Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Oakland Park, FL is a smallish incorporated municipality on the North side of Fort Lauderdale and has been the location of the two strip clubs Solid Gold and Pure Platinum, which people tend to call "Fort Lauderdale" strip clubs because let's face it, this is one of those municipalities that was incorporated just so some developers could get a better land/tax deal and it's mostly surrounded on 3 sides by the parent city, existing as a satellite thereof.
The City of Fort Lauderdale, which dominates Broward County, FL, has since the 80s been on a massive campaign to "clean up" the tourist-intensive zone between the beaches and US1 leading into and out of itself up- and downcounty and to promote "improvement" redevelopment along US1 ( = more tax collections, natch). They cut down bar hours and drove out the drunk Spring Break kids and sought to do the same to the adult businesses.
Strip joints like Mike Peters' Thee Dollhouse, immortalized by Motley Crue, were part of that past that Broward County wanted to bury. Oakland Park as a good satellite went along with big-sister-city Fort Lauderdale and tightened its adult business regulations to the point of strangling.
Solid Gold and Pure Platinum were the remnant of "Fort Lauderdale" strip club legacy, including part ownership by Peters. In the early 00's, the town made a settlement with the then-management of both SG and PP to "grandfather" them for a time period.
The time ran out in November.
Mr. Peters' lawyer claims that the then-managers could/should not have made that deal, but they did; also that they need still more time to change the businesses to something compliant. Solid Gold, the more "upscale" sibling was the first to have to discontinue its operation, forced to cover up or dry up. Pure Platinum ostensibly remains open as the company fights City Hall, under the argument that their contracts and papers are in order for yet more time and innocent third parties (e.g. their landlord) would be harmed if they were to shut down cold turkey.
I visited the locations in the Fall as the court dates approached and the Shadow of Doom hung heavy. It may be that greater Fort Lauderdale indeed gets to be "clean" along US-1, the damage to business may be already done even if Platinum prevails legally (which doesn't look likely).
Broward County would then have its remaining concentration of strip clubs be in Pompano Beach, a larger incorporated town further north that has the advantage of including a huge chunk of land on the "bad" (West) side of I-95, far away from the tourists, where there's industrial/warehouse zones, trailer parks and working class/black neighborhoods. So it can simply zone its strip joints (Cheetah II, Booby Trap North, Diamond Dolls, 4Play, Club Pink North) out of the way of the "nice" travelers. (Porthole Pub is East of 95 but still in a "bad" zone and technically outside Pompano by the width of the sidewalk, allowing it to stay open later).
The others would be all the way almost to the Miami-Dade line in Hallandale, most notably Scarlett's and Cheetah I, which are also in areas unlikely to be gentrified any time soon and are more associated with the North Miami-Dade scene than with Fort Lauderdale.
So it looks like the Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls" will finally have its line about Fort Lauderdale be completely consigned to a historical artifact, gone in the name of gentrification and family friendly tourism, and there will be no more nude dancing and lap grinding along US-1 until you get waaay down into Miami-Dade.
News reports:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...029-story.html
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...105-story.html
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/br...125-story.html
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Between this and Dean's Gold closing there are literally no upscale clubs at all south of Palm Beach. Hmmm....
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gia2608
Between this and Dean's Gold closing there are literally no upscale clubs at all south of Palm Beach. Hmmm....
Yes, there are would-be "nicer" lounge/stripclub/nigthclub combinations in Miami like E11even, but other than Solid Gold and Dean's Gold your classic Upscale Gentlemen's Club type place just is not to be found. I must suppose that in Miami the sort of person who wants to go to a really fancy classy place to party with expensive bottle service, fine cuisine and hostesses is gonna do so at a non-strip club in South Beach where he can proudly see and be seen with no qualms (and still pick up high-price club girls if that's his taste).
One wonders about the chances of someone stepping in to fill the niche - it's already hard enough to start and build up any strip joint, never mind an "upscale" one, unless someone could grab the existing brand and open under a "same experience, new location" pitch. But they'd have to find a location that doesn't itself kill business (i.e. not out in the swamp and not where people may fear for their life parking).
At least Dean's was a straightforward sale to development investors -- a business decision. Dean had already himself cashed in the year before when selling the lot to the first investors' group that then flipped it to the developers.
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Pure Platinum is still open, though Solid Gold did close. They are virtually right next to each other.
It is ridiculous I agree, but not as bad as it sounded at first.
Oh and fuck Motley Crue. Nothing screams 'Stuck in the 80s' more than that vile, execrable excuse for music, 'Girls, Girls, Girls'
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Djoser
Pure Platinum is still open, though Solid Gold did close. They are virtually right next to each other.
Yeah, that was something -- I suppose they would not consolidate all these years because that would have meant foregoing one of two sets of liquor licenses that would then be near impossible to recover. But still the ownership is not entirely w/o fault here if in 10 years of being "grandfathered" the only endgame was going back to court.
Quote:
Nothing screams 'Stuck in the 80s' more than that vile, execrable excuse for music, 'Girls, Girls, Girls'
But then what would they play for the Midnight Half-off Special Parade-of-Dancers? :D
(really, there has GOT to be something else... both to do and to play if you must)
If I were ever a SC owner I would rule it confined to "80s night" or "Throwback Thrusday" and then only prudently.
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
There's always club Vixxens in Davie. It was dead when I was there but it looks clean. You'd think the owners of Scarletts would be able to fill up a sister club. But the choice of music really kills it.
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cheo_D
But then what would they play for the Midnight Half-off Special Parade-of-Dancers? :D
(really, there has GOT to be something else... both to do and to play if you must)
If I were ever a SC owner I would rule it confined to "80s night" or "Throwback Thrusday" and then only prudently.
Ha ha well said! Really it never fails to amaze me how some DJs and managers who are otherwise very talented and imaginative can think of nothing better than to use this miserable excuse for music, merely because everyone else has done it for 30 fucking years.
I couldn't stand the song the first time I heard it. Vince Neil just sounds like an arrogant little snot bragging about pussy without any real style or grace. Hearing it 80,000 times in the clubs, and worse yet being forced to play it in a couple by managers, has done nothing to improve it since then.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of songs that will work just fine for revues or the dreaded T-shirt specials, without trotting out this atavistic garbage every single night. I have a special folder with a bunch of them I use instead. If I ever own a club, I will not allow it to be played.
Part of the problem is that Michael J Peters, the owner of a (formerly) huge chain of Solid Gold, Pure Platinum, etc named clubs, is great pals with Vince. And it's impossible to have a conversation with a group of 10 veteran DJs or managers without at least 3-4 of them...The man was very innovative, to be sure...
Edited to add. Never mind it doesn't matter much anymore
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cheo_D
Yeah, that was something -- I suppose they would not consolidate all these years because that would have meant foregoing one of two sets of liquor licenses that would then be near impossible to recover. But still the ownership is not entirely w/o fault here if in 10 years of being "grandfathered" the only endgame was going back to court.
I am pretty sure he sold PP a while back, and only recently reacquired it, but I could be wrong.
I suspect they never expected the powers that be to actually go through with the measure closing down the clubs--but again I could be wrong.
Re: Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale, FL: No more strip clubs, it seems.
this really sucks. we have so many new dancers coming from cuba, etc. and now with clubs closing it makes other clubs way too packed with girls. Man, South FL needs to get it together!