the ultimate strip club list

October 12, 2008  •  Vol. 15, Issue 285

It was fun, I would go back. In fact, going bac next week. 5 girls. 3 were hot. 2 were kinda on the fat side. Prices were ok but dances seem like they should last a bit longer.

Hey it's Hollywood! This is not Florida. The Star Strip is a very good club if you are looking to pitch a tent and take in a hottie. People complain when it's slow in clubs, but thats good something becasue girls can spend more time talking to you instead of running from customer to customer. The club is like a long neon bowling alley and the stages are small. The girls are close and if you are by yourself or out drunk with friends, it's pretty cool if you can get into the moment. Im not DJ'ing ther so I cant help you there. Weekends are always busier with more dancers. There are some smoking dancers here! There is no liquor, so sneak in a flask and mix your own drinks, or go acorss the street to the pub and have a few beers and then come back and tip something. You get what you give in this biz, so have your singles ready and the girls will never give you an attitude. They work for free until they get tipped. After youve seen what you like on stage go talk to your fav girl and get some dances. Dont be afraid to ask the DJ whats the story with the club and the best dancers.

I had high expectations for this place, but I found it to be slighty disappointing. The girls, although beatiful, didn't seem very excited to be dancing and made me wonder why I had paid to be rejected. The atmosphere of the room however was very nice and more high class than other strip clubs that I have gone to. I might attribute the lack of people to the day that I went, but I was expecting more since LA is known to be constantly alive.

Was staying at the hotel just down the street so decided to take a jaunt to this theatre. Normal cover is something like $20 but I was able to get in for "free" with the LA Weekly coupon. Still had to pay something like $12 for the two drinks.

You walk in and the place feels kind of like a dive. A bit smoky, not necessarily high class, low ceilings. Took a seat at the stage and it's well-designed in that the girls are very very close to you. Maybe too close. A total of about 10 other dudes in there around midnight on a thursday night. Two black girls were there as well, and they only went up to the stage to watch/tip when a black girl was dancing. Interesting.

Well, I sat back and tried to enjoy the show. But honestly, the girls on stage weren't doing it for me. That's not to say there weren't lookers. There was this Russian girl who wasn't stage dancing but was offering laps. She was close to a knock-out. Finally, a real Russian beauty! So I had a few topless dances with her followed by a VIP. She's a beaut. Mileage was not high, but it wasn't an air dance either. Some basic grinding, and some "hands on" action during the VIP.

I left this Star Strip Theatre thinking that it captures the tragic beauty of a strip club in La La Land. "Hollywood sells californication..."

I used to DJ at the Star Strip in the 90's. This club has been remodled along with it's sister club Crazy Girls on Sunset. Ask for waitress Barbara and tell her Fish sent you when you get your drinks. I'll drive all away across the valley and Hollywood for two $4 watered down Orange Juices. There are some nice looking babes here and it's an easy pit stop off Laceniga near the Beverly Center. Theres no alcohol, but you can go to the pub across the street and tank down a few before you ride the rides. You may get tired of hearing Girls Girls Girls every 2-4-1 but I guess it's the lap dance that counts. Tip the DJ and tell him to phatten up those songs to 3 minutes 30 seconds and more when it gets late when your getting you lap dances. Week days are slow and quiet with a few girls. Week nights schedual more dancers. Weekends can get packed. This is a great place to watch for movie and rock stars in the crowd. Movie award nights bring in Kevin Spacey and friends, I've seen Chris Farley before he died on a regular basis, Dave Chappelle, Karrem Abdul Jarbar, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Quinton Tarentino and a lot of B actors. For your choice of Hollywood Strip Clubs, The Star Strip is pretty cool. be sure to hit the ATM before you go to the club. The ATMS are strippers within themselves with up to $10 fees for one cash withdraw. You should actually put the ATM on stage with a purple thong to Soundgarden.

