Atlanta_Guy

That explains why you keep going

I’d rather eat 80 year old pussy

UPDATE on the bright side the “northside ballet” as some of us locals refer to it has seen some slight improvements. The lineup is not very good but a few new dancers have joined and new meat is usually good for a gay strip club. They also have their credit card system working again after being cash only for six weeks. But the owner continues to do stupid shit. The plans to turn it into a straight club during the day is the latest. The owner of Johnson’s has now indicated on his Facebook page that he will be opening a Johnson’s in Atlanta. When that happens it will be the final nail in the northside ballet’s coffin. https://www.projectq.us/atlanta/Swinging_Richards_adding_female_dancers_to_daytime_lineup?gid=19954

No hot guys. Not one

Stopped in recently on a weekend. One word. Tragic. I lasted less than 30 minutes. So sad ?

https://www.projectq.us/atlanta/swinging_richards_files_for_bankruptcy_with_1.6_million_in_debts?gid=19822 Swinging Richards has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

I wasn’t posting false or misleading info. My original title... which the moderator chose to edit was a very pointed prediction based on what I know. You don’t have to be clairvoyant to see what is about to happen. I am not happy about the situation with Richards. I have been a supporter for over 20 years. The gofundme campaign is an indicator of how dire the situation is for the business.

The title is not wrong. If the club was closed I would have said "Swinging Richards is CLOSED". The post is about the impending closure of the club. I agree with you they should have arranged independent contractor status. Or had better lawyers. The dancers were all independent contractors. Unlike employees, they can choose not to come to work. The only thing they couldn't do is work the weekend when they didn't work a week day.

one other add. This weekend was absolutely gorgeous in Atlanta. There were significantly fewer people through the door the last two weekends.....and few dancers working at the club.

I've been visiting Swinging Richards in Atlanta Georgia since 1997. It was my first gay strip club experience. I have fond memories there. But I want to warn those who might be thinking of coming to atlanta it's really not worth the trip and will probably be closed by the end of the year. It's been on a downward spiral for a few years but it has still had bright moments and some hot guys. Gay pride in October was outstanding! But that has been the exception. I can remember when you would have a new guy or two almost every month and they have had some notables from porn stars to southern boys from just outside the Atlanta metro area. I don't think they've had any notable guys join in the last year or more. The last real hot guy, JB (also known as Iceman on thunders arena) commutes on the weekends from Orlando. Almost all of the guys there now have been there for 4 years or more. Most of them are well north of 30 years old. There are still some hot bodies but mostly it is VERY average. I've been embarrassed the last few years when friends visit from out of town. Rumors of closures have existed for over a decade. But this time is different and I want to explain why. First, they lost a labor lawsuit last year. I don't know the amount but I believe it was in the 7 figures. This was the second time they were hit for not paying minimum wage. The entire premise of these lawsuits is stupid. You have guys that are making more money than they will ever make in any future job. Most of theses dancers in the lawsuit were straight guys who saw one more opportunity to make a buck off the gay community. Many of them were no longer at the club. Some of these same guys send me messages asking for help with bills. They are leaches. Karma is a bitch. Changes since then...have just about ruined the club. Mixed drinks went from $8.25 to $12.25. I don't know what this has done to the bar business but the crowds have remained good on the weekends. Most of the time you can't find a parking place from 11pm til after 12 midnight. Parking is still $5. The bar doesn't even open until 9pm Cover charge is $10 before 10pm. $20 afterwards. Women are allowed to dress in basically any way they want. Short shorts, short skirts, tits hanging out. Mid section uncovered Dancers can come and go as they please. Some not showing up until 11pm and others leaving before 1am. VIP prices doubled (i.e. 15 minute room went from (e.g. $40 to $85 dollars - that does not include the dancer fee. So the impact here is more noticeable. It wasn't uncommon on a weekend to do 20 to 40 VIP rooms. Now, you may not see 5. There are still some wealthy visitors from out of town that drop cash. But that is usually during the week. One such visitor spent over $16,000 on dancers and VIP rooms....before drinks just a few weeks ago and no, I'm not exaggerating. He did that with a credit card. Which brings me to item #7. If all of this wasn't enough. For at least the last two weeks, the club has stopped taking credit cards. There are two different rumors going around on this one. The first is that the club is having an issue with it's credit card company. Since I believe they are paid a Percentage on each transaction I can't imagine the POS provider would turn them off. I've also heard the owner needs cash to make payments on the lawsuit judgment which is due this month. Either way, the customers aren't happy and many who use their credit card spent less on drinks than they usually would have. Both on drinks and VIP rooms. Most of the people who do VIP rooms do it with credit cards. I wish I knew how badly that impacted sales the last two weeks. Bottom line is it can't survive much longer. It will be an end an era. I'm sure we will see another club with "gogo" dancers but fulton county is no longer giving out adult club licenses. The number of adult clubs in Atlanta, Fulton County and the surrounding areas has been dwindling for the last decade. In another 10 years there may not be any left. Gay or Straight.

Twinktotlover - You can’t even do math. 99%? ROTFLMAO

TBL Dude you are a trip. I’ve never been to Gold Coast and don’t plan on going but your rantings on Montreal and virtually everything else read like a bitter miserable queen. I’m sure you know they are speaking to you when someone says “now serving bitter party of one”. Btw...there aren’t “many others” who like skinny 18 year old twinks. Those are children and most of us have no interest in children. Getting my popcorn and a soda. This is going to be fun to watch.

