Photos of the first-ever LA Chippendales paint a very horny picture

Not long ago, audiences were treated to a fictionalized version of the Chippendales story with Welcome to Chippendales. The Kumail Nanjiani-Murray Bartlett-starring vehicle told the tragic story of how Chippendales founder Steve Banerjee managed to run his sleazy, sexy empire into the ground, and it didn’t skimp on the details. There were coke-fueled nights on the dance floor, sweaty men with breakaway pants, and Juliette Lewis on the fringes demanding more, more, more!

But what about the real Chippendales? Was it really that much of a phenomenon for queer men and straight women? Not having been there, I don’t have the answer. But what I do have are pics from the Internet.

Attendees at the first Chippendales Club, Los Angeles, 1979.
byu/zadraaa inHistoricalCapsule

In this photo from 1979, you can tell from the faces of these women that this is the first time they’ve given full, unadulterated permission to be horny, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. As one Chippendales dancer leans in to kiss an audience member, another finds herself in the direct um…line of fire.

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Obviously, these women were psyched, and they weren’t the only ones. Though Chippendales was created, in part, by a gay man—choreographer Nick De Noia (Bartlett in the series)—its target audience was always straight women. But as some attendees remember, the audience had its fair share of queer attendees eager to catch an eyeful.

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A year ago, when someone asked the subreddit r/AskGayMen whether or not modern Chippendales performances were queer-friendly, responders had a lot to say. “The dancer cares more about your money than your gender,” wrote one commenter. Another said that men are able to attend, but that you will be “all but invisible” in the audience. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for.

One commenter wrote that:  “these shows usually have a hundred or more ladies screaming at them on… Do you really want to compete with all that?”

‘Compete’ seems like an interesting word choice here, but we get the gist. Attending a Vegas Chippendales show might be similar to showing up at a Bruce Springsteen show: you’ll be surrounded by plenty of horny, screaming fans, but you might just get something out of it just the same.