Apparently no photographic proof exists, but an acquaintance of mine was issued a written warning by Ypsilanti police yesterday after writing “Ypsilanti respects women” and “Ypsilanti doesn’t need a strip club” in liquid chalk on the facade of our local all-nude strip joint, Deja Vu. (See his written warning from the officer below.) He and I have yet to have an opportunity to speak about it in person, but it would seem as though, based on what he’s shared online, that he’s initiating a campaign to have the Washington Street club shut down. At least that’s what it looks like to me, given the fact that he’s publicly reached out to several individuals currently running for elected office in Ypsilanti, asking that they “ban strip clubs from Ypsi’s city limits,” followed by the hashtag #WhatWouldMarthaWashingtonDo… a reference to the fact that the building in question, long before it was a strip joint, was the Martha Washington Theater.
Well, as it’s been a while since we’ve talked about the local sex trade in all it’s various forms, I thought that this might be a good opportunity.
Personally, I don’t like Deja Vu all that much. I understand from some folks in town that they’re good neighbors, and they police the activities of their patrons pretty well, but, all things being equal, I’d rather have a real theater downtown than a strip joint owned by a friend of Larry Flynt’s where, as I’ve said in the past, “men sip fruit juice and stare sadly into the orifices of coeds.” At the same time, though, I’m not terribly keen on the idea of shutting businesses down, as I value the first amendment and appreciate the right of consenting adults to do what they like behind closed doors. With that said, though, my sense is that there are other strip joints in the world that are significantly more friendly to women. At least I’ve heard in the past that strip clubs in the Portland area, for instance, are often owned and operated by women, which I think, from the perspective of a nude entertainer, would be preferable. In other words, I don’t think I’d go so far as to say all strip clubs are, by their very nature, bad. I suspect some are pretty good. In fact, I’ve often thought that, if such a place existed, I’d frequent a club that featured women in powered wigs stripping to harpsichord music.
I’m curious where the rest of you stand on this. Is it time for a coordinated campaign to get Deja Vu out of downtown?
Also, regardless of how they may or may not treat women at Deja Vu, my sense is that their model may not work for much longer in Ypsi. When the auto plants were in Ypsi, and the downtown was dead, it probably made good economic sense. I don’t know if that model works so well when the plants are gone and a family-friendly restaurant like Beezy’s is across the street, though. It seems to me that, sooner or later, the owners of Deja Vu might want to move a little further down Michigan Avenue to a town with better demographics and fewer people staring in judgement at their patrons.
