Motley Crue’s video for their hit song “Girls, Girls, Girls” showed the four members cruising down Sunset Boulevard and visiting two of the street’s best-known strip clubs, the Body Shop and the Seventh Veil. This video came out in 1987 and brought attention to both clubs. More than 30 years later these businesses are still open, showing the lasting appeal of pretty ladies taking off their clothes.
These two are just the most enduring of such establishments that have a long history in West Hollywood, a city whose convenient location adjacent to the movie capital but outside the jurisdiction of the LAPD made it a hotspot for shady and illegal activities.
One of the most memorable of WeHo’s palaces of skin was the Pink Pussycat on Santa Monica Blvd. just west of Fairfax which opened in 1961 and quickly became a hangout for well-heeled fanciers of the art of striptease. A nice Jewish couple, Harry and Alice Schiller, managed to turn a failing Latin jazz club on a rundown block into the classiest strip joint in town catering to celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and businessmen. Alice was responsible for the all-pink interior of the club as well as the stage names for the dancers which included Fran Sinatra, Dina Martin, and Peeler Lawford.
During the 60s, the club was home to the Pink Pussycat College of Striptease which taught novice dancers subjects like “Fundamentals of Taking It Off” and “Psychology of Inhibitions.” Classes were taught by dancer and comic Sally Marr, the mom of comic Lenny Bruce. In 1967, Alice Schiller bragged, “I’ve probably glamorized 1,000 pussycats. Twenty of my pussycats married multimillionaires.” The Pink Pussycat closed in the late 70s and was replaced by the gay and lesbian-friendly disco Peanuts. In the late 90s, the location was taken over by Club 7969.
Another legendary establishment was the Classic Cat, which Hollywood historian Alison Martino called “the largest, most luxurious topless club of them all.” The club’s Strip location at 8844 Sunset made it a favorite spot for 60s-era actors like Adam West, Doug McClure, and Robert Conrad as well as couples and actresses like Lana Turner. The building later became University Stereo followed by Tower Video in the 80s. It’s now occupied by Chase Bank.
One club making an appearance in the Motley Crue video is the Seventh Veil, which still stands at the eastern end of the Sunset Strip near La Brea. Some scenes from the vid were filmed inside the Seventh Veil, which occupies a location that has housed burlesque clubs since the 40s. This club lures customers with two stages, $20 admission and private dances.
The most famous strip club in the area is the Body Shop on Sunset at Harper Avenue, which has been around since the 60s, making it the longest continually open strip club in West Hollywood. Even a 2008 fire that almost burned the place down couldn’t stop this still-popular all-nude club. With a reasonable cover charge and 200 dancers, the Body Shop is worth checking out, especially if you ever get nostalgic for the days of hair metal.
The Body Shop is the only one of these clubs I’ve actually seen the inside of. In 1975, I attended a record release party for the band War, back in the days when the music biz was at its wildest. I suspect that in these days of “me, too”, labels aren’t throwing PR parties in places where naked women are pouring jugs of wine over their bodies and Joe Cocker is falling out of a limo in the parking lot.
You would think that in West Hollywood, of all places, there would be a male version to these strip joints! Seems sexist to me that dancers in the bars are heavily restricted to what they can reveal, unlike in the days not that long ago when they could take in big tips from very happy customers. I think that ended when women in gay men’s bars complained.
Linda, how about a report on the history of male strippers in WeHo? There was a time when go-go dancers in gay clubs had a lot more freedom to entertain but now they are bound by very restrictive rules under the watchful eyes of security guards whose job it is to make sure no one has a very good time. Topless men is not the counterpart to topless women, and there is no male version to The Body Shop. Here Lounge (now The Chapel) and FUBAR, as well as other places had dancers who gave customers what they wanted. What… Read more »
I’ve wondered that myself. The only really famous club with male strippers was Chippendales in West LA which of course, was created to appeal to women.
But WeHo does have a history of male strippers, pretty much only in the bars, but it has changed in just the last few years. I’d like to know why it has changed. Other big cities are much more liberal with that issue than is West Hollywood.
Here are a couple of posts from ten years ago you might find interesting.
https://wehoonline.com/2013/05/15/9-former-mickys-employees-sue-gay-bar-lawyer-goes-public-with-graphic-details/
https://wehoonline.com/2013/04/01/state-accuses-weho-nightclub-mickys-of-lewd-conduct/
Ironically, I’ve never been to Mickey’s.
I wonder how this case was resolved?
https://wehoonline.com/2015/09/25/state-abc-board-to-close-wehos-mickys-for-the-month-of-october/
They seemed to have resolved their issues with the ABC since they currently have a full bar. FWIW, clubs with full nudity are not allowed to serve booze and most would prefer to have the big bucks that come with offering liquor. Most of the news about Mickey’s since then has involved security roughing up the customers.
I can attest to seeing this at the motherlode bar every dude there had their dick showing with an apparatus on it it was insane right in your face
Lord… guess you don’t recall the many bars that segued into ad hoc strip clubs, (i.e. clientele drunk enough to disrobe); Black Pipe on La Cienega, Gallery Room on Santa Monica, Seventh Keg on Beverly, The Jaguar and The Hub on Santa Monica… lotsa makeshift stripping during cocktail hour.
Dig a little deeper, you’ll find the history.
How are male dancers “heavily restricted”? Full nudity vs. G-strings?
Dancers at most all the WeHo bars used to “flash” and even go fully nude (not even g-strings), usually only briefly. Here Lounge had naked Wednesdays in which all the guys would be fully nude for extended periods of time, maybe for 30 or 40 minutes. FUBAR had full nudity, with each dancer, one at a time, taking a few minutes to entertain before the next dancer did the same thing. A number of years ago a club on east SM Blvd. near Cole or Wilcox named Miss Kitty’s Parlor had both male and female dancers who would perform fully… Read more »
Wow! Fast and loose in weho!
***spell check at end of the 3rd paragraph: Peter Lawford
The strippers at the Pink Pussycat had names that were based on Rat Pack celebrities- Fran Sinatra, Joie Bishop, Peeler Lawford.
If that still confuses people today here in the comments, how many people back then saw that on the sign, went in to get an eyeful of Peter Lawford and got something else???
The “Burlesque” sign out front should have given them a hint.
I did not know that…thanks for the insight!
More accurate history from the AdSausage website; Pink Pussycat was “Dolly’s Bowery Cafe in the early 1950s, the saucy club billed itself as the “hottest show in town”. It also operated briefly as the Dawn Club.”
“The West Hollywood nite spot became The Seville toward the end of the decade (Chico Hamilton and Miles Davis played there in 1959). That lasted until around 1960 when the venue became the Pink Pussycat.”
New to me. Thank you for finding more info. Linda should do her research!
“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.” – Voltaire
Valerie. My Mom worked across the street from this place years ago, temping at a travel agency (she lived on Romaine). I remember her saying there was a jazz club she went into one time.
Great for straights however The gays in Weho have to stare at Male strippers at clubs with UNDERWEAR on! Not even allowed a jock strap?
Really? I remember going to Chippendales in the early 80s and the male strippers got down to tiny G-strings.
“More than 30 years later these businesses are still open, showing the lasting appeal of pretty ladies taking off their clothes.” Very astute, Linda.