I found a yellow rose

Fifteen years ago on my last visit to Austin, it was a business trip and there were 8 of us. The lead guy took us all to The Yellow Rose, the pinnacle of strip clubs in the more low-key, quietly weird Austin of the day. My memories were mainly of the older guys in our group being bought lap dances by two comely young blondes. 8 guys, 2 girls, one guy paying for all the one-and-done lap dances. I recall everything felt really upscale, and given I was at that time traveling frequently to countries where you could walk into certain bars, find company and order her as takeout, it all seemed rather lame in the heart of Texas.

Fast forward to the World Hipster Capital that is the metropolis of Austin today, and the Yellow Rose is still there. On a Sunday evening, I arrived after eating Rudy’s BBQ, they just looked at my license and waived me in with no cover.

The first oddity was the gauntlet of four waitresses in black ready to pounce on you to take you to a “table”. On the right was a somewhat occupied VIP area, elevated, stage in the middle complete with a dancer on the pole, with reserved signs on every table. Seeing prior reviews, I disappointed the gauntlet and headed to the “other side”, which features a long bar in the left side, a smaller bar at the end, and, at the time, an empty stage. A big screen was pulled down for the. Ie it’s game, obscuring from done angles any view of the dancer on the main VIP stage.