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Brooklyn's Paris Cabaret: Burlesque Venue Or Just Plain Old Strip Club?
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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note the pole
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 8, 2011
Modified Nov 8, 2011
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A Red Hook club billing itself as a "cabaret and burlesque lounge" is pissing off its neighbors, who claim the place is really just a strip club, bringing with it all the delightful patrons that a strip club in an industrial stretch of Brooklyn could ever hope to attract.
Paris Cabaret and Burlesque (check out that splash screen!) opened last July, much to the chagrin of many suspicious locals. At the time, owner David Ruggiero told the Community Board, “I can assure you this is not going to be an adult establishment. There aren’t going to be stripper poles or runways.” But a Brooklyn Paper reporter who stopped by recently found that "women gyrated against silver poles wearing only thongs and pasties...Girls Gone Wild flickered on a screen behind the stage and ladies offered lap dances." Charming, is it not? GGW totally evokes "the look and feel of a 1940's European style Cabaret."
Residents have filed multiple complaints with the city, alleging that Paris is blasting techno music all night and its patrons are peeing on doorsteps and fighting in the street. A burlesque dancer who performed when the club first opened said Ruggiero used her act as a front, after declaring that there could be "no fat girls" on stage. “He used our art form to justify peddling smut,” she told the Paper. “He broke promises.” Out of the two Yelp reviews for the club, one comes from the owner ("The show was off the hook"), and the other reads: "In the middle of nowhere, could barely find the place and then I saw a burlesque show that lasted all of 20 minutes. Skip this place, plenty of bars and clubs in NYC that do burlesque shows the right way."
Our calls for comment from the club were not returned.
Tagged
brooklyn
burlesque
paris cabaret
red hook
strip club
Jamie Feldmar
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