Bring Your Own Dancer

New Solid Gold is in a nondescript metal building on the far southwest side of Jacksonville, in what I understand is not the best part of town, but the area didn’t look too bad to me. It’s a pretty long haul from the downtown area. We Ubered over, so I don’t know if they charge for parking. I also don’t remember the cover for sure, but I think it was $10. I know it wasn’t over that or I would remember. Beer was $4.50 or $5.50. I can’t remember exactly, but it was within the strip club normal range. Strangely, they didn’t sell Budweiser, my usual drink, which is also the single most popular beer in the U.S.

The club has been recently remodeled, and everything is new and nice looking. It’s not what I would call really upscale or luxury, but it’s solidly in upper mid-tier category, at least as far as the physical amenities go. The main club is basically one big square room. The main bar is to the right, the main stage (the only stage) is in the middle of the room, and another bar is along the left wall. The VIP areas are behind the far wall. There are two VIP areas, one $30 dance area that is behind glass windows so people in the club can look in and see what is going on. There is another $40 dance area with no windows that is more private, but I didn’t go in either.

Unfortunately, it failed to live up to its potential with the dancers on this visit. There were only about six working. On the plus side, they were all at least average or better in looks. However, they didn’t circulate and didn’t follow up on stage tips by stopping by and trying to sell dances. Even though there were only a few dancers working, and only a single stage, they were dancing only one song sets for the first 45 minutes we were there. You have to decide quickly if you want to tip a dancer or she will be gone. Later, they shifted to two songs sets.