Missing strip clubs? Drive-thrus in Houston have a hot solution
COVID-19 canceled everything. From Houston to Chicago, sports games, rock concerts, and gatherings are all put on hold until at least next year. Among the casualties of lockdown are strip clubs. Unsurprisingly, as getting a lapdance definitely isn’t social distancing, these services aren’t reopening any time soon.
Does that mean stripping will go away under “the new normal?” Not if strip clubs like Vivid Gentlemen’s Club in Houston have anything to say about it! Strip clubs are getting creative, offering services in a way that keeps them operational. Enter the strip-club drive-thru.
Who started it?
Strip-club drive-thrus started in March when lockdown began. In places like Houston, strip clubs legally exist in a limbo between restaurants and bars, so it was unclear when they could reopen. Adding a drive-thru element allows customers to stay safe and allows strip-clubs to adhere to guidelines that allow them to stay open.
While clubs like Little Darlings Strip Club in Las Vegas only offered socially-distanced dances, strip clubs in Portland and Houston started offering strip-club drive-thrus complete with food. They even had a strip-club drive-thru in Bavaria!
In Houston, the Vivid Gentlemen’s Club was the first strip club in Texas to offer their services as a drive-thru. The first in the US was the Lucky Devil Lounge in Portland. Cleverly, Lucky Devil Lounge named their new strip club drive-thru Boober Eats.
Some history
The idea wasn’t exactly original. A drive-thru strip club like the ones cropping up in Houston, Vegas, and Portland existed. The world’s only strip-club drive-thru, Climax Gentlemen’s Club had a home in Pennsylvania before the owner passed away in 2009.
The service cost $10 for a single driver and $20 if the car had two or more people. There was no enforcement on time, as patrons reported having to wait until the previous car was done to have their turn. At strip-club drive-thrus like Vivid Gentlemen’s Club in Houston, time is monitored.
How it works
In Portland, the Lucky Devil Lounge started offering a strip club drive-thru service just before the ones in Vegas and Houston. In these locales, customers order the standard strip club fare: burgers, nachos, and pizza if the drive-thru serves food. Then, they pull up and watch dancers perform behind grated barriers from the safety of their car.
Then, a server carries you some food to take home and you can go back to your house fed and satisfied. Where it’s allowed, customers can order alcohol to-go, too. Vivid Gentlemen’s Club, the strip-club drive-thru in Houston, offers six-packs of beer and even bottles of booze.
Can’t leave your house? No problem! The Lucky Devil Lounge also offers delivery. Dancers come to your house and bring you food, so you don’t have to leave isolation. Whether dancers can deliver to your door depends on the area you live, so if you’re in Houston, you may have to just go to the strip-club drive-thru.
How it helps workers
Drive-thru strip clubs in places like Houston help the dancers, cooks, bartenders, and hostesses keep their jobs during lockdown. A common complaint through quarantine is about how service workers like hairdressers and dancers can make money if they can’t work outside the home.
While pandemic unemployment can soften economic hardship in places like Houston, it can only do so as long as the government provides people who lost their jobs the income supplement. Strip-club drive-thrus are a way to keep workers from having to worry if a stimulus will cover their expenses and keep customers safe.
Is this the future of the industry?
We don’t know when COVID will go away. We also don’t know if this will be the last global pandemic we’ll see in our lifetimes. While states are beginning to open up again, strip-club drive-thrus may always have a place for those who don’t want to risk getting sick, from Portland to Houston.
