I'm your private dancer.
November 11, 2008 3:32 PM   Subscribe

A Panoramic shot of a dressing room in Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in New York. A bit NSFW
posted by gman (53 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
A bit NSFW

Not Safe For Women? Winos? Webelos? Web Cams?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:39 PM on November 11, 2008


If you're looking for elegance, Monday thru Thursday is your best bet.
posted by gman at 3:42 PM on November 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


We don't hear enough about Larry Flynt, Hustler and stark, grimy dressing rooms on MetaFilter.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:45 PM on November 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


The things that couch has seen.
posted by nitsuj at 3:49 PM on November 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


The things thongs that couch has seen.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 3:54 PM on November 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


shockingly snoozy
posted by DenOfSizer at 3:57 PM on November 11, 2008 [4 favorites]


Robert Scheer's piece?
posted by gman at 4:02 PM on November 11, 2008


If there is a sign that says "no grinding" then I think we can safely conclude that there is grinding to be had.
posted by billyfleetwood at 4:06 PM on November 11, 2008


what does elegant mean, Chris?
posted by dawson at 4:14 PM on November 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


And the words of the profits were written on tit-women's walls.
posted by swift at 4:21 PM on November 11, 2008


I'm having a ball reading the memos and notices on the wall, but the damn panorama plug-in won't let me sit still for 2 seconds without moving around. I like the "NO GRINDING!" notice.
posted by crapmatic at 4:25 PM on November 11, 2008


crapmatic - Hit the 'stop rotation' button.
posted by gman at 4:28 PM on November 11, 2008


I prefer the sign that instructs people to not sit bare-assed in the makeup chairs. I don't think it is a coincidence that the couch is covered with red terrycloth towels.
posted by Foam Pants at 4:29 PM on November 11, 2008


Thanks gman.. now I can read these to my wife. Not for the purposes of policy for any dancing in our house, of course.
posted by crapmatic at 4:31 PM on November 11, 2008


Rules are important.
posted by gman at 4:32 PM on November 11, 2008


Rules are important.

So you're saying size does matter, then?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:40 PM on November 11, 2008


I'm saying the motion of the ocean could help us with our energy issues.
posted by gman at 4:49 PM on November 11, 2008


The only thing shocking is that it's probably one of the nicest prep rooms there is for exotic dancers.
posted by mkultra at 4:55 PM on November 11, 2008


Hey - Goddamnit!!! Who told you about my "energy issues?!"
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:56 PM on November 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


Obama talked about them a helluva lot until the economy took over.
posted by gman at 4:58 PM on November 11, 2008


Metafilter: One drawer is labeled "Midol, Tampax, dental floss, Orajel." Another, rather cryptically, says, "meds."
posted by not_on_display at 5:03 PM on November 11, 2008


I like the "NO GRINDING!" notice.

Tomorrow, I'm putting that on the coffee room bulletin board at work.

(If anyone is confused, I'll send them to Chris.)
posted by rokusan at 5:07 PM on November 11, 2008


This room is almost as barren as a stripper's womb.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 5:09 PM on November 11, 2008


"If you can read this you are a major disappointment to your parents"
posted by 2sheets at 5:25 PM on November 11, 2008


"They don't grade fathers. But if your daughter is on the pole, you f'ed up." -Chris Rock
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 5:53 PM on November 11, 2008


Well, that was...dull.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:01 PM on November 11, 2008


If you're looking for elegance, Monday thru Thursday is your best bet.

Elegance is taking classes at the community college Friday through Sunday. Last I heard she's going to try for an English degree.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 6:02 PM on November 11, 2008 [10 favorites]


Well, that was...dull.

Go through one of the fuckin' doors.
posted by gman at 6:04 PM on November 11, 2008


I saw this on the NYT homepage and thought it was lame there. It's the back room of a strip club, a facility designed to separate people from their money as fast as possible for as long as possible. The club owner won't make more money by glaming up the dressing room so why should he?
posted by Science! at 6:16 PM on November 11, 2008


a facility designed to separate people from their money as fast as possible for as long as possible.

Churches, casinos and strip clubs have a lot in common.
posted by gman at 6:20 PM on November 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


Clicking on the far left and dragging the mouse to the far right induces the kind of vertiginous sensation one might have working there in the occasional, sans-big-suit "Well, how did I get here?" moment, and does nothing to dispel the kind of nausea I have associated with the idea of strip clubs.
posted by adipocere at 6:42 PM on November 11, 2008


I thought Elegance worked Friday/Saturday. That's what Champagne told me when I asked about her.