Entered this establishement on a Friday night around 11 pm, using the "free entrance" coupon from the LA Weekly. This meant instead of paying $20 for 2 non-alcoholic drinks, you pay $10 for 1 non-alcoholic drink. Woohoo. Typical for a club, the music was way too loud. At least the sound system could handle the loudness and the music was decent rock - instead of the usual hip hop strip club trash. Lighting was so bad sometimes you could not even tell if a girl was black, white, latino, or asian unless you got close. Wierd. Girls come around and ask for a lap dance. Every one of them made not the slightest attempt to really connect with me. If one had, she might have got some business. The girls were all natural - a rarity. Most were very fit, small breasted. Some with fabulous long hair. But with one exception, the show dancing was a disappointment. All the girls were on fast forward, very, very fast moves - nearly zero eye contact during the show dancing, and I after putting out dollars for 7 girls, only one actual paid any attention to me - and I'm a reasonably attractive fit guy. That girl, was very enthusiastic Philipino named Asia. So, I did a 2 for 1 lap dance ($40), and she was fun and very energetic. Great mileage. The distance of the other girls means I won't be going. Too bad, because the interior of the club was pretty nice, and the couches were great.

The club was hoping during my Feb. 07 visit. The girls ranged from 6 to 9 with an occasional 10. action in the VIP was mixed. some allowed limited "roaming" some did not. contact ranged from air dance to good friction. was offered takeout by one dancer, but declined. i would return to explore more of the takeout options. i much prefer more privacy like at ybor strip in tampa. spot

Was there the Monday of Thanksgiving week, so it was obviously not the best time to judge a joint. There were only about 5 other patrons, but my colleague and I were the only ones that looked as if we had money. They sat us at the stage, and a black girl was wrapping up her dance as we settled in. She came over to us, asked for a tip, we laughed, she stated that we'd have to tip if we're sitting at the stage, we laughed again, and she stormed away. Come on now...there were only a few other people in the joint and you want to piss off 30% of your customers? Then, a Russian gets on stage, dances for about a minute and the DJ says something. She gets pissed and they get into a yelling match...while she is still on stage. I didn't get a dance but my friend did. Said the contact was good, but no real extras. Most of the girls were very pretty but most were A cups. Overall, not the best, but near my hotel so I will probably head there again.

It seemed like time for my annual check of Star Strip, one of my old favorites that went downhill for many years. I keep hoping for a comeback, and I thought the recent renovation might do it. Well, the results are mixed.

First the renovation. They left the main stage alone, but took out the small stages that were the trademark of Star Strip, and replaced them with a long, generic stage that is now the main stage, and a smaller "stage" (for shower shows, I think, but they don't seem to be using it even at the prime time on a weekend night). They also redid the wall seating and made it into nice booths. I did not like the new stage because it is too long, too deep and narrow, so it's not efficient for watching the dancer. The stage lighting is also worse than it was before. All in all, the renovation is a net minus.

The main improvement is that the girls are better looking and less edgy. Mind you, some of them are still edgy, but the atmosphere is not as heavy as it was a year ago. There were about 15 dancers, two of them beautiful, and 5 more nice looking. There were only few customers until around 11:30 PM when it started to become somewhat lively. The stage show was good. The girls actually got naked (as opposed to the fiasco at 4Play, see that section for more), they did close-and-personal acts for the few customers at the tip rail, and they did not look bored like they did last year.

The songs are still cut short. They ran only one 2-for-1 while I was there, but it was a real 2-for-1. The main lap area has a bunch of small love seats without any barriers, so privacy is an issue. They now have nude laps, and the mileage is OK given the lack of privacy. The lone lap booth close to the entrance is still there, but I haven't seen it used all night. BTW, you now have to pay the cashier before the dance, which is a mighty bad idea. I almost refused and canceled the dance, but I didn't want the agitation so I just refused to lap again after that.

Admission was free until 11:00 PM with the LA Weekly coupon, and the waitress charged $10 for the two drinks minimum. Parking was $3.50. There was no pressure at all to buy drinks after the first two drinks, and there are no ladies drinks gimmicks. The pressure to buy laps is more than I would want, but still tolerable. The staff was OK friendly.

I left Star Strip with a slightly positive impression for the first time in years. I can't quite put my finger on it since many of the components are not so good. Perhaps the fact that the good-looking girls were also quite friendly is what tipped the balance.

