Thanks Cooter for the BGC perspective
Like I said, I only started going to BGC because a friend who used to live here recommended it. He once got some take out and was pleased. But given the slow business, I had the feeling that I was at a place that had a bad reputation.
I think I will try BBF and Dancers. You mentioned overpriced drinks at BGC, most of the time I can get a vodka a BGC for 4. 25, and always much more at PTs.
My first time at PTs was a Saturday afternoon and I saw the full range of the dances. The first dance was an AfAm girl. I asked what her personal rules were, and she said she would let me know if I crossed the line. She encouraged me to grab everything and I had her entire tittie in my mouth. I thought, wow, are all PT girls like this? So I asked to spend time with the hottest girl in the place, an IU student. She wouldn't let me do much of anything, so I learned the extremes of PTs.
It will be interesting if BGC will ever get out of the doldrums. They have renovation plans, but will also increase dance prices.
Suckered at HH? end of feature dancer era?
sounds like you were conned! I've only been to Harem House once and was not impressed. It used to be (and maybe still is) owned by Babes but it seems to be their less classy line of merchandise (sort of like Kraft selling Macaroni & Cheese shells with liquid sauce using an ad criticizing powdered Mac & Cheese while at the same time they themselves also have powdered Mac & Cheese).
I say this because in the '90s heyday of feature dancers Babes used to have feature girls but the Harem House never did go the extra expense. Actually I first started going to strip joints because of the features and rarely went to see just local girls in the '90s.
By feature dancers I mean national magazine models and XXX actresses who would visit Indy for a week (or two if they played at both Babes East & West or both Brad's). I have a huge men's mag collection going from the 1950s (long before I was born) through the present, pinups, tease, Playboy imitations (like the great Modern Man) up through groundbreaking '70s Hustlers (my dad left those openly lying around the house when I was in high school!) to current XXX magazines. To quote Gus Borden (Brian Doyle Murray) from the sitcom "Get A Life", "I have a nudie magazine bill that would pay for a small trailer"! So back in the '90s it was a huge thrill to meet these women in person.
Most of the feature dancers were very nice. XXX'er Christy Canyon got all excited when I brought a big stack of mags for signing, saying I was "a big fan"! A Hustler July 1996 model named Kimber Leigh (blonde with red shoes in the layout) was amazed that I showed her a subscription copy of the mag that she hadn't even seen yet (I got a lap dance from her, expensive but worth it! she sincerely said she enjoyed meeting me). Kimber wanted me to give her the mag but I wouldn't (other pix of her turned up in a foreign Hustler as those overseas editions sometimes printed tamer outtakes because of local laws).
One of my favorite features was XXX chick (& Hustler model) Alicia Monet. I met her several times from '90 to '93 at Dancers on the west side (she said a local dancer stole her leather coat there!) and Babes East. At the earier meetings she was very nice. Alicia let me take many pix of her beautiful bare feet, a request that would freak out some other feature girls. But the last time (in '93) she was hostile (supposedly she has a drug problem and once ran naked through a city in Germany!). Alicia claimed I hadn't tipped her enough that nite considering all the pix she had posed for in previous years (not fair; I had paid her asking price for the photos at those prior meetings)! So I bought one Polaroid from her and left!
At an earlier (& happier) encounter Alicia Monet said I could direct her and a cute local chick in a "2 girl fantasy" photo shoot. But it would have been just topless, there at Dancers, and thinking it would be too tame I declined (now I wish I'd taken her up on the offer!).
My biggest thrill back then was taking pix of the girls by themselves. But some girls refused, fearing I would sell the pix (which I NEVER did). Those girls only allowed pix if the guy was standing next to them (I guess they figured you couldn't sell it). Usually those uncooperative chicks weren't even full-fledged models, just wannabes who had an amateur pic printed in a place like Hustler's Beaver Hunt.
Some of the not-very-nice feature girls weren't really very attractive in person. Maybe their insecurity about their looks contributed to their bitchiness? One Hustler centerfold named Topsy Curvy (I think?) refused to sign a Hustler unless I bought a lot of expensive stuff from her first. I'm no cheapskate; I never cheated a feature girl for freebies and always bought at least one (usually many) items from a feature girl. Topsy's attitude turned me off completely and I refused to buy anything but SHE was the one who walked away in a huff (and she didn't attract any other customer besides me!). Another ugly female dog (name eludes me) said I was damaging her sample mags by touching them (I wasn't!) so I walked away.
But the majority of the feature girls were sweethearts. K.C. Williams was very sweet, and like Kimber Leigh was impressed I had a mag she hadn't even seen yet (an issue of the XXX mag "Puritan"). Some other guy there didn't have any cash to pay K.C. for Polaroids so she let him trade her a bunch of dildos or other such junk! Penthouse model Natalie Bach was very nice at PT's and asked me for ideas for an upcoming video! A Penthouse Pet of the Year, Cody Carmack was also a real sweetheart and she even "accidentally" opened her panties (while flashing a suspiciously sly smile!) during a show! Cody was very creative with her dancing, costumes and music (I gave her some suggestions, don't know if she used then). Cody tried to be a legit actress & even appeared in an "Equalizer" episode!
What ended the feature era in Indy? I'm guessing the clubs didn't draw any extra customers by hiring & advertising features (they used to take out lots of ads in the Star). I was usually the only guy at the feature shows who ever heard of these women & brought their mags to sign. I used to check the Star every week for feature ads. They used to run in the entertainment section but they later moved to the sports section (complaints from mothers & housewives?). Dita Von Teese told me she didn't make any money coming to Indy. It seems the clubs don't pay all that well and the features make their profits from Polaroids, 8x10's, videos, mags & expensive lap dances!
Also for me personally, meeting local providers up close & personal since the '90s took away much of the novelty of worshipping a porno chick or centerfold model from afar! I still have a huge collection of feature girl Polaroids buried somewhere so maybe I'll post the best of them here!