Update June 2: KIRO has a story on ownership of the new club. Also, the club has a Facebook page.
Since Maple Leaf Life intern Katie Melton first reported on plans to turn the Seven Seas restaurant into a strip club, other news organizations have picked up the story.
Since our report at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, KIRO and KOMO television stations and The Stranger newspaper have all featured the business at 8914 Lake City Way N.E. (The Seattle Times linked to Katie’s story.)
KOMO’s report, Plans for new strip club irks Maple Leaf-Wedgwood residents, talks with Lee Grogg, director of Ryther Child Center: “We frankly have concerns about the traffic it brings into the neighborhood. (We are) close enough by, that I think that’s a real concern.”
KIRO’s story, “Maple Leaf Restaurant Closing to Make Space For Strip Club, ” puts a name to the new business: Pandora’s Adult Cabaret.
And The Stranger’s story is written with that publication’s satirical twist: “Strip Club Threatens to Plunge Lake City Way into Seediness.”
@ Coop, thank you for saying what so many of us have been saying all along. It isn’t a matter of right or wrong, it is a matter of Lake City Way and us residents trying to keep our homes and neighborhoods safe, valued and cared for. I completely agree that it is a step backwards to allow more and new strip clubs on Lake City Way. Some of us are trying to appeal this decision by the Dept. of Planning and Development to see if we can get the permit to have some conditions or possibly revoked.
It’s not a matter of whether strip clubs are right or wrong. Everyone knows they come with tacky signs, flourescent lighting and a reputation that is not ideal for a residential neighborhood. Seedy crowd or not, this type of business drives down the value of the businesses, homes and condos nearby. People will be less likely to buy a home, condo, elderly services or a business anywhere near a strip club. Progressive? maybe not. But it’s a reality. Kind of sucks for those folks who own properties and businesses in the area. Lake City Way has been improving as of late but new strip clubs are a step backwards for the area.
P.S. @ Mike thanks for letting me know about where my comment was. I appreciate it.
Wow! You mean that I am a bigot, ignorant and should be ashamed of myself because I have a different view point from you? What century are we living in that people can’t agree to disagree and that people can’t state their opinion without fear of being verbally harangued? I never knew that stating my PERSONAL opinion constituted bigotry, ignorance or that I should be ashamed of that. (By the way that comment is laced with sarcasm)
@ Maple Leaf 4 Life & MapleLeafBob, I want to make it clear that at no time did I say that dancers were “bad” people, that they all had drug problems, or were prostitutes. I realize that dancers have a life outside the club and that they have children and families. I feel that the industry can be laced with corruption (on the part of the owners!), while I do appreciate that you are entitled to your point of view, I disagree with your POV. Also while you call me some rather unflattering (and by the way baseless) names I still respect that you have the right to disagree with me. I find it difficult to understand why I am not accorded the same respect. I am the bigot, ignorant and should be ashamed of myself? Hmmm, I don’t think so.
I still stand by my statements that while there are definitely dancers that are adult, without any social issues (i.e. drug addiction, etc), and may be there by choice, that the flip side of that is that there are some dancers who do have these problems and while not necessarily “forced” into dancing maybe would like to try their hand at something else, but don’t have the sort of support system that a more “socially” acceptable profession may have. I don’t judge dancers, I admire that they are able to do something with themselves and do have respect for them as a whole. I was only calling attention to the fact that these issues do exist in some cases and that it is up to society and caring people to be informed. I have also known dancers who have had the problems that I mentioned in my earlier comments and they were unhappy. I tend not to make such broad judgments of people as that not everyone is the same and not every dancer has problems/issues.
I agree that whether this strip club should be located here is a valid discussion, I also think that exploring why strip clubs are around in the first place is another valid issue to discuss, but perhaps not in this forum.
@ Maj :
“I have no real problem when it is consenting adults, but most of these dancers are barely legal and usually have some sort of drug/alcohol problem.”
It is shocking that my neighbors are so ignorant that they assume that a dancer is a drug addict and a prostitute on the face of it. I’ve known a few of these women outside of the clubs, one a parent of a child in a neighborhood school. You just don’t know what you are talking about. What bigotry! You really should be ashamed of yourself.
Also, I am surprised the people that are all up in arms about the strip club aren’t up in arms about the new Greenside Medical Marijuana clinic across from the Les Schwab.
http://greensidemedical.com/
Now all the crazy people can stop at the clinic, buy some high end pot, get high, and then go to the strip club and get a lapper. Sounds like a new Friday and Saturday night trend…..(p.s. this comment is laced with sarcasm)
Ha ha ha. I love the Stranger article about this.
@Maj:
“I am ashamed of people who think that being progressive and liberal means letting women be subjugated so that others can get their rocks off.”
You can’t be serious with that comment. No lady is forced to work there. I know two different ladies that chose, with their own free will, to work at a DeJa Vu. They were not drug addicts and they were not hookers. They simply preferred the wage they earned at the club over what they could earn elsewhere. This is not Thailand where underage girls are forced against their will to work in the sex trade. Whether one agrees with the concept of strip clubs is a valid discussion, but using exaggerations in hopes of drumming up unwarranted fears is not a valid method for trying to justify ones point.
Whether you choose to accept it or not, the adults that work at these types of places have a choice to subject themselves to that environment or not. Just like patrons have a choice to enter the establishment or not.
Okay, I have read quite a few of the comments about this change on Lake City Way and now it is my turn to add my two cents!
Enough with people defending strip clubs in mostly residential neighborhoods regardless of whether it is on a state highway or not. This is and always has been a MOSTLY residential neighborhood and if asked most neighbors do NOT want this sort of club near them. I am no exception.
I loved the Seven Seas and the people who hung out there. Yes, it was a dive bar and the crowd was rowdy at times, but the people were family and they treated each other like family.
David and Vivien are two of the nicest people to run a resturant that I have ever met. From the beginning I felt at home there and they always welcomed us no matter the hour.
I am ashamed of people who think that being progressive and liberal means letting women be subjugated so that others can get their rocks off. These women usually work for little pay, with no benefits and the real possiblity of harm coming to them.
I have no real problem when it is consenting adults, but most of these dancers are barely legal and usually have some sort of drug/alcohol problem. I am absolutely furious that this so called adult cabaret is going in within a few short blocks of my home. I fear for the businesses near this new establishment and know that when I go to Phayathai for my food, my heart will break a little more as I realize my home away from home is now some sleazy strip club. Seven Seas was a great family resturant and will be sorely missed by all of us who hung out there.
Poor Lake City Way. Trying to rise from the seediness only to be dragged back down.
Pandora’s Adult Cabaret. Has a classical ring to it.