Nosy Neighbor: Is New York Dolls a bar? a restaurant? a museum?

H. asked: “What is New York Dolls (aka FlashDancers)? Is it a bar? a restaurant? a museum? And can they be open right now?”

Well, they are, as of last week. FlashDancers Downtown, the strip club on Murray that in its previous incarnation as New York Dolls has been in that spot since 1986, is back open for the first time since the quarantine started in March.

The manager said they are glad to be back, but are expecting the inevitable indoor dining shutdown to come soon. “We are fortunate since the owner owns the building” — which he purchased when the building was slated to be demolished in 2016. (Good thing too, since that would have just made the debacle that is 65 W. Broadway an even bigger hole in the ground.)

All the entertainers are wearing masks along with the rest of the staff. And they had their HVAC system upgraded to include UV lighting in the ductwork, and all other CDC guidelines.

 

19 Comments

  1. It’s none of those, it’s a nightclub.

    A gym can’t reopen but this joint can pssshhhhh.

    Just what a neighborhood with a 3% infection rate needs: a strip club where the masked, socially distanced dancers still emit aerosols via body sweat.

    ‘ Love the selective enforcement.

    This is the last place which should reopen.

  2. Wrong. Why discriminate against a 3 decade old local business if they are following CDC protocols? I know plenty of restaurant owners that have done nothing to enhance their HVAC systems at all. These places are also much less crowded then a traditional restaurant at 6pm.

    • Wrong? How is it not a nightclub? They’re offering live entertainment in the form of strippers. Therefore, live music should be permitted. Four fully clothed people playing music is safer than four barely clothed ones dancing. So what they’ve been open for three decades?

  3. This makes absolutely no sense at all!!! I have tweeted a few times at city officials calling their attention on this… im sorry but no… so this can open but schools are cant? cant wait for all indoor to shut down again..

    • Can’t wait for a shut down again? You can’t wait for 100k people loosing their jobs and being unable to provide for their families? This thing has a 99.8% survival rate. Get off your pompous high horse.

  4. Support local businesses! (Including this one). I’d feel safer in Flash Dancers than in a school.

    • How is a strip club safer than a school? I need a laugh.

      • N D A, Here is your laugh:
        Perhaps you have never spent time in a classroom of children under 6 years. Fingers continuously in their noses and mouths and wiped on any nearby surface. And yes, they’ve learned to navigate under a mask; a pick is a pick and it’s never quick.

        Give me a disciplined adult stripper over a kid in a classroom.
        BTW, Flash Dancers/NYDolls has been a stellar community business.

  5. Are patrons socially distancing? Staying 6 feet apart? Tipping with a cash cannon money gun?

    • These people run a cleaner / tighter ship than any other bar business downtown. They never have any CB issues and do everything ultra conservative and don’t bother anyone. If anyone deserves to be open I trust them to do the right thing. I have the ability to look past the type of industry and directly at the operator / ownership.

      • Yeah like who? Not Puffy’s Tavern, Smith & Mills, TriBeCa Tavern, Another Room, or Nancy Whiskey Pub to name a few.

        Strippers = almost naked = emitting aerosols = one way covid spreads. Do you get it? Obviously not.

        Tell you what. How ’bout just one stripper at every TriBeCabar AND restaurant where we make sure she/he is six feet away from you while you’re eating your dinner. Have fun with catching the aerosols from the sweat & possible covid from it.

        • Aerosols being emitted from being half naked? Do you know anything about science? Aerosols are respiratory droplets, so even if the stripper is 100% naked and wearing a mask, they are not emitting aerosols. Sweat has also not been proven to transmit anything. Read the CDC website and stop sharing your ridiculous fake science. I’m not for or against the strip club being open, but I am against the spreading of ignorance.

  6. “…the debacle that is 65 W. Broadway.” What’s the story there?

  7. Welcome All Businesses Back to Tribeca! Kudos to Rick & Cd! FlashDancers was here long before other commentators (of course that’s just a guess — so hold the snark if I’m worrg).

    It’s not up to FlashDancers to determine when schools open, but it is their RIGHT to OPEN for BUSNESS if that’s what the guidelines say. So hold the snark in general.

    RE: 65 West B’way. See large hold in the ground and massive steel beams holding up building on Warren St. at NorthWest end of the lot. Someone didn’t excavate properly properly or variation thereof.

    • You hit the nail on the head. 100% agree with you.

    • And It’s my right to oppose a place which has live entertainment which could contribute to the spread of a deadly disease ok? Strippers could give the virus to themselves as well as other staff & customers who can in turn give the virus to each other & the strippers. I don’t see a positive to this place opening, sorry.

      When did this site become some quasi-Chamber of Commerce?

      Plenty of people have lived in TriBeCa longer than New York Dolls had been in business & again so what they’ve been around for decades?

      My point which you obviously missed or want to ignore to be contrarian is if a strip club can be open then so can a live music venue, gym, playhouse, or any other entertainment venue & if they can’t be open then neither should a strip club.

      • I thought that this site is for an open exchange of ideas/opinion, A/K/A a democratic norm. Like a town square: it permits free speech. You obvioulsy use it as such and there’s no reason I can’t. You can disagree with me, as I do with you, but my desire to see NYC return is why I wrote.

        You choose to attack my motives for doing so: your choice.
        Feel free to vent: your right and again your choice. My POV is that you believe that you should decide which businesses can open. That you can prioritzie what’s needed for Tribeca (and NYC) to return. Of course, you can (and do) vociferously complain that the priorities are wrong. However, that doesn’t change them.

        You’re entitled to your opinion NOT your own set of facts.
        Any business that qualifies can open. It can stay open if it adheres to the ‘rules’. Tribeca, as does all of NYC, needs to comply with the guidelines NOT be indignant about the perceived comparative value of businesses.

        I do not know how the criteria was established for which businesses can open & which cannot. However, unless FLASHDANCERS doesn’t qualify under the rules, they have as much right as any other business that qualifies.
        You don’t agree with the rules as enforced and instead complain about comparative merits of different businesses: to each their own. Nonetheless, TRIBECA & ALL of NYC needs to adhere to the rules.

  8. I agree with Ben. If they wear masks how are emitting aerosols. You seem very salty for some reason. This virus is 99.9 percent survivable.

    For the record I am not pro strip club but I am pro business / anti government overreach.

  9. I would also like to know: If venues like this, and restaurants, bars, and gyms, for that matter, can be open, then why not live music venues?

    As long as proper pandemic safety protocols are followed, live music venues should be allowed to operate, advertise, charge for tickets, etc. Otherwise this seems quite an inconsistent policy. Musicians are struggling to make ends meet, even more than usual; and many listeners would love to take in live music again.

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