THE FUNDAMENTALS
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Dancer Looks: 8.0 (top three girls) , 6.5 (overall average)

Stage Mileage: 5.5 (lighting) , 7.5 (nudity) , 7.0 (show)

Lap Mileage: 6.5

Song Length: 2:15-2:45 (regular) , 2:15-2:30 (specials)

Lap Cost: $40 (nude) , $30 (topless)

I use to be a big fan of the Star Strip, but the girls and quality of dances have progressively gotten lower

Dance-wise, this is not the club to go if you are into the nasty stuff

Honestly, the women here don't allow any touching, so while the grinds are terrific, the lack of interaction sucks --- and when I say no touching, I mean no kissing, no grabbing, no stroking, NOTHING

It is unlikely that the girls will perform anything special on you --- as I said, the grinds are great, but nothing else

I like the atmosphere a lot though --- it is easy to talk to the women and lounge in the comfortable seats

Beyond that, the laps are overprice ($30+) for what you get and the quality is going downhill

If you want to spend Star Strip type money, then go to a better strip club, like Spearmint

I had to kill time in the area so I went to the Star Strip for the first time in about 20 years. 2025 is a fair estimate of when I'll next return.

Dark, shabby, depressing. The atmosphere is everything that makes you feel ashamed to be in a strip joint. The ladies were in perfect harmony with the atmosphere. No enthusiasm, no pretense of "glad to see you".

I only saw about five dancers, which was about how many patrons were in the place. None of them seemed especially attractive but with that lighting in those surroundings, the Playmate of the Year would have looked like Ed Asner in drag. I felt sorry for the dancers working there, which is why I'm not giving it a lower grade.

Star Strip used to be a fun club, then went downhill more than a year ago. I could not find any recent reviews, so I decided to take one for the team and check it out on a weekend night. For the uninitiated, Star Strip is located two blocks from the Beverly center and few blocks from Melrose and Sunset night spots and restaurants.

There were about 15 dancers, two really beautiful but the majority about average. Some have been here for as far back as I can recall. The club has several stages that used to be filled with customers, including a constant flow of oriental tourist groups. During my visit, the most customers at any point were less than ten (in spite of the LA Weekly coupons for free entry until 11:00 PM). The club has topless laps for $30. Only one customer did repeat laps, while two others did one lap each. At the tip rail, there were between one and five customers at different times.

The strongest impression I kept getting during my entire visit was the bad vibes from the dancers. They seemed bored and edgy. They asked for laps in an unappealing way. Some would not take no for an answer. Two girls separately offered me 2-for-1 as a sales pitch. The club doesn't have 2-for-1 specials, so I was a bit suspicious as I was ripped off before in this club. The girl said if I got a lap from her we would do A, B, and C. I went back with her, and she wouldn't do anything. When I told her you said we would do A, B, and C, she just stared at me while continuing her air dance. When she was done, she asked "would you like another dance?" It was surreal, actually bordering on amusing.

I still would have done laps with two of the girls if it weren't for the erratic song length. The DJ cut many songs to about 2 minutes, and that simply vetoed my lap plans. Most of the laps were done at the booth closest to the entrance, and it was easy to see the action from outside. The guy lies down on a long couch, and the girl is all over him. The mileage seems decent.

Only the main stage was open, and it is the worst stage in the club. The most customers at the tip rail at any time would have fit into any of the smaller, more intimate stages with room to spare. The dancers at Star Strip have the annoying habit of pulling down the stage tips during the song. It would have been less annoying if they spent more time in front of you than the 2 seconds it took them to pull down the tips. Only a third of the dancers did nice sets.

Throughout my visit, there was a subdued atmosphere. The smiles were rare and seemed to be done with undue effort. The body language of the dancers was not indicative of happy campers. Although my expectations were low to begin with, I was hoping that I would be pleasantly surprised. Well, there were two pleasant surprises. I saw the prettiest dancer that I have seen in all 7 clubs that I visited this summer, and I found a parking spot on La Cienega. :)

THE FUNDAMENTALS
-----------------------------

Dancer Looks: 8.0 (top three girls) , 6.5 (overall average)

Stage Mileage: 6.0 (lighting) , 6.0 (nudity)

Lap Mileage: ?

Song Length: 2:15-3:15 (regular)

Lap Cost: $30 (topless)