Some Things Changed, Some Things The Same

For most of the mid-to-late 2010s, PT's was one of my most frequent club visits. A variety of factors have led to me prioritizing other clubs in the 2020s, so a recent Saturday night was only my second visit of the year.

Apparently, the club has been under new ownership since December. The owner of Rick's Cabaret bought both this club and its Kentucky version out, which has resulted in some changes but not extensive ones. The club's ultra-accessible location - right beside an interstate interchange - remains the same, as does every physical exterior and interior aspect. It still has one big room partly split in two by dividers, three front and one back elevated stages, and only one stage with a pole. (The back stage, which is only used during the heaviest busy periods, is also the biggest.) The bar is on the far west end, the private dance areas are on the north, the private rooms are in the NE and SE corners, and the DJ booth is on the south, right by the check-in. Mirrors still line most walls, too. The floor still has the standard arrangement of small tables with 2-3 chairs, a curtained-off VIP area on the NW corner, and chairs back around the stages, for an overall floor space that makes it one of the area's larger clubs. There is food service, though I haven't checked it out recently, and they are now advertising free lunches 12-4 p.m. (Moving back to a 12 p.m. open time is a recent change, as they had been opening as late as 4 p.m. post-COVID IIRC.) Drink offerings and prices are no different than before, either.

There are two immediately noticeable changes, however. The first is a substantially higher number of black dancers; at least half, I think, when I arrived at 10:30 p.m.. The other is a music playlist now heavily dominated by hip-hop; in the hour and a half I was there, I think I only heard a couple of songs outside that genre, which was shocking for a club long heavily-dominated by rock. The songs are also generally shorter; I timed one as short as 2:30, but they varied between that and close to 4 minutes. On the good side, the odious wristband one had to buy before getting private dances has been dispensed with and the base dance price of $25 somewhat surprisingly remains the same; this has long been PT's rate, but with price increases at other clubs across the city, it's now merely average. Dancers can charge more at their discretion (a trend which seems to be growing in Indy), so always ask about a particular dancer's price up front!