The Virtues of the No-Booze Vegas Strip Clubs
Serenity Dances at Little Darlings
Photo by Hew Burney
Vegas strip clubs that admit customers under 21 can’t serve booze. To make up for that, they’re all fully nude, and they all specialize in young dancers—often break-in dancers fresh out of high school and saving up money for college. That tends to give the clubs a Girls Gone Wild feel, which is fun. They also get a number of first-rate over-21 dancers who are tired of dealing with drunks.
Another nice thing about the no-alcohol clubs is that you never feel you’re being hustled for outrageously-priced booze. Bottle fees in Vegas strip clubs are similar to the bottle fees in Vegas’ posh nightclubs, ranging from $200 to quite a few thousand dollars. In the no-alcohol clubs, you may pay an admission fee, but soft drink prices inside are low (watch out for energy drinks, which may cost $12-$20!) and private-show costs are limited to what you pay for the dancer (there’s no drink minimum tacked on).
Four strip clubs in Las Vegas admit guests under age 21. All admit customers at age 18 and they include one of the best clubs in Vegas — Little Darlings. It’s the only under-21 club that competes with Las Vegas’ big topless clubs in quality of dancers, and it exceeds most topless clubs’ offerings when it comes to the club’s stage show and private show options.
Under-21 Clubs with Good Stage Shows
Little Darlings Vegas has a creative management team that continually thinks up new ideas for fun stage shows, and they’ve been doing it for years. About once a month, they bring in a top feature dancer like pin-up model Gia Nova or Suicide Girl Jessica Bambu. They always have good pole dancers on stage. They keep trying new ideas like college night and lingerie night.
The Little Darlings stage show tends to draw a good number of women customers, making it one of the most female-friendly strip clubs in town. Little Darlings also gets a good crowd of customers over 21 because of their lap dance and private-bedroom dance deals. Every lap dance at Little Darlings, starting at $20, is fully nude and takes place in a private room. And private-bedroom dances start at just $125 for 15 minutes. That’s less than most Vegas strip clubs charge for 10 minutes in the group VIP.
Little Darlings admission is $35, but you can get in for $15 just for arriving by the free club limo.
Talk of the Town is a hole-in-the-wall compared to Little Darlings, but it’s another club I like. It looks like a beatnik coffee house—no flashing lights or high tech here. You’ll sometimes find only three or four dancers on duty, and never more than 12 to 15, but the atmosphere is always low-key and friendly, while the dancers are young and cute and eager to please.
The dancers often do three-song sets on stage, which means they often take a bit more time to undress. That tends to make the stage show a good tease. This club is also the only strip club in Vegas that currently offers a shower show.
Lap dances start at $10 at Talk of the Town. You can get 10 minutes with a nude dancer in one of the club’s private curtained booths for $100. Admission at Talk of the Town is $10 before 8 pm, $25 after.
Both Little Darlings and Talk of the Town have local followings.
The Worst Vegas Strip Clubs for Under-21s
The remaining two Vegas strip clubs that admit customers under 21 aren’t really gentlemen’s clubs so much as private-show clubs. Diamond Cabaret is one of these—a small club I would recommend with reservations. Whereas Little Darlings and Talk of the Town both have sexy and fun continuous stage shows, Diamond Cabaret’s stage show is lackluster. If you enter the club, the stage will often be empty, especially on weekdays. That’s because you’ll likely find yourself the only customer in the place.
At that point, one of a handful of dancers huddled in the back of the main room will get up and start to bump-and-grind a bit on stage, removing her bikini or the like. After a song or two, dancers will start approaching you to sell you a 30- or 60-minute dance in one of the club’s private rooms. This club won’t get many customers, so you’ll usually get a hard-sell.
In my experience, an evening with a life insurance salesman would be more pleasant. If you just want to watch stage dancers, you’ll likely be disappointed here. Even if I’m planning to spend some bucks on a private dance, I like to build up to it with an hour or so watching the stage dancers.
Can Can Room—the last club that admits under-21s—is a club I consider a tourist trap. The times I’ve been in this club I’ve found it to be a high-pressure sales pitch to get you into one of their bedrooms. And the sales pitch was not only high pressure, but misleading. They’ll quote you a price for a private-room dance that is similar to the prices at other clubs around town. Then, when you get into the room with the dancer, you’ll find out the price doesn’t include her.
The stage show at Can Can Room, like Diamond Cabaret’s, is nothing to write home about. The whole emphasis here is on trying to get you to empty your wallet. The cover at both clubs is $20.
Neither Diamond Cabaret nor Can Can Room have local followings, and that’s always a bad sign. They may have some value for guys who go in knowing what to expect and willing to drive a hard bargain, but for my money I’ll get private dances where both the atmosphere and dancer selection are better.
