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Caroline in the City Travel Blog

Responsible travel for millennials

You are here: Home / Atlanta / The Clermont Lounge

The Clermont Lounge

December 9, 2010 by Caroline 6 Comments

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You know those nights where something seemed like a good idea at the time and then you find yourself thinking, “What the hell did I get myself into?” I usually don’t discuss these nights on my blog (because they could one day make me unemployable), but after reading about Adventurous Kate’s night at a Bangkok ping pong show, I couldn’t help it.

Maybe I should explain what The Clermont Lounge is. In one sense, it’s a dive bar mixed with a strip club. It was actually the first strip club in Atlanta and opened in 1965. To put it delicately, many of the strippers have been here since then. They’re no spring chickens.

But alas, it’s been on my Atlanta List for the last year or so but I never worked up the nerve to go. Celebrities like Anthony Bourdain, Jon Stewart and Kid Rock have been known to visit for God knows why. Clermont started as a dingy hotel and has been nearly shut down by the city of Atlanta on multiple occasions, but somehow always gets out of it. Maybe it’s the allure of Blondie, one particular dancer who can crush your beer can between her boobs. Now that’s a resume-building skill.

You should also know that one doesn’t plan on going to the Clermont Lounge. It just happens (“Clermont Lounge is what happens when you are busy making other plans?”). Someone suggests it jokingly and then the next thing you know, you’re stopping at the ATM for some ones.

So the night began innocently enough, over a couple of Pain Killers at Brewhouse Cafe in Little Five Points. After a few of those, someone dropped the “C” word: Clermont. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been to a strip club before, let alone one where the strippers were old enough to remember Nixon.

We stopped by the ATM to get money and then we were on our way to Poncey-Highlands. As we pulled into the parking lot, I started to get nervous. We approached the door, where some big scary tattooed men stood next to a sign that said “NO CAMERAS” and told us the cover would only be $5 since the bar was closing in an hour.

This is already 2 a.m., mind you. An older blonde woman dressed in what looked like a Dorothy costume was lifting up her dress to reveal her garter belt stuffed with ones and some other stuff… My brain was on overload. Some Auburn fans were sitting at the front of the stage, watching intently, after their night at the Georgia Dome.

We sipped our drinks as Dorothy left and a tall woman in a leopard dress took the stage. The dress didn’t stay on for too long, but since I wasn’t forking any of my travel savings to these ladies, my friend and I took to the dance floor until the bouncers yelled for everyone to go home.

Would I go back to the Clermont Lounge? Maybe. I’m not going to rule it out. But I won’t be the one suggesting it.

Filed Under: Atlanta, beer, friends, Georgia

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anne says

    December 9, 2010 at 7:39 pm

    No comment on you feeling like you absorbed a pack's worth of nicotine through your skin? Or how the dancers have to take change over to a juke box to play their own song? Weak, Caroline. Very weak.

    Reply
  2. Caroline in the City says

    December 9, 2010 at 7:51 pm

    Haha sorry I left some (many) details out. Those didn't make the cut.

    Reply
  3. Kyle says

    December 10, 2010 at 2:24 am

    I knew you were going to say they don't allow pictures. That's too bad. I'm morbidly curious to see how the strippers are holding up after all those years.

    Reply
  4. Adventurous Kate says

    December 11, 2010 at 8:10 am

    HAHA! Caroline, I love it. But you need to go back and get up on that pole, girl! Show those old ladies who’s boss! ;-)

    Recommended Reading: “The Austin Road Trip” short story by Tucker Max. ;-)

    And thanks for the mention!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Closing Time « Caroline in the City says:
    December 31, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    […] Visited my first strip club. Started sorting out the details for my Australian […]

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  2. 20 Bars To Drink In Before You Die – PandaThis.com says:
    December 19, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    […] carolineinthecityblog.com […]

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About Caroline

Hi, I'm Caroline. I'm a professional storyteller, sharing experiences from life abroad and my own backyard. This blog began as a way to document my twenties as I lived in a city I adored and attended college. But from there, it developed into a journal of my travels as well as my ideas about life … Read more about About Caroline

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