Documenting Gentlemen's Clubs - Path to the Paradise

The story BTS!

Location:

   I have been working on this project for more than a year. Traveling, driving, shooting and sneaking around in daytime to find what emerges only at night - 'gentlemen's clubs'.  I documented places in New York, New Jersey, Arizona and Maryland so far with the aim of exploring more and more locations around the States where each place brings another asset to the American cultural landscape and urban architecture.  

   People often ask me how and where I find these clubs. First, I do my online research and google map the locations. Then, I group them according to the areas of the town or suburbs they are at and therefore, I could estimate the distances and organize my trip in terms of time and travel.

   Once I get to a certain city to look for gentlemen’s clubs, it seems like there is always one particular area that is populated with strip clubs. For instance, in Syracuse, NY this area is 'Little Italy". In Baltimore, the strip clubs are located on the Baltimore Street block, right in the Downtown of Baltimore. Surprisingly, in both places the clubs are situated right across the police stations. In Phoenix, most of the clubs are located in the southwest part of the city in quite low-income neighborhoods and near the airport, the same in Elisabeth, NJ. Sometimes, one can encounter more than one strip club on the same block. Usually, they are placed near motels, hotels, auto shops, car dealers, industrial areas, airports, factories, hidden between warehouses or in specific working class neighborhoods.

Google Map of Phoenix, AZ gentlemen's clubs, 2010

Some Stories on The Road:

   During the day most of the bars are closed, but there are some that are open from 12pm -2pm for 'FREE LUNCH'. I start making my images around noon and while I focus on shooting positioning myself in front of a strip club that is open, sometimes from inside comes a big guy asking me? 'Why do you take these pictures?' or 'what do you take pictures of?' 'Where are you going to show these pictures?’ 'You can't take any pictures (after I have already taken 20 shots), you have to ask the owner.’ So, I ask the owner or the manager and I continue doing my work.

   Once an owner of a strip club asked me these questions and I told him that I will show the pictures in a gallery and I will let him know when. First he said, ‘In general I don't let people take pictures of my club, but you go ahead.’ And then he said to me: ' yes, send me a note in my mail' (very sarcastically).