Combat Zone

Construction has finally begun on a luxury tower at Washington and LaGrange streets. Once it's completed, how long do you think Centerfolds and the Glass Slipper - the Combat Zone's last two strip clubs - can hold out before their buildings are torn down for a high rise?

And the Glass Slipper on LaGrange Street agrees, telling the Boston Licensing Board this morning that it had no excuse for the way a stripper, clad only in a G string, was giving a customer a lap dance on May 9.

Boston Police Det. Kevin McGill uncovered the violation while conducting a routine inspection of the strip joint. He said he and Sgt. John Devaney went up to the third-floor lounge to find a number of patrons as well as female employees in "various stages of dress," which is fine. But then their attention was drawn to the near naked woman sitting in a patron's lap "making physical contact with the patron," which is a no-no under city regulations. McGill said a club manager immediately put an end to the up-close performance.

"There's no touching, there's no touching, just no touching," board Chairman Daniel Pokaski chided club managers this morning. Pokaski, who acknowledged the need for "an upscale, high-end gentleman's club in a major city," said he did not want to go back to the bad old days of the Combat Zone. "We don't need that," he said. "Train your staff."

Club managers agreed.

Video report on the decline and fall of the Combat Zone by A Chinatown Banquet (which has also posted other videos on Chinatown and its history):

Combat Zone visitors and workers reminisce.

Jon Hammond was an organist at Combat Zone clubs, back when the clubs still had live music (back when there were still clubs, period). He remembers those days (scroll down to the last entry, although there are other comments from Combat Zone veterans there):

... If the Strippers didn't like a tune they would let you know about it right away, usually by coming over to the organ and saying "I can't dance to that!" ...