Finally, Mountaineers can state we are #1 in the nation. Via Dave Ryan, this news:
Finally, West Virginia is No. 1 in at least one category, according to an item published in The (Portland) Oregonian: We have the nation’s highest concentration of strip clubs.
According to the report, West Virginia has 53 strip clubs statewide, or 2.9 per 100,000 population. Oregon has the second highest proliferation, with 93 clubs, or 2.6 per 100,000.
One clothier, according to the account, has cashed in on Oregon’s abundance of strip joints with a hot-selling T-shirt that reads, “Oregon. Come for the fishing. Stay for the strip clubs.”
Perhaps our state Tourism Commission will take note.
Isn’t that special?
Vladi G
I’m of two minds on this. On the one hand, more strip clubs means more competition, which leads to lower covers, lower beer prices (if applicable), and cheaper lap dances. However, there are only so many top quality strippers in the population, and no wants to pay good money to see middling to low quality strippers. Quite the conundrum.
Jim
Yeah, but do those Oregon strippers take it ALL off, like our West Virginia strippers do? That’s what the Tourism Commission needs to emphasize!
Tony Alva
I recall Billy Paine being pretty upset when he was polling visitors to my city of Atlanta prior to the Olympics. He asked business and leisure travelers this question: “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Atlanta?”, The answer given the most was, “Strip Clubs”.
For all the hard work the Baptist Convention does to rid our city of sin (and fun), I had to smile at this revelation.
Mike
The best ones I’ve ever seen are those in Austin, TX.
All those lovely southern Co-Eds.
I’ve heard the ones in NYC are nice as well, but that would involve me going to NYC which I tend to avoid like the plague. Been there, got the tee-shirt.
West VA? Hmmm, I dunno, there are alot of “stout” women in WVA…
Jody
I think we’re helping you out there. In Virginia the ABC board can revoke the license of any establishment where the licensee, his employees, or any entertainer performing on the licensed premises has been convicted of a violation of a local public nudity ordinance.
Which pretty much means skin but no booze. Or booze, but no skin. So the students at VT all take the short ride up to Princeton WV.
Horshu
I’m in Houston, TX. We have over 80 strip clubs and even more “massage parlors.” We win.
erez
I am pretty sure we have the same policy here in Ohio as Virginia does (per Jody’s post). So I wouldn’t be too surprised if we are helping you out there, too, Jon.
Cheers!
Lines
West Virginia is fighting the lap dancers there so we don’t have to fight them in California!
Strip club freedom is on the march in West Virginia!
We’re turning the strip club corner.
No one could have predicted the strip clubs would fail in West Virginia.
Rusty Shackleford
We don’t have squat here in Chicago. The Admiral is all skin/no booze and Crazy Horse is booze but wax and panties – bummer.
Slartibartfast
Tell me about it. We took my brother there for his bachelor party, and there was nothing to be found. We had to settle for being stupid in bars. At least we did that part right.
Outside of a couple of bachelor parties, though, the whole stripjoint thing has never appealed to me other than as a gauge of how much unlike a place I’d want to live a given town or part of town might be.
Buckaroo
Portland has far and away the finest gentlemen’s clubs in the country. From Sassy’s to Exotica to The Acropolis, the variety and quality can’t be beat.
And yes, ‘all nude’ doesn’t even begin to cover it…
docG
Is a strip club operation too complex to have evolved from burlesque, therefore the handiwork of an intelligent designer? :-)
Joel
I lived in Portland for a while. There was an abundance of strip clubs, most every commercial neighborhood had at least a couple. The zoning laws in Oregon are very loose, so pretty much if you wanted to open an adult oriented business you could do it just about anywhere. And really no one cared. It’s a very strip club friendly town. Occasionally some residents would decry the opening of some new pron superstore, but the forecasted evil consequences (prostitution, crime, etc.) never actually came to pass and everyone would soon move on. Additionally Portland had the advantage of both total nudity and booze on premesis which I don’t think is the norm as far as these things go. Most everyone (in my age group at least) had a couple of friends who were strippers and as a result it was totally acceptable occupation. No one cared, myself included. The intense competition also meant that some of the clubs had fantastic food specials. Which of course is the only reason I went :)
stickler
Time for some history.
First, this:
Not exactly. Our zoning laws are pretty strict. But due to our state Constitution, it’s almost impossible to ban “indecency.” So nudity is free speech, sort of.
Plus, Portland was giving San Francisco a run for Sin City West as far back as the 1880s. Nudity, gambling, prostitution, the whole nine yards was on the menu. Prohibition began in Oregon in 1916, and the opportunities for profit exanded exponentially. Of course, the city fathers were in on it from the beginning. The corruption in city government was bad enough that the mayor and chief of police were held up to national ridicule back in the 1950s.
Portland: come for the strippers, stay for the sleaze.
Joel
yeah that’s right. After typing that I remembered the urban growth boundary and figured I might be mistaken on that point.
JWeidner
Well congratulations John!
I no longer inhabit such dens of iniquity, but back in my college and post-college days in Southern CA…whoo boy!
My roommate’s dad was the general manager of a strip club in the area, so it was pretty common to find our group hanging out at the bar of the club, not necessarily there for the dances, but just to chat up the girls and drink lots of alcohol (not free, but we didn’t pay for half of what we drank). And of course, there were connections to other clubs in places like Vegas – so trips there got to be real nice.
So I feel emminently qualified to offer you the heartiest of congratulations on your state’s recent ranking. Long live WV’s strip clubs!
Krista
Pish-tosh. You want good peeler bars, you go to Montreal.
jobiuspublius
Virginia is for lovers, but, WV is for people who want to crowd around each other and throw money at someone while they take their cloths off, i.e., not for lovers. WV, the striper state.
Vladi G
Scores is probably the best, but it’s out by O’Hare. V.I.P.’s, the former Crazy Horse Too, sucks. The Admiral is much better, but like Rusty noted, you can’t drink, because it’s totally nude. Then again, Miller Lite goes for about $7 a bottle, so I’m not sure that not drinking is a problem. Plus, there’s a total dive bar about 20 feet away where you can get loaded before going in.
KC
Man, you guys beat us out here in California. Lucky you, John.
KC
Man, you guys beat us out here in California. Lucky you, John.
DecidedFenceSitter
Golden Horseshoe in Eastern WV is still my favorite stripclub.
DE. Caver
Living on the east coast,I was introduced to WV on a caving trip. Fell in love with the eastern part of the state and have visted 100’s of times. Have been most everywhere between I64 to the south, US219 to the west and the MD border in the north to the VA border in the east. Where are all the nekkid ladies? Never seen a strip club in these parts.
Otto Man
Hard to explain the proliferation of strip clubs. Maybe there was a misunderstanding and people thought the state’s name was West Vagina.
Krista
I’d be concerned if one’s vagina was spacious enough so as to require geographical delineation…
Just a (frightening) thought.