Cowboys - $5 floor dances, short songs, high drink hustle

I made an unplanned trip to Lexington KY, had a few hours to kill, so on the advice of a friend who frequents the area and the TUSCL reviews, I headed to Cowboys.

I paid the $5 cover and found a seat. It is dark. There is a bar along one side, a serpentine stage in the middle with three poles and a small stage on the opposite side of the room from the bar. I sat for what seemed like a long while without being waited on, so I went to the bar and ordered. Beer was $3.75 and only available in cans. Like most bars in Kentucky, they have a good selection of bourbons if that is your thing, but there are better places to taste bourbon in Kentucky than in a strip club. I had a beer. In many ways Cowboys is a throwback to old style strip clubs, it is a nude club, but you can buy alcohol, smoking is allowed and it seemed like there was more than just Kentucky Burley being smoked. Dances on the floor were a throwback $5, but songs were cut short and not all of the dancers would do floor dances. I suspect that as the club gets more crowded, the chances of getting a floor dance decreases.

There were only about eight to ten customers and a half dozen dancers when I walked in. They were only using one stage. The first song the dancers started with everything on and moved on to topless and usually, but not always, completely nude. Stage tips helped speed things along. Not all of the dancers took off their bottoms; I suppose because there weren’t many customers there and they weren’t getting tipped much. One of the dancers told me it was optional if they went completely nude or not but, as she put it, “There is a lot more money when everything comes off.” One of the dancers even played with herself a bit when tipped.