I’m told that it has been very quiet during the week. They even started closing on mondays. Fridays and Saturday’s they still see 300 to 500 people a night

So Richards still has some talent. Though not like they had 5 years ago. The problem is the club is run like shit. The worst started back in May I think. They lost a lawsuit with several former dancers over wages. According to the court, Richards should pay dancers minimum wage. So, now they are paying minimum wage. Keep in mind many of these guys made $50k-$100k or more per year...working 3 nights per week from 10pm-2:30am. Even more, dancers who once had to tip the house, the DJ, the doorman, no longer have to. So in order to make up money the club has raised the cover charge. $20 after 10pm. Entry into the VIP lounge is still $10. But they have more than doubled the house fees for VIP rooms. 15 min went from $40 to $100. Same thing applies for the 30 min and 1 hour charges. That isn’t counting the dancer. They expect $100 for every 15 min. Needless to say the number of VIP rooms being sold has dropped dramatically. But they still have some regular big spenders.... some of which will probably stop coming when they go bankrupt. But Wait, there is more. Now, in order to get a dance you are supposed to buy dick dollars. I think you can buy 1 dick dollar for $24. That gets you one dance in the VIP lounge. And wait, there is still more..... you have to buy your dick dollars from the vip door guy. He is quite possibly the most incompetent fucker I have ever seen. Sometimes you have to stand in line for 15 min to buy dick dollars. Same thing for a VIP room. I’m not kidding. He really is that slow And just when you think it can’t get any worse..... you buy a drink. Now, their cocktails are strong. But what was a $9 drink is now $11.25. I kid you not. Now there are some hot guys their most nights.... just be prepared to feel like your wallet was raped.

I don’t think I was rude. I had already answered how they enforce it. As for the blue laws. To clarify, it is illegal to sell alcohol on Sunday morning in Atlanta. So George is technically correct. Alcohol can be sold on Sunday in Atlanta..... here is the info https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/senate-passes-brunch-bill-expanding-sunday-morning-alcohol-sales/

How is it illegal? Kind of stupid question.... See if u can understand this. And if not read it real slow ok. The same way it is still illegal in Atlanta to sell alcohol on Sunday it just is.... how do they keep guys from getting a hard on? The threat of substantial fines and shutting down the club. It’s that simple.

That is actually illegal. The police are known to visit the club and there are significant fines to the dancer and even more to the club. So, you aren’t going to see that on stage. Btw - if you tip a dancer a $20 bill on stage they are required to get naked... whether they are on the first song or the third.

so, I misspelled Sean/Shawn. My fault. Same for Stephen/Steven. You are also right, there is no Dustin in the film. He was only referenced in an announcement they made at the club which was caught on film, it is seen on the version available via Amazon prime. I remembered he passed away in the summer of 2009 which is how I was able to place the date of most of the film. Matt was fired and rehired by the owner at Swinging Richards (Atlanta and Florida) multiple times. you probably met him at Adonis during one of those "fired" phases. Justin wasn't the GM. He was at the front door or the VIP door a few nights a week. They had a few GMs in between Matt's tenures and after his last departure when he moved back to Florida. Early in the film Sean made references to how everyone used to make '$1K+ a night without even trying. But were only making $150 now' It is in the film online at amazon prime now.

It goes in the owner’s pocket. I have no idea what he does with it. The city of Atlanta doesn’t give out new licenses for adult clubs. They haven’t given a new adult club license in 20-30 years. So the existing ones are golden. There are maybe 20 adult clubs. Richards is the only gay one. I think it was 6 or 7 years ago one of the straight clubs changed over. It was called Bliss. Matt Colunga even managed it for a while until the owner at Richards hired him back. Bliss did well for a while. But it was a smaller club and Richards didn’t really seem to be impacted very much. When Matt left... the quality of the dancers fell off and bliss converted back to a straight club.

A couple of things from someone who is a “regular” of the club. The video is not a good advertisement or representation of the club. Most of the video was shot in 2009. Thats 10 years ago. Dustin, a dancer whose death was spoken of in the video died in the summer of 2009. The ‘movie’ started out as a concept for a reality TV show. It never went anywhere. Most of the dancers wanted nothing to do with it. Many of the dancers come from conservative homes. There is a reason the Deep South is known as the Bible Belt. There were probably 10 to 20 really hot guys working st the time that refused to be a part of it. So basically, you had the attention whores who were convinced they were going to get fame and money. As for some of the guys Dallas: still there. He’s actually aged well if you liked his look. I never had a thing for him but he’s actually a nice guy. Matthew: I spit my drink out laughing when he said he “slept mostly with women.” I think the only time he’s ever touched vagina was when he was born. He left Atlanta and for a time was the DJ st floppy roosters. Pierce: must have been having a bad week or month. He was hot, very sexy and he didn’t look up to his usual standards In the film. He was smart. Never understood how he got caught up in the film. He got an education and I’m told is doing very well. Shawn: he’s the guy that talked about how the money had gone down. This is the same shit every dancer talks about when they lose the “new meat” factor and/or lose some of their regulars. As a point of reference I was there Saturday night and one of my favorites was disappointed he had only made $600 as of midnight. So much for no money...Oh and this “favorite” of mine isn’t new but has been dancing for 4 years. To be fair, he is smoking hot and one of the best looking guys in the club now. PS - there is another dancer named Sean at Richards now... he’s been there since about 2010. Stephen - he was 40 plus years old when the film was done. He was a nice guy, attractive for some people but not really what you would expect appearance wise from a dancer. As the film mentioned he disappeared and was found dead. The official report said foul play wasn’t suspected.... but I never understood why. Matt Colunga - he was the DJ/Manager. A bit moody at times but he was good and did a good job of recruiting talent. I haven’t been to his new cub in Florida (Johnson’s) but have heard good things. The bottom line is the film does not give you a great picture of what you can expect at Swinging Richards. I’ve been to almost every strip cub and many gogo dancer clubs. Outside of Montreal Swinging Richards is the best you will find. The warning I would give is that they do have “off”nights... especially during the week. The weekends are almost always pretty good.