Some specially marked booths offer windows with one-way glass, for clients who want more privacy. To keep the shutter on the window open, the client has to keep feeding quarters into the slot - 25 cents buys you 30 seconds. Each booth has a window looking in on the "main stage," where women dance and crawl around in various states of undress. Farther inside, you see the doors to the private booths. The first thing you see when you walk in is the change machine. The Lusty Lady is not what most people would think of as a strip club. Still, few of the marquee's fans have ever been inside the business itself. Now, all grown up and making a career in comedy, Armstrong and a colleague have started a website dedicated to tracking The Lusty Lady's marquee. "I thought that was hilarious," Armstrong says. The Lusty Lady's version? "The Loin King." He was about 13 years old around the time Disney's The Lion King was in theaters. It was on one such trip that Charles Armstrong "discovered" the Lady. And the Lady has obliged with "Gogh All Night," among others.įor a generation of suburban kids, the marquee has been the highlight of many a museum field trip. Museum staffers have even requested museum-related messages on the marquee. "I wait at the bus stop in front of the museum, and I'm often interested to see what their marquee is going to say."Įven though the marquee is clearly visible from the windows of the kid-friendly "family space" in the art galleries, the museum has had a friendly relationship with The Lusty Lady. Popular for such themed evenings as Speed Bingo Wednesdays, Trivia Challenge Thursdays, and live music on many nights (especially weekends), The Pond is the sort of no-attitude, welcoming place in which regulars and newcomers feel equally at home."It's such a landmark!" says Tracy Timmons, the librarian at the SAM.
It isn't unusual for this convivial taproom to host a live band now and again (and it serves pretty tasty pub food, too). It's not gay-specific, per se, but it's right on the main drag and a great option for tasting top-quality beer.