Clock is ticking

For a long time I've been wondering how Mickey's stays in business. Now it appears their accountant has been asking them the same question. I learned today that the club is for sale. Before you rush up to the mortgage window at your local bank, let me give you a brief overview of what I saw this afternoon.

I arrived at 4:00 on a Tuesday. The parking lot was about half full. There were three dancers, a barkeep, and five customers, including me. None of us are ever going to see middle age again. Mickey's interior is one step above Spartan. That step is the pool table, where the bartender was beating the socks off two of the patrons. She excused herself to sell me a soda in a plastic cup ($4, I think) and then went back to the game.

The stage here is the bar. Nobody exactly dances on it, but there's always somebody sitting on it, either in conversation with a customer, or moving on to the next guy. I see TUSCL lists it as a topless club. They have interpreted this to mean that there has to be some underwear somewhere, but not generally where it's going to cover any particular spot.