When Danny Filippone reflects upon his family’s longstanding Penthouse Nightclub on Seymour Street, he recalls a few words of wisdom his father passed down before his death: “You can’t buy history,” he said. “You have to earn it.”
But while the Penthouse has certainly earned its place in Vancouver’s history, it was a fateful night last November that showed the hard-earned is easily burned.
Luckily for Filippone, the fire started on the second floor and didn’t damage the club’s famous collection of celebrity photographs that have accumulated during its 67-year lifespan.
He thought the fire damage would be a quick fix and hoped to be able to reopen in a few weeks.
He was in for a rude awakening because as workers peeled away the water- and fire-damaged walls, they found loads of asbestos.
“We’ve never had to deal with that before, and I guess it’s a good thing that we’ve dealt with it now,” Filippone said. “It took them close to 42 days just to get rid of the asbestos.”
On April 5, the Penthouse was reborn. Its grand reopening party was celebrated by a large crowd, each face illustrating a stark portrait of how such a club has stood the test of time in the shadows of condo towers that now dominate the neighbourhood.
The Penthouse is a small brick anomaly compared with the steel and glass goliaths that surround it, and even with the club’s rebirth Filippone acknowledges the pressures that have seen the city’s once-thriving strip club scene shrink from more than 40 clubs about 25 years ago to just three (Brandi’s Show Lounge declined comment on this story, as did representatives from the No. 5 Orange).
“There was a time when myself and a lot of people were worried, is there ever going to be a time when people don’t need to come to a strip bar?”
Filippone looked on as other clubs closed, falling like dominoes to the lure of developer dollars. Gone are the Cecil Hotel and a host of others, including the Drake, the Marble Arch, the Uranus Lounge (now a Starbucks), the North Burnaby Inn and New Westminster’s Mugs’N’Jugs, which is now enjoying a new life in Surrey.
Filippone believes that it wasn’t a lack of customers that forced the majority of strip clubs to close.
“The conception they were closing because people weren’t coming to watch dancers … simply wasn’t and is not true for the bulk of them,” he says. “A lot of these strip bars that closed were closed by choice to sell the building.”
The Penthouse, of course, isn’t immune.
Filippone admits that he gets unsolicited offers from developers all the time.
“I’d be lying if I told you that I don’t look at them,” he said.
(The property the club sits on had an assessed value of $4,264,433 in 2012.)
It’s with cautious optimism that he insists there’s still an appetite for exotic entertainment in Vancouver, although in the past decade the Penthouse has made a “conscious effort” to reach out to people who wouldn’t normally find themselves in a strip club.
While it still offers exotic entertainment, the Penthouse also features performances by bands, film screenings, comedians and jazz nights to attract a more diverse crowd.
He’s happy to cater to the type of people attracted to the Granville Entertainment District, but Filippone still enjoys mixing it up, even though it might discourage exotic dancing fans.
“I think if we were to run exotic dancers six nights a week, we would do just fine,” said Filippone. “I choose to diversify because I like to do it.”
He also has an advantage in that his family has owned the business for decades.
“Because we own the building, and because it’s bought and paid for a hundred times over, I keep my costs relatively down. We have high entertainment costs and fairly high staffing costs, but we’re very smart where we spend our money.”
As an owner, Filippone might be sitting pretty for now, but the same can’t be said for dancers.
Ruby Raine (her stage name) was booked at the Penthouse back in December, and because she was moving that week, she left all her costumes and other gear needed for her weekend stint at the club.
All of it was lost in the fire.
It was a strange twist of fate because she had planned to wrap up her dancing career soon, racing against the clock as she gets older and clubs close down.
She estimated her losses totalled $3,000, and was lucky enough to have friends donate costumes and the ever-important fleece blanket for use on stage.
Raine began dancing in 2005 after taking pole-dancing classes for fitness.
An apprentice carpenter by day, she would leave her worksite, shed her tool belt and show up at amateur stripping contests and win as much money in a few hours as she’d made all day working construction.
She began taking shifts at clubs all over the city and started dancing full-time even as the number of clubs declined.
Travelling was essential because Vancouver had too many dancers and too few stages, and she blames the Internet for many of the woes she’s suffered in the industry.
The online availability of and easy access to graphic content has increased while regulations have constricted exotic dancers to the point where it’s hard to compete and make a living.
Having been to strip clubs in the U.S. and Mexico, Raine claims the relatively tame atmosphere at local clubs should also cut through the stereotypes and stigma of sleaze that surrounds the industry.
“It’s so classy here and so tasteful that it should be seen as just entertainment,” she said.
Raine used to dance and travel frequently, but she has since scaled back her dancing career to seven days per month and re-entered the relative stability of the construction industry.
She said it’s a small group of dedicated regulars who watch her dance, keep her in the industry and keep the industry afloat.
Raine has also had to retool her business plan to include branding herself with a line of merchandise that includes posters, key chains and magnets.
Dancers haven’t always used branding to generate revenue, but “you have to compete with the Internet.”
She used to enjoy dancing full time, and although she was reluctant to say how much she makes, she said a typical show price is $50 per performance.
“You can never really tell in this industry because everyday is different. You don’t know what you’re going to make and that’s it. You come in hoping you’re going to make money and sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.”
The history of Vancouver’s strip club culture has been well told and its decline well documented.
“Stripped Down” or “Stripped Bare” are the obvious headlines that have appeared in newspapers and magazines over the years, but back at the Penthouse Filippone remains optimistic and proud that his business has “stood the test of time.”
“We’re going to continue to operate for as long as we can,” said Filippone.
“There’s still a niche for this in Vancouver.” •