I think she really likes me.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:47 PM on November 11, 2008 [3 favorites]


Who's baby is cutest?!?!?
posted by cavalier at 6:55 PM on November 11, 2008


Big Primping
posted by grobstein at 6:57 PM on November 11, 2008 [4 favorites]


I don't much care for strip joints. Funny thing - I dig porn as much as any guy, maybe more than most, and I have used outcall services and hired and enjoyed the services of private dancers in the past, but I really don't care for strip joints. I think Science! has it - they're facilities meant to separate people (read: men) from as much money as possible, as fast as possible, and for as long as possible - but more than that, they're really about denial - the whole you can't have this vibe, but coupled with a weird but you can pay to pretend you can have this thing going on.

So the last time I went to a strip joint was Olympic Gardens in Vegas - it's huuuuge, just a gigantic place. And most of the other guys in my party were having fun, enjoying having the girls doing things with them that their wives don't do, looking at girls, close up and personal, who were much more attractive than any of the women they had been with, and somehow I ended up with this one girl on my knee, and we got to talking. We talked about The Business, and whether or not she'd been abused as a kid (she hadn't, or at least swore she hadn't, but agreed that many girls had), and the state of the porn industry and a bunch of other stuff. And then, when, it seemed as though we had genuinely communicated there for a few minutes, not in any significant, oh-my-god-she-likes-me kinda way, but as if we were two strangers, perhaps sitting next to each other on the train, and we had had an interesting and somewhat enlightening but otherwise casual conversation, there was a pause in the music, a lull in the conversation, and it was time for the various girls who were entertaining my buddies to move on.

And then the weirdest thing happened - I couldn't figure out the etiquette. Was I supposed to pay her? She hadn't titillated me - nor had I wanted her to - in fact, quite the opposite. So I hesitated for a couple of seconds, and decided I'd leave it up to her. I 'fessed up to her, told her I felt weird about it, as if I were offering a tip to a friend, and even though she indicated she understood, she still took the twenty bucks I gave her. And in that second, I felt tremendously sad and dirty and just ... used.

I don't care much for strip joints.
posted by kcds at 7:54 PM on November 11, 2008 [2 favorites]


Now, I know what the writer means by "locker room-cum-hair salon"...

But still - not, perhaps, the best choice of words there.
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:12 PM on November 11, 2008


Geez, guys, calm down. That looks like a nice clean dressing room to me.
btw, for those who didn't use the full screen view, the sign says, "NO GRINDING ON THE FLOOR! PERIOD! You Will Be Sent Home." No one's grinding in the dressing room, however much you might like to imagine it.

I did think the sign saying not to sit bare-assed on the makeup chair (it's on the bulletin board by the convex mirror) was pretty funny, though. Different occupations have different hazards.
posted by smartyboots at 9:21 PM on November 11, 2008


I think what's neat about it is that it looks so unremarkable. It looks like any other break room / semi-office / dressing room out there. I like the little notes and admonishments from management about dress and appearance. It could easily be a fast food restaurant or big box store...

Amazing.
posted by wfrgms at 9:39 PM on November 11, 2008


"As barren as a stripper's womb"? WTF?
posted by jokeefe at 11:13 PM on November 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


Larry Flynt is a pig, and little sickened me more than the idolation of this man after the movie about his legal battles came out. And not just because praise for this movie usually included "OMG Courtney Love is such a good actress, isn't she? She played a sloppy drug addict so well! How did she pull it off?" I'm no fan of Falwell or restrictions of freedom of speech, but it seemed as though people bought the crap this movie was selling - you're either against the censors or with them. Can I not dislike the censors and the pornographer?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:56 AM on November 12, 2008 [1 favorite]


"As barren as a stripper's womb"? WTF?

rageagainstthestrippers.
posted by gman at 4:33 AM on November 12, 2008


wait, part of that shot is staring straight into the camera, but i don't see the camera reflected in the mirror. did they edit it out?
posted by rmd1023 at 4:51 AM on November 12, 2008


This is not NSFW at all!!! It's just an empty dressing room! Damn it I don't want to wait until they open, then I'll feel like somekind of cyber peeping Tom. And that right there is a step that I am not willing to take.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 5:52 AM on November 12, 2008


This is not NSFW at all!!!

