Johnny's For Sale

[stripfan]

See article. As I said in my review of Johnny's in the FAQ, it can be quite fun or quite boring. Hopefully it will remain a gay male strip club. Get there while you can.

 

Last time I was there, they had a couple of unbelievably hot and sexy dancers...one from Cuba and one from Brazil. Very liberal when collecting tips.

 

http://www.expressgaynews.com/2005/12-2/news/localnews/localnews_barclosing.cfm

 

In case the link goes bad here is the article:

 

LOCAL NEWS

 

 

 

Johnny's, legendary gay go-go dancer club, is for sale

Fort Lauderdale bar celebrated its 25th anniversary this year

 

By PHIL LaPADULA

Friday, December 02, 2005

 

 

Johnny's, a popular gay male go-go dancer club in Fort Lauderdale that celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, has been listed for sale for $1.9 million.

 

Al Gibson, manager of Johnny's for the past 13 years, said he thinks there's a good chance that the bar will remain a gay male strip club. He said the owner, Johnnie Moses, would like to see a “seamless changeover with the current management staff and dancers continuing.'

 

Since the bar was put on the market Nov. 22, there have been numerous phone inquiries from prospective buyers, according to Michael Starkey, a local realtor who is handling the sale. Starkey said about 60 percent of the callers expressed an interest in keeping the bar as a male strip club and about 40 percent were interested in switching it over to a female strip club.

 

“There have been slightly more callers who indicated that they wanted to keep it as a male strip club,” Starkey said. “There is a lot to be said for keeping the place as adult entertainment since there are such a limited number of such places in the community. Communities are always trying to shut them down, but no one has ever tried to shut down Johnny's.”

 

Starkey said the building is for sale along with the land it sits on and the bar's liquor license. The liquor license alone is worth $200,000, Starkey said, because the county issues only a limited number of them.

 

Besides its young dancers, Johnny's is known for its complimentary buffet dinners. The club offers free buffets on New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and Super Bowl Sunday. It also offers a free Hanukkah breakfast.

 

The club's special events include an annual fund-raiser for Poverello that raises about $25,000 and Monday night pool tournaments.

 

The club has 18 to 20 dancers. One of them, Charlie, has been with the club for seven or eight years, Starkey said

[Cooper]

Is Johnny's worth 1.9 million? Does the bar generate enough business to make it a profitable business venture? Other than the receipts from drinks, what other income do they have?

 

I was there in August (hurricane season) and the place was empty, also very few dancers. How crowded does it get during the winter months?

[Luv2play]

I knew Johnny's well a few years back and during the winter season when I lived there it was always popular but not like Alibies, not the same kind of crowd or volume. I'm not surprised at the price given everything including the land but it would only pay for someone who would be investing for the long-term, IMO. The place itself is a bit of a dump but I never looked too hard at the surroundings LOL, just who I could pick up at the bar. I was never much interested in the dancers as they weren't my type and I hate the dollar stuffing exercise they constantly engage in.

 

But the pickups could be extraordinary or just terrible. That was always the challenge. I liked the bar, pool table format where you could chat up guys/hustlers. I had some memorable evenings there that got even better when I got the guys home. But then there were nights when things were just dull, dull, dull. Thankfully, the local sauna was not far away!