Roosevelt Avenue Dance Clubs

[bs96]

Pardon my naivete, but what exactly goes on at Romanticos and Chibcha?

They're not full-blown strip clubs, are they?

Or do they just feature scantily-clad performers?

I have NO interest in going there. 

Just curious.

[toddg]

I don't know first-hand, but this recent article may provide an explanation:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2007/11/22/2007-11-22_dreams__dancing-1.html

[bs96]

Thanks for the article.

It did clear things up, actually.

[Avela]

Romanticos is now a strip club after 11 P.M. and Chibcha is a regular nightclub.

[erospolitico]

I had heard things about Romanticos, I have been trying to gather info to shut-them down. 

I had also been told that they have prostitution in the basement.

I am going to make a formal inquiry to the officials, we do not need this filth here

[toddg]

The New York Times
Dancers for Hire at Queens Club Claim Wage Violations
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: April 10, 2008

Every evening into the wee hours, lonely men slip into the dance clubs scattered under the el along Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. Inside, these men, most of them Hispanic immigrants, pay $2 for a dance in clubs with alluring names like Casanova and La Romantica.

The busiest is the Flamingo Night Club, where, past the hulking bouncer, 50 for-hire dancers gyrate and two-step until 4 each morning, donning different outfits for Miniskirt Night, Pajama Night and Schoolgirl Night. On Bikini Night every Wednesday, the dance floor is jammed, the men pulling the dancers close, the lights dim, the reggaetón music blasting.

For the men — construction workers, janitors, supermarket stockers — the Flamingo may be an antidote to loneliness, an opportunity to press against soft skin, but for many of the dancers, the club is an out-of-kilter world with bizarre rules. Several former Flamingo dancers plan to file a federal lawsuit against the club on Thursday, asserting that it repeatedly violated federal and state wage laws and cheated its dancers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In interviews in Spanish, several former dancers said the owners often made them pay a $60 or $70 fine when they missed a day of work. Several complained of having to pay an $11 fee each day just to enter the club and an additional $10 if they arrived a half-hour late.

They said that sometimes, after dancing from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., they had to attend meetings that lasted until 6 a.m. in which the owners held forth, calling some dancers “puta” (whore) as well as ugly and fat. The dancers’ most serious complaint was that the club never paid them a cent for their 45-hour workweeks.

“I never received anything in wages,” said Patricia Gonzalez, a long-haired, leggy immigrant from the Dominican Republic who quit dancing at the Flamingo last June. “In my three years there I must have paid thousands of dollars in fines. And I paid the daily fee of $11 to enter. What kind of job do you have to pay just to go to work?”

The lawsuit raises an intriguing question of law: whether the for-hire dancers were employees, who should have been paid wages for every hour they worked, or independent contractors who, as the Flamingo’s owners assert, were merely renting space on the dance floor.


(Follow link for complete article)

[Chuckster]

If this lawsuit proves to be successful, perhaps this may signal the beginning of the end of these types of establishments.

[toddg]

Gut Instinct ventures into the Viva Zapata Bar

[kate]

I had heard things about Romanticos, I have been trying to gather info to shut-them down. 

I had also been told that they have prostitution in the basement.

I am going to make a formal inquiry to the officials, we do not need this filth here

Doesn't mean they won't navigate towards a different type of venue, such as a storefront, etc. Prostitution was occurring in Elmhurst private houses as was frequently in the papers a few years ago. As per the "filth" element, I actually feel sorry for some of those that prostitute themselves, and even some of the "clientele" (those who have serious and very real sex addictions). What I consider the real evil to be is those that take advantage of others weaknesses and prey upon them.

[LilithdeSade]

Gut Instinct ventures into the Viva Zapata Bar

Pretty Interesting article.

I've only been to a handful of bars on Roosevelt. I've come to acknowledge and ignore them as simply part of the background.

Slightly off topic, but walking home tonight I passed a few transvestite hookers walking the avenue. With TONS of police on virtually every other block, the prostitutes were strolling seemingly worryless. I don't understand this.

[Gherm]

Lilith - How did you know they were prostitutes, were you being propositioned? Point is that if me and Prester want to wear pink tutu's and tiaras on Roosevelt Ave, we have every right not to be harassed by the police. Prester might get some comments, but that's because he shops at Walmart.

[toddg]

Oh, please post pictures if you do!  (Or else we might have to ask the guys down at the 115th Precinct for grainy images from their spy-cams, and those won't be as flattering).

[kate]

Lilith - How did you know they were prostitutes, were you being propositioned? Point is that if me and Prester want to wear pink tutu's and tiaras on Roosevelt Ave, we have every right not to be harassed by the police. Prester might get some comments, but that's because he shops at Walmart.

I've gotten propositioned, and I don't look like what we typically think of as a prostitute. A lot of factors go into making assumptions.

[LilithdeSade]

Lilith - How did you know they were prostitutes, were you being propositioned? Point is that if me and Prester want to wear pink tutu's and tiaras on Roosevelt Ave, we have every right not to be harassed by the police. Prester might get some comments, but that's because he shops at Walmart.

Walking slowly down the street in bra tops, cut off short shorts and platform heels on what was a fairly cold night around 2amish.

Perhaps I am being too judgmental. 
But you raise a good point.

[erikubz]

I remember there was lots of discussion about the $2-a-dance bars on Roosevelt Ave. a while ago.  The newest edition of New York Mag has an article telling the story of one woman who dances at these places: http://nymag.com/news/features/52013/ .    Heart-breaking.