was prompt and polite.

Dancer quality was, shall we say, all over the map. Age ranged from a young, nubile AA dancer to a brunette who should have retired in the 90s; as vincemichaels observed, most of the talent was of the BBW variety. Girls danced three song sets in rotation, ending up topless. Decent stage tipping from what I could see. Being the day's newbie PL, I received immediate attention and pitches for the LD room with varying degrees of desperation. Enjoyed the company of Gina, a petite MILF (although probably a grandmother if truth be told) with a bubbly personality. The lap dance area is not your Inkster VIP setup--it's basically a large open area with low-partition cubicles and bench seats. Lighting is fairly bright, and others can easily observe your "private" dance. That said, it was decent two-way contact at $20/song, with no VIP toll and no drama on song counts.

Overall, La Chambre is a fun place. A beer joint, not a "gentlemen's club," and consequently much easier on the wallet. I'll be back.