The Lusty Lady, Seattle, Washington - Not Your Average Establishment

A Look into a Seattle Staple

"Have an erotic day" wishes the marquee of Seattle's very unique peep show, Lusty Lady. Situated between the giant hammering man of the Seattle Art Museum and world famous Pike Place Market, the Seattle Lusty Lady's purple neon provides the sky and people of the Emerald City with some cheap color to an otherwise dreary day.

It only takes a quarter to lift a screen to the dancers, but it only remains open for 15 seconds. So depending on how long you want to watch, you better bring quarters. That's a lot better than bringing ones and fives and tens. There is the glass wall that separates the audience from the dancers. Sure, it's like a cage in many ways, but there is no touching, no need for physical interaction. It is much safer, and calmer.

The room where dancers dance features two poles and often several women, who dance simultaneously. You stand in booths that are like telephone poles, and you can choose a booth in which the dancers can see you, or one that hides your identity.

There is no cover charge. You can walk in at just about any hour, with a few dollars in your pocket, get change, and watch lovely women dance with their clothes off, just enough to make your day better, and then leave. No harm, hardly any time or money spent. The women don't even have to know you were there. Of course, the smell is sometimes strange. They use a lemon-scented disinfectant, but some smells linger, smells I will not describe, smells that are not usually encountered in a bustling business district of a prominent city. But that just adds to the charm of the place.

The wallpaper is made by hand from the pages of Playboy Magazine, and because of that, when one enters the establishment, one can't help but conjure images of a teenage boy's room, a lusting, craving, young boy. Two purposes of served. Of course, the wallpaper matches the theme of The Lusty Lady—nude women. But it also makes a mockery of its customers, showing them for what they are, which gives the women power. It shows who is in charge, who really has the power.