SCORES WEST

Rival operators appear to be scavaging over what's left of the bankrupt Scores empire.

Robert Gans, owner of Manhattan's Penthouse Executive Club, has applied for a liquor license at the former Scores West strip club at 533-535 West 27th Street.

Meanwhile, proprietors of the Las Vegas-based strip club Sapphire--who earlier caused such an uproar over plans to open a new location on West 23rd Street--are seeking a license at the original Scores location at 333 East 60th Street.

Both applicants are scheduled to appear before the State Liquor Authority (SLA) next week.

State regulators earlier stripped Scores boss Richard Goldring of his license at the West Side location, after employees were arrested on prostitution charges.  read more »

Mere months after the highly publicized shuttering of Scores West, investigators have busted yet another Manhattan strip club for selling what the industry so politely calls "extras."

Cops arrested lawyer Louis Posner, proprietor of the popular Hot Lap Dance Club, located at 344 West 38th Street, and some 20 other people, including adult film star and "feature performer" Alexia Moore, on prostitution and money-laundering charges over the weekend.

I recently asked former Scores dancer Ruth Fowler, author of the new stripper memoir, No Man's Land, whether there are any New York strip clubs that don't allow that sort of thing.

"Flash Dancers," replied Ms. Fowler, who performed at various venues around town. "They're really fucking strict. They're, like, the cleanest club I've ever worked at. They're so hard on girls who do extras."

Embattled Scores owner Richard Goldring is suing the city and State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) in federal court, alleging that the government's recent crackdown on his two Manhattan strip clubs violates his First Amendment rights.

In court papers, his latest attorney called last month's revocation of Mr. Goldring's liquor license at Scores West "a circumstance intended to terminate in Scores West any future First Amendment expressive entertainment and to chill the principals of Scores East and Scores West in the exercise of their First Amendment right to provide such entertainment."  read more »

The champagne room has finally gone dry at embattled Manhattan strip club Scores West.

The New York Post reports that authorities from the New York State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) showed up Wednesday to confiscate the voluptuous 10,000-square-foot venue's precious liquor license.

(Albeit apparently not before getting a visit from reality TV couple Alex and Simon McCord of "The Real Housewives of New York City" fame.)

The agency's action follows a prolonged legal battle with club management over the arrests of several Scores West employees on prostitution charges in January 2007.  read more »

Still reeling from the fallout of its highly publicized 2007 prostitution bust, embattled Manhattan strip club Scores West has filed for bankruptcy.

Court papers filed on Friday point to "mounting tax debt" and a "loss in sales" at the voluptuous 10,000-square-foot venue at 536 W. 28th St. "as a result of the actions by the New York State Liquor Authority proceeding against the [club] to revoke its liquor license."  read more »

Legal bills just keep piling up on Scores West boss Richard Goldring.

Both the Post and Daily News today are reporting that Francis Vargas, a former waitress at the embattled West 28th Street strip club, is suing her former supervisors for sexual harrassment.

Ms. Vargas' complaints about unwanted rump smacks and cash offers for sex comes just two months after a class-action suit filed by pole dancers who claimed that Scores management was skimming money from lapdance fees.

And the club is still battling the State Liquor Authority in order to keep its license to sell booze after several dancers were charged with prostitution last winter.

Will all the litigation finally force Mr. Goldring to sell the 10,000-square-foot stripper-plex? Stay tuned.

Embattled strip club Scores West continues to bet its future on disgraced cop Michael Oliver.

According to Thursday's Post article:  read more »