While it may be hard to believe, Palafox Street, which the American Planning Association named as one of “10 Great Streets in America” in 2013, was one of the seedier parts of the Pensacola with strip clubs along its southern end, such as the Pelican’s Nest, Club Mardi Gras and Red Garter. Trader Jon’s also once had strippers.
“Adult entertainment centers” also dotted the county, with names like Fantasies Unlimited, Lioness Den, The Forum, The Penthouse and Tracy’s. The Lioness Den had the slogan, “Come In and Let Our Lioness Take You on a Safari Fantasy.”
One of Walker Holmes’ better sources is Benny Walsh, owner of the Benny’s Backseat Lounge. Benny Walsh’s third wife, by then an ex-wife, was in a terrible car wreck. Walker investigated the county road where the accident took place and found out the road contractor hadn’t followed the construction documents and had built the road’s curve too tight to handle the posted speed. She sued after the Insider published its investigation, and the road contractor settled for five million dollars. Benny no longer had to pay alimony, Walker got a lifetime friend and news source.
Back Seat Lounge once existed at 2215 W. Cervantes Street, next door to The Elbow Room. It opened around 1990 and at one-time was owned by Bud Billings. Before then, The Wherehouse Lounge owned the site.
Bud and his wife Melanie were brutally murdered during a home invasion in July 2009, long after the club had been sold to Yvonne and Russell Hassel of Coastal Creations, Inc. Melanie met Billings when she was hired as waitress for the strip club.
Arety Kapetanis Sievers, owner of the former Pensacola strip club Arety’s Angels, also worked at the Back Seat as a waitress and bartender. She credited Billings with teaching how to run a strip club.
The strip club was grandfathered into an ordinance passed by the city in 1999 that required adult entertainment establishments to be more than 500 feet from residential zones, schools, churches and liquor stores.
In 1998, Russell created a controversy when he wanted to open another strip club on Ninth Avenue about Langley Avenue – The Gold Cabaret. A Donahue’s liquor store had been at the location. The strip club pushed the Pensacola City Council to pass its 1999 ordinance. The council later banned strip clubs from south Palafox street. The Gold Cabaret closed in July 2001 after reaching an agreement with the city.
While Russell was fighting the city over The Gold Cabaret, he faced disciplinary action from the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco on 13 counts of soliciting drinks, offering to commit prostitution and engaging in lewd and lascivious acts with customers at the Back Seat. Five dancers and one waitress were arrested on misdemeanor charges.
On June 27, 2006, a fire destroyed the Back Seat. Firefighters believed the blaze started around some mattresses stored in the second floor mezzanine. With the building totaled, the business lost its grandfather exemption because it was within 500 feet of a church.
Two years later, the city demolished the building after having no luck finding the Hassells.
Arety’s Angels has a place in SEC football history.
After the 2002 season, Alabama’s head coach Dennis Franchione left for Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide tapped Mike Price as his replacement. Price had guided Washington State to two Rose Bowls. He never coached a game for Bama.
Coach Price attended the Pro-Am of the Emerald Coast Classic – Pensacola’s PGA Senior Tour event. He spent the evening an Arety’s dancer named Destiny who spent $1,000 on room service after the couple got back to Price’s hotel room. Unfortunately, the charge showed up on his university credit card.
Sports Illustrated reported on the incident, which led to Price’s dismissal. The coach sued the magazine, which settled out of court without either side publicly budging on its version of events.
When Arthritis Association held a fundraising roast of me, we auctioned off the Arety’s Angel’s table where Price allegedly met Destiny.
The Red Garter had male strippers and female impersonators. According to the Washington Post, the club was at one time owned by Eddie Bernstein, a legless beggar who worked the streets of Washington over a 40-year period, during the summers. He was known as “Edie the Monkey Man.”
During the winter, Bernstein reappeared in Pensacola, Fla., as an elderly gentleman who walked on artificial legs with he aid of a cane that owned “The Red Garter.”
In his Washington Post obit, the paper described the club as “a popular watering hole for Navy enlisted men a block or so from the waterfront, and talk about the weather, politics, Israel, or any other of his trips to Spain, Greece or Israel.”
No mention of its ties to the gay community, but my research found an ad in March 1979 Cruise magazine for the club that featured “Hot Chocolate” performing at “Pensacola’s hottest disco and show bar.”