After hearing rumors of troubles or...

After hearing rumors of troubles or declines, I recently made the rounds of my favorite D.C. strip clubs to check on conditions, visiting each club at least three times at different times of day in April. DC clubs are limited by local laws, so there are no lap-dancing or VIP room experiences. But none of the clubs has a cover charge; all are open until about 2am, or 3am on weekends. Archibald’s (Archies) on K Street is well located for the workweek lunch crowd, has an early opening time (1130am) and mostly caters to men with coats, and some couples on weekend nights. This basement level club is narrow and deep with two small stages (without stripper poles), although two-three additional stages upstairs at Fast Eddies are put to use on four nights each week. The stages are low, so dancers are only slightly elevated and customers when tipping look up slightly into dancers’ eyes. On stage tips can be placed on the stage or under garters. There is a long bar along one wall but more seating is at tables; upstairs has a shorter bar and more tables. There is one TV screen downstairs for sports events; more screens are upstairs. Normal drinks are $8-$12. The food is good and is a relative bargain; I have enjoyed lunches there for more than 10 years.

The heart of any club is its dancers and Archies always seems to have lots of attractive dancers. Most are good dancers and many have considerable education, so they often excel in good conversation. The dancers circulate for tips after being on stage, which provides opportunities for striking up conversations. Most dancers don’t hassle anyone; most approach only people who watched them dance but didn’t tip them when onstage. However, a very few new dancers seemed rather pushy, requesting tips from me when I was eating at the bar facing away from the stages, totally unable to see any dancing. This was a minor annoyance however. Once these newcomers learn to use more charm, even their approaches will be OK. Unlike the other two DC clubs I am reviewing, no Archies dancer seems to have been there for more than a few years. I had heard that several good dancers had left in recent months. Some have left, for many reasons, and I miss some, like Vanessa and Carla. But on my recent visits I found a still nice mix of dancers on both the day and night shifts; not as high as I have ever seen there, but quite good. My favorites were Tiffany, Nature, Skye, and Cameron on the day shift and Summer, Candi, Sydney, and Bella on the night shift. Dancer shifts evolve over time but the club website shows the approximate weekly schedule. Supporting staff members are mostly polite, although a few of the bouncers can be rather authoritative at times. New blonde bartender AJ is quite friendly and a good-looker. All attitudes there seem improved since a former cranky member of management - now known to have been crooked - was fired. On the nights when dancers are performing on two floors, dancers rotate freely but customers must close their accounts on one floor before moving to the other, a bit of trouble when trying to keep up with particular dancers. But considering what I had heard, I was pleased to see that this club was still in pretty good shape with most dancers and many customers quite happy, providing a good experience day and night.