A REAL DIVE -- AND I LIKED IT

I travel a bit around the country for work, and I end up hitting a lot of clubs as a first-timer. Whatever city I go to, I like to check out at least one black club (I am white), and this was my first time at Gold Diggers. I was there from 9:00-10:30 on a Friday night, which is early for this club, but I was staying at a hotel downtown just a block from Minute Maid Park, and since this was the night of game three of the World Series, I wanted to get back before the game ended and the crowd let out. (Pre-game traffic around the ballpark was just fucking nuts. Every parking lot in the vicinity had signs saying how much it cost to park, and one sign said $80. That’s right, $80 to park your damn car. But I digress.)

Gold Diggers is in the shadow of a freeway. There was free parking available in the lot; cover was $10, and bottled water was $3.00. Man, this place is a real dive – which suits me fine. There ain't nothing fancy here. No alcohol. Paper, hand-lettered signs on the bathroom doors saying "MEN" and "GIRLS". No bathroom attendant (although the men's room could have used some attention). One toilet, one urinal, both in need of cleaning, some soap, but no paper towels. Sad.

There were two stages, one big enough for two girls and one satellite stage, which was little more than a slightly raised plywood platform big enough for one. There were about 10 girls on duty when I got there, but there was a constant stream of new girls reporting for work the entire 90 minutes I was there. All the girls I talked to were friendly (though there was one pair – half sisters – who were too pushy for my tastes). While there were certainly no stunners, many were pretty and none were ugly. Bodies of every pleasing shape and size. My biggest complaint about this place is that the music was way, way, WAY too loud – at times even painful – and conversation with the girls was nearly impossible much of the time.