The SunBreak
posted 04/29/10 10:37 AM | updated 04/29/10 10:37 AM
Featured Post! | Views: 0 | Comments : 2 | News

Rain Falls on the Just and the Unjust Strip Clubs

By Michael van Baker
Editor
Recommend this story (0 votes)

Just two weeks ago, the iconic downtown peep joint The Lusty Lady announced it would close, partly due to the recession (in 2001, the dancers reportedly made $27 an hour) and partly internet porn. The incessant punning of its marquee, the live nude girls--it all wraps up end of June.

While a few bluenoses were always certain Seattle could show itself to better advantage than with a strip show spitting distance from SAM, I think most people preferred to think of The Lusty Lady as a risqué marquee, and leave it at that, Erika Langley's book aside. Ironically, that attitude may have helped do them in--marquee appreciation doesn't pay the rent.

Now, in one fell swoop, the Colacurcio stripper empire that extended from Tacoma to Everett is being shut down, but this time no one's wearing their public mourning face. Federal prosecutors says the strip clubs (and their management) were a 50-year-old "scourge on the community," reports the Seattle Times. The charges, including prostitution, money laundering, and RICO, are right out of gangland lore.

(Of course, the news that one undercover officer "spent spent at least $16,835 buying more than 130 lap dances without making a single arrest" has also become legend, and "Strippergate" tarnished the reputations of City Council members Jim Compton, Heidi Wills, and Judy Nicastro.)

Everett's Honey's will be demolished, to the delight of city leaders, but Tacoma's Fox's, Shoreline's Sugar's, and Seattle's Rick's are slated to be sold, and could reopen. 

Save and Share this article
Permalink
Tags: the lusty lady, marquee, peep, show, strip, stripper, foxs, honeys, sugars, ricks, colacurcio, club, rico + add tags
savecancel
CommentsRSS Feed
it's been a crazy ride
There's been a lot of junk dealing with strip clubs through the years. There was the 4-foot rule put into effect a while back (a lot of my guy friends bitched about that one) and the whole mess about the yearly-renewed moratorium that kept strip clubs (until 2005 when it was found unconstitutional) from being built for 17 years. I know entirely too much about Seattle's strip club politics. Especially since I never go to them.
Comment by morgen
2 days ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Fire them
We should fire everyone involved. It was a complete waste of tax money and resources. Nothing has changed only the clubs closed down. They only reason anyone has pleaded guilty so far was because they get to walk away from the situation. All the girls are going to nearby clubs which do the same activities. The nearby clubs run the same way and I know first hand.
Comment by John
1 day ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( )
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: