East St. Louis Club 64 Revisited
by Jack Corbett

Christian, one of my favorite drinking buddies at Club 64, simply because she's loads of fun and pulls no punches as well as being pretty damn good looking.  But that night before Christmas, none of the girls got the attention Smokey got, the fun loving adorable Tiger Cub we brought into the club.

Club 64 has it all--glamour, ambiance, tons of raw energy, and pretty girls.   From what used to be called Mustang Sallys Club 64 has evolved into a night club that has everything.  I remember what Ed once told me, when I said, "I think I want to stop going to these titty clubs, and Ed replied, "Jack, where else can you get all this energy with the pretty women hanging around you?  I got away from the adult clubs for a year and started going to regular bars.  Invariably there would be all these guys with their tongues hanging out trying to pick up one, maybe two bimbos who were not at all good looking.  And there would often be a fight with two idiots going at it.  Then I wised up and stopped going to the regular bars, so once again I've got all these gorgeous babes hanging around me, there are never any fights, I'm much safer and I nearly always have a great time." 

Well Ed should have known.  He was one of these guys plying his trade up the river, captaining a tug boat, theoretically for thirty days and thirty days off.  Ed was by no means the "pervert" portrayed by the Mothers of a More Boring Nation who frequents strip clubs.  The strippers all liked Ed and enjoyed drinking and having fun with him.  Often they would go out with him outside the clubs because he had a friendly shoulder to cry on when crying was needed, he was an intelligent guy, and he knew how to have fun.  Above all, Ed knew how short life is and when he was not working hard, he wanted to maximize every moment he was awake.  Ed is the kind of man, gentlemen's clubs were designed for, and Club 64 is above all else a true gentlemen's club, even if it does exist in East St. Louis, a city that has cast a sinister image that you will never find at Club 64. 

I know the owners of Club 64 well.  Frank had been general manager over at the Platinum Club for nine years, and I remember sitting with him in his office as he closely scrutinized a large monitor that showed him everything that was going on at the bar downstairs, in the VIP room, the dressing room, and even the parking lot outside.  Diligent does not even begin to describe Frank who could enlarge any scene he wanted with the click of a mouse and zero in on  potential trouble before it got out of hand.  He uses the same precaution at Club 64 and expects his doorman and managers to be just as on the ball as himself when he's not at the club.  So not only will you feel at home here, you have every reason to feel safe. 

Two tremendous acrobats visiting Club 64 from Iowa, Kiara and Amy

But that night  was the night to remember.  It was over the Christmas holidays just over a year ago.  Kloey Love, one of the finest feature entertainers in the country was featuring at Club 64 while taking a break from the road over Christmas.  A Saint Louis girl, Kloey had started her career as a house dancer at The Platinum and her boss was none other than Frank.  But when Frank left the Platinum to start his own place, a number of the Platinum girls went with him.  So Kloey was back with her old pals.

It was also a night Kiara and Amy were visiting from Iowa.  Amy, who used to work for PT's in the St. Louis Metro East, now worked for Big Mike at the Lumberyard in Des Moines.  Kiara living just outside of Des Moines also worked for the Lumberyard, but had come down to stay with me for photo shoots and ultimately became the cover girl for the "Wild Times".  

All of which is very exciting.  Amy and Kiara are top girls, both of them being excellent dancers in their own right, even if they were not features.  And Kloey Love is capable of winning any pageant or dancing contest anywhere, anytime, and has done so on many occasions.  She is so good that no matter where she lives we are all proud to claim she's from St. Louis and the Platinum Club. 

Now remember how I just said how Ed and I think topless and nude clubs are so much more exciting and safe than regular bars.  Not only did Club 64 have an excellent cast of visiting entertainers to complement its own excellent stable of girls, it also had a tiger running loose in the place. 

His name is Smoky.  By now I'm sure Smoky's well over three hundred pounds but back then he weighed just 30.  The girls and even Sherry, Frank's wife, had that white tiger on their laps and on the stage.  Smoky liked to eat a liquid diet interminably sucking milk from a milk bottle.  Practically every dancer in the place wanted to feed Smoky and to play with him. 

That was Tiger Wayne's pet of the moment, and Tiger Wayne who has access to hundreds of jungle cats from black leopards to mountain lions, tigers, lynxes, and just normal lions had taken time out from his busy schedule on the road to visit Club 64. 

That was quite a night.  They say that some things never changed, but I can assure you that over at Club 64 the place has gotten even better, much better in fact, because its owners never rest from making improvements on what had already been a great thing.