Vancouver showgirls mourn end of the 'sexiest show lounge' with Brandi's closure

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Strip clubs aren’t the only venues finding it difficult to survive in Vancouver.

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“What is going on is affecting the whole night-time economy and nightlife, and is endemic to live music clubs,” said Aaron Chapman, author of Liquor, Lust, and the Law: The Story of Vancouver’s Legendary Penthouse Nightclub, and a OneCity candidate for council.

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“At the root of what happened with Brandi’s is they don’t own the building. Their determination of what they want to do will always be at the whim of the property owner.”

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Rents driven up by commercial property taxes that are calculated at the highest and best use of the property often get passed on to leaseholders.

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“That’s why the Penthouse survives,” said Chapman, referring to The Penthouse Cabaret, which has operated at 1019 Seymour St. since 1947. “They own the building.”

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Chapman said the city needs to do a better job of protecting its alternative and non-traditional performance and music spaces, whether it’s Brandi’s or Lanalou’s, a “rock ‘n’ roll eatery on Powell Street.

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“We need our venues, cultural spaces and arts spaces,” said Chapman.

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For decades, Vancouver had a rich nightlife, said Becki Ross, a retired UBC sociologist and author of Burlesque West, Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver.

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Burlesque dancers were an integral part of that culture.

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The city was a spoke on the hub of a glittering circuit, where showgirls tried out acts before taking them to Vegas, and headliners such as Gypsy Rose Lee and Big Fannie Annie might perform on the same night as Sammy Davis Jr. or Lena Horne.

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Becki Ross, a retired UBC sociologist and author of Burlesque West, Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver, in front of the Penthouse Cabaret in 2000. Photo by GLENN BAGLO /VANCOUVER SUN

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“These were incredibly rich places of ferment, experimentation and innovation, and a lot of the dancers were recruited by the club owners to come north,” said Ross.

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“In the 1970s, about 35 pubs and supper clubs with burlesque, striptease and exotic dancing in Vancouver were raging,” said Ross. “There seemed to be no barrier to opening a pub or a showroom, or a club or a lounge, installing dancers and making a success of it.”

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In the 1920s, the State Theatre (formerly the Pantages Theatre) on East Hastings Street featured burlesque dancers on its stages, and hosted international artists such as fan dancer Sally Rand.

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The Palomar at Georgia and Burrard, and other supper clubs like the Cave at 626 Hornby St., featured burlesque along with cabaret acts that included comedians, jugglers, sketch acts and knife throwers.

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Since that time, clubs that featured striptease and burlesque have come and gone: the Kublai Khan at 488 Main St., the Harlem Nocturne at 343 East Hastings St., the Smilin’ Buddha at 109 East Hastings St., Isy’s on West Georgia, and Oil Can Harry’s at 752 Thurlow St. all tapped the cabaret trend through the 1950s and ’60s.

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The advent of television crushed that moment, said Ross — people had something to do at home — but the scene evolved and the independent, free-standing strip club emerged in tandem with the 1960s and ’70s sexual revolution.

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“People became super curious about sexuality, about nakedness, about bodies, about beauty,” said Ross.

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1972: Two senior citizens groups visit Isy’s Strip City. The social outing was organized by the Vancouver East Recreational Project. Photo by David Donnelly /PNG

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Women who worked in underpaid pink-collar jobs — nurses and social workers — found they could make good money on stage, although it was a high-risk business, said Ross. Strippers were stigmatized, misunderstood and had few legal or labour protections. 

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In the 1980s and ’90s, higher-end clubs became more mainstream thanks to movies like Flashdance, Striptease and Showgirls, and hip hop culture that used the clubs as promotional spaces. The scene was no longer just for expense accounts and middle-aged stockbrokers.