Sorry to disappoint. I was thinking more of certain parts of the 3rd and 4th links.
posted by gman at 5:54 AM on November 12, 2008


So I hesitated for a couple of seconds, and decided I'd leave it up to her. I 'fessed up to her, told her I felt weird about it, as if I were offering a tip to a friend, and even though she indicated she understood, she still took the twenty bucks I gave her.

kcds, I often have interesting and enlightening conversations with people who are my customers, and some of them have gone on to become my friends but I still expect them to pay me.

The woman's there to earn a living. If you decide that you don't want to spend your time with her titties all mushed up in your face, that's your prerogative, but it's her time she's charging for and while you're taking it up, you're stopping her from earning a living with other men.

If you don't like that arrangement, or you don't want to pay for it, don't take up the woman's time.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:51 AM on November 12, 2008 [2 favorites]


but i don't see the camera reflected in the mirror. did they edit it out -- this, more than anything else, is my #1 "how the heck do these QT/panoramic pictures work?"

Unfortunately, I usually get distracted by something shiny and give up before I find the answer. :/ Anyone? Bueller?
posted by cavalier at 7:11 AM on November 12, 2008


PeterMcDermott: If you decide that you don't want to spend your time with her titties all mushed up in your face, that's your prerogative, but it's her time she's charging for and while you're taking it up, you're stopping her from earning a living with other men.

Wonderful description! Very well put. In many ways, we pay strippers for their attention and time. Even when it isn't a "personal" dance, it is still personal; the whole nature of getting naked is that it feels personal. When she takes off her clothes for us, it feels personal; sure I like the titties, but I like the fact she is doing it "for me" (even if others are participating). And a chat with a stripper? Well, that is one-on-one attention from a beautiful (and aggressively dressed) woman and may well be more sexual, and more titillating, then dropping the clothes. Though I like that too.
posted by Bovine Love at 11:25 AM on November 12, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yeah, people are often surprised to find out that the Hustler offices are just, y'know, offices. With paperwork and junk.
posted by klangklangston at 11:35 AM on November 12, 2008


With paperwork and junk.

Not necessarily in that order.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:38 AM on November 12, 2008 [1 favorite]


In many ways, we pay strippers for their attention and time.

Actually, personally, I don't. Whether out of meanness or vanity or a combination of both, I've always tended to share kcds's discomfort with the exchange of money for somebody's attention in what feels like a social interaction. Though now that I'm both older and not so poor, I am starting to see the appeal.

However, I've had enough friends in the sex industry to recognise that none of them are hanging out in the club for the pleasure of the male company in the place. They're strippers, not the clinically insane.

And of course, that whole process of making you feel special, feel valued, that they really enjoyed the interaction and that you aren't 'just like all the other punters' *is* one of the most skilled parts of their job and the thing that's most likely to ensure they get your repeat business. Given that, kcds should have tipped more, not felt uncomfortable about the tip that he did provide.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:55 AM on November 12, 2008


Oh, of course it is all a fiction. Is it so different then a work party? Generally, I am ok with the fiction. I'm not in a big rush for harsh reality; there is plenty to go around without effort.

It is curious though. Stripping is a very overt, very pure, form of selling attention, but we see the same thing in something like a high-end luxury goods salesman, or a top-end waiter, or the like. They make us feel a little bit better about ourselves. Sure they do it to get money, but it is easy to make everything selfish; you can make anything into a selfish motive. Now I'll admit a stripper is a little more extreme then perhaps the selfish motives for anonymous charity, but still, it takes a special kind of person to do it really well. And I appreciate the effort and work they put into it; there is little worse then giving your money to someone who is unwilling to put anything beyond minimal effort into it.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:38 PM on November 12, 2008


Every senator gets a free subscription to Hustler. Each Hustler issue is mailed to every senator
's office. Gotta love Flynt's sense of humor.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 2:33 PM on November 12, 2008


@PeterMcDermott - great, now I'm supposed to feel guilty as well as weird over the whole interaction ;-) ?

I see your point, I think - I'm saying that the conversation, the interaction, the exchange of viewpoints was genuine, whereas your assertion, if I understand it correctly, is that she delivered an entirely convincing simulacrum of a genuine conversation, and for that reason, she deserved a bigger tip.

Personally, and whether it's because I wasn't sufficiently on-the-ball to recognize it as such at the time, or because I was and still am fooling myself, or - perhaps, if we apply Occam's Razor - it really was a genuine, unforced, natural and authentic conversation, I don't buy it.

It was, like I say, an odd moment.

I guess you had to be there.
posted by kcds at 6:24 AM on November 18, 2008


« Older FOB   |   The Matrix Runs on Windows Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments