News Post: Opposition to Forty Deuce Increases

The East Village and the Lower East Side in Manhattan form the primary seat of burlesque in New York. Tompkins Square Park originally hosted Wigstock, where neo-burlesque legends such as World Famous BOB and Dirty Martini performed, and recently hosted burlesque events at the Howl Festival. Clubs frequently featuring burlesque include the Slipper Room, with the city's longest-running burlesque show, Rififi, which features weekly shows Starshine Burlesque and Sweet And Nasty, Kitty Nights at Bar on A, frequent burlesque and performance art events at Mo Pitkins and The Bowery Poetry Club, and the adult vaudeville of The Box. My School of Burlesque operates at 440 Lafayette at the edge of Greenwich Village, across the street from Joe's Pub, where burlesque shows often take place. (For info about other burlesque shows in New York City, see Ed Barnas' New York Burlesque Calendar.)

However...

"A planned burlesque nightclub reportedly financed by musicians David Bowie and Sting is running into heated opposition from residents in the Lower East Side.
" The club, planned for a building just north of Chinatown, could bring a new glitz and nightlife to Kenmare Street, a residential and relatively low-rent retail strip that is gradually seeing a shift to a more upscale business makeup. But the opposition indicates that as the Lower East Side becomes thicker with luxury condominiums, businesses seeking to locate there may face a less permissive environment than they once did.
"With a Community Board meeting scheduled for tomorrow, residents are vehemently opposed to the nightclub, named Forty Deuce and spearheaded by club mogul Ivan Kane, criticizing it as a late-night striptease club that is grossly inappropriate for the neighborhood."
From the New York Sun

Although Forty Deuce will probably feature a vastly different type of show and audience than I'm accustomed to, it seems appropriate to me. What I find more inappropriate is a double-wide baby stroller with one kid and one Yorkie in it, accompanied by a mom and a grandma AND a nanny, clogging up the narrow aisles of a tiny neighborhood bodega. I'm just sayin'.

See also:
Don't Strip So Close to Me

Comments

Unknown said…
I've been watching the Forty Deuce controversy unfold as well. Amused, for now.
I'm not amused yet--if the community decides they're improper, we're easily next.

I used to work on situations like this as an advocate and lobbyist for strip joints with First Amendment and discrimination lawyers. It's disturbing to me to hear some of the same language used about burlesque (as it was disturbing to me then to hear it used about strip joint dancing, actually).

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