First Visit to the New Sugars

For the uninitiated, Seattle has a rich history of “mob light” strip clubs. The most famous figure from our checkered past was Frank Colacurcio who ran strip clubs in our city from the 1960’s into the early 2000’s under the business name Talents West. Frank claimed to have invented the lap dance. While there was never a La Costa Nostra family specifically associated with Seattle, Frank Sr.’s methods, friends, and demeanor implied otherwise from time to time. Frank Sr. passed away in 2010 at the age of 93, around the time that several of his clubs were seized by the federal government. Yes, the Federal government ran Ricks on Lake City Way for about a year before selling it. Frank’s clubs were great, and extras-friendly. Many Seattle PL’s in their 40s+ will fondly recall dirty deeds done during their youth at Ricks, Honeys, and Sugars. Today, a new company called Talents West runs Kittens in the south end, and recently expanded in the north end to a new location with an old name: Sugars. Frank Sr.'s son Frank Jr. is a "consultant" at Kittens, whatever that means. https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/02/06/42695238/washington-strippers-won-new-workplace-protections-last-year-so-where-are-they To be perfectly clear, I seriously doubt that the current incarnation of TW has much to do with organized crime. Also of interest is that until the pandemic, this location housed the Dancing Bear, the worst strip club in Seattle if not the PNW, but that is another story.

Having a night to myself, I headed to Sugars to see what they’ve done with the place.