The Sunset Cabaret - 419 Fish Row
To say that the Sunset Cabaret has seen better days would assume it ever had a better day. To call it seedy would be a kindness, and to say it had a rough charm would be insulting to rough customers; not to put too fine of a point on it, the Sunset is a dive.
Originally New Jerusalem's one and only burlesque house it is now, quite frankly, a strip joint. Its hours are 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Saturday, closed Sundays.
From the outside, the place place looks like it could have been an old theater or bar; the fact that all the windows are opaque might raise an eyebrow. Inside, there are tables seating from two to four, all arranged to view a back corner stage.
A band set up is arranged on the stage shoved into the southwest corner. At any given time one to three women are strutting their stuff on-stage while the band plays on loudly and vigorously. Two serious-looking, heavily-built
bouncers in white shirts and black pants hover near the stage ready to interpose should any patron become too friendly or not be able to handle his liquor. Although mostly the province of male customers, some couples do frequent the place, especially on weekends.
The one bright spot of the Sunset, and a very bright spot it is, is the Mistress of Ceremonies and occasional chanteuse, Holly Wood. For all intents Holly is a drag performer, but those near and dear know that she is defiantly not doing drag and lives as Holly Williams over on Federal street. Holly doesn't like "dragging" it up, but she does so from time to time just to get a laugh at the Sunset's patrons' responses. Holly mothers the dancers and keeps backstage running like a tight ship. She's rather loyal to the Sunset but dreams of moving to Manhattan and opening a club of her own.
It’s rumored that a lot more than prancing and dancing goes on behind the closed doors of the cabaret. Several dancers at the Sunset are secretly also students at Missituk using tongue in cheek stage names and heavy make up jobs. This has lead to occasional awkward moments where a professor will be grading a girl’s paper on Friday afternoon and then finding himself having her bump and grind a few feet from the end of his nose that night.
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