Jeromes Naked i 👁

Jeromes naked I was a strip club in the combat zone that started out as Jeromes lounge, a nightclub where musicians would come and play and people would dance and have fun, in time it turned into a Jeromes naked i, a burlesque club and later on a full on the Naked i, a strip club where some of the girls would turn tricks, what about 80% did not. Here’s a great quote from Roswell Angier‘s “A kind of life, conversations in the Combat Zone”.

“Of the girls I’ve dealt with, I would say that not more than 20% turn tricks on any kind of regular basis. Your contact in the clubs is going to be bartenders, so in theory I should know pretty much what’s going on. If a girl‘s hooking and she doesn’t tell the bartenders, she’s in trouble. Because how is she going to know who’s looking and who’s not? We can screen the customers for them if some John comes in and says he’s looking for a piece of ass. But I wouldn’t wager that more than 20% of the girls I’ve worked with are hooking. And a lot of them have never turned a trick in their lives. Maybe they’re not telling me, but I doubt it.”

Bartender at Jeromes lounge

That’s a cute little sentiment that seems supportive enough but I guarantee you that bartender is taking a percentage if he is screening the John’s. Something tells me that there were certainly girls that were hooking and didn’t wanna pay the bartender that percentage. You have to remember in 1975 feminism was a thing. A lot of women did not want to be controlled by a man or have to give her money to a man. Even in the combat zone.

This is something I’m actively researching. I’ve been spending a lot of my time contacting proprietors, bartenders, burlesque artists and strippers and yes even hookers from the combat zone to try to understand exactly how the industry worked at that time. Something that I found out is that strippers did not get tipped back then. For instance, at Jeromes, the strippers would have sidled up to the Patrons off stage and try to get them to buy rounds of drinks. At that time the strippers were tipped out by the bartenders according to how much liquor they could sell by the end of the night. It was not customary for patrons to tip the girls or stick money in their G strings at that time.

It’s always interesting to me how things change over time.

I’m sure some of you out there we’re in the Strip clubs in the 1970s. I would love to hear your insight on the matter. I was born in 1975 so I have no personal perspective on this.