The nation's only unionized strip club reopens in North Hollywood

[Jilly_in_VA]

It was history in the making Thursday night as Star Garden reopened as the only currently unionized strip club in the U.S. — and the second ever in the country. (The very first, the now defunct Lusty Lady in San Francisco, unionized in 1996.)

It was part union rally, part sidewalk party, part reopening celebration at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood. Customers were lined up outside waiting for its doors to open at 8 p.m. A group from the United Farm Workers chanted, “Si, se puede!” Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine played union songs on acoustic guitar to the sidewalk scene.

Among the crowd, in bikinis, corsets and crop tops, were some of the strippers who used to dance inside this bar. After almost a year and a half of being on strike, much of it on this same sidewalk, these dancers were finally going back inside.

“I've been on strike 17 months and now I'm going back in. It's very surreal,” said one Star Garden stripper, whose stage name is Wicked. (For safety reasons, we are using stage names for all the strippers in this story.)

https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/the-nations-only-unionized-strip-club-reopens-in-north-hollywood

Look for...the union label...

[Aristus]

1. Strippers and exotic dancers are workers, and deserve the same worker protections as everyone else.

I learned that lesson relatively early, and it made me a more empathetic person.

I had a buddy in the Army who dated an exotic dancer. After she was done with her shift, we would pick her up, and we'd all go for dinner and drinks, and sometimes a movie. One night, my buddy had duty, so I had to pick her up and take her home. There was always a crowd of strip joint customers hanging around the stage door, hoping to get a date with a dancer, or, equating them with prostitutes, hoping to get laid.

My buddy's girlfriend came out the stage door, saw me, and made a beeline through the gaggle of dude-bros and gave me a big hug. She had never hugged me before, and I knew it was her way of showing those guys that she was "taken", so they'd leave her alone. It really brought home to me that she was just working for a living so she could support herself and her daughter.

I hope more of these places get unionized, and the dancers can get insurance and benefits.

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. Yes they do.

They are doing nothing illegal or immoral. They are making a living with their talent. Isn't that what every actor in the world does for a living?

[ret5hd]

4. Your story reminds me of an incident...

I was young, dumb, and in my first union job. I was really interested in the union (later a steward, then officer) so the local president brought a couple of us to some training.

We were all sitting in the hotel lounge and a working girl started hitting on the president. He kinda blew her off nicely, so she left.

We were kinda ribbing him a bit, and he (a large Native American, tough as a piece of granite, raised in the Indian boarding schools you hear of now) turned to us and said:

“Shut up. She’s a working person just like you are. Don’t ever forget it.”

His tone and emotion wasn’t angry, just very firm and serious. We didn’t bring it up again.

[Aristus]

7. Good for him.

Life in those boarding schools must have been Hell. Good for him for coming out empathetic instead of cruel and bitter.

[KentuckyWoman]

3. Can I just say "Unionized strip club"

Instantly made me happy. This needs to be much more of a reality.

[Blue Owl]

5. This is one union shop where you definitely don't wanna see scabs

[hueymahl]

6. Based on the article, this place will be out of business in a year

No cash, high drink prices, no lap dances, cover charge 4x the competing clubs. I wish them luck though.

[former9thward]

8. I would give them a month.

There is a certain clientele that goes to these places and they want certain things. They are not going to pay 4x the price to get in and get nothing they want.

[haele]

9. If they set themselves up with a good tapas type restaurant,

Setting themselves up as a "snack and show" type destination, they might do fairly well in the adult birthday or bachelor/bachelorette party circuit.
They can do strip reviews or cabaret type shows, to set them apart for "couples" nights. This is a business model that works in Europe, why not here?
They need to have a good bar and restaurant to make it work, though.

Haele

[hueymahl]

10. Interesting idea

Definitely not the business model they are currently operating under