Stripper Mobile is back!
When my colleague Laura Vozzella last left this, the strip club on wheels was rolling out of town. But I guess the Hustler Club couldn't pass up the Preakness (who can blame them given the "Get Your Preak On" promotion).
But the strip club on wheels still has plenty of detractors, namely parents with children who saw things on a public street that they shouldn't see until much later in life. I mean, what parents want to explain the term "pole dancing" to a 5-year-old?
Last month, Vozzella noted that cops gave the driver two tickets -- for having unsecured passengers and for blocking traffic.
But other than that, apprently no laws were broken. Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Vozzella that the stripper-mobile might be perfectly legal, but it's certainly not an ideal addition to the family-friendly town. "Things like this are expected in Las Vegas," he said. "In Baltimore, this is a family town. We have the Inner Harbor. We have the Orioles. Businesses need to use a little more common sense."
Anne Manning de Dios of Alexendria, Va., couldn't agree more. She wrote us an e-mail this morning and sent us pictures -- one is published here -- of the stripper-mobile on Lombard Street. She had been returing from a play on Preakness Saturday:
"Perhaps I wouldn't have been so furious had my children not been in the car. I was shaking with anger. There was no way to ignore what was being thrown in our faces. There was no way to ignore the girls' moves or the men's reactions. There is no doubt this event will be forever-ingrained in my daughters' and son's heads. I didn't ask for it."
Her complete e-mail is here:
Returning from watching a play in Baltimore County, I drove my three children (5, 8 and 11) through Baltimore City to catch 295 South. Our hopes had been to avoid the Preakness traffic along 695. What we encountered was far worse than what I was trying to avoid. It was unimaginable. For 25-minutes we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Lombard Street alongside this horrific sight. There was no ignoring or escaping the spectacle of Deja Vu's pole dancers in what my 5-year-old called "The Lady Truck".
Men and boys were running from the curb, jumping on the truck's bumper. The motorcyclist -- shown in one photo -- several times laid back, with his ankles on his handle-bars and arms folded behind his head. Horns were honking. People were shouting. The girls kept dancing.
Perhaps I wouldn't have been so furious had my children not been in the car. I was shaking with anger. There was no way to ignore what was being thrown in our faces. There was no way to ignore the girls' moves or the men's reactions. There is no doubt this event will be forever-ingrained in my daughters' and son's heads. I didn't ask for it.
In our home I'm able to use the V-chip on the television and parental controls on the computer. This evening, everything I've tried to protect was violated.
When ahead of the truck, I asked the driver if this was really necessary. His reply was that he too had to feed his kids and that he wouldn't come into my place of work to tell me how to do my job.
I didn't ask Deja Vu to educate my children on the seedy elements of life. Surely these girls wouldn't be able to pole dance on the city's sidewalks. Why is it they can do it on the streets? Regardless of the legality of the issue, it is Baltimore I have to thank for introducing my children to filth.
Anne Manning de Dios
Alexandria, Virginia
Categories: Confronting crime, Crime humor, Downtown
Comments
oh get a life, lady. the whole doesn't have to abide by her rules. i like how baltimore's two most hated motorists, the stripper mobile and the wheelie boyz, have joined forces. what a city.
Posted by: James Snuka | May 18, 2010 12:28 PM