Jobs Without College

It was May of 1977.  I had moved to Los Angeles in hopes of pursuing my acting career.  I wanted to keep my days open for auditions and acting jobs, so I no longer looked for secretarial work.  I concentrated my efforts on finding jobs at night.  I had worked three different cocktail waitress jobs since arriving in Los Angeles the previous year, but none of these jobs lasted long.

I was once again scouring the newspaper for a cocktail waitress job when an ad jumped out at me.  “Dance Hostesses”  Earn $200+tips weekly – must be at least 18 years old.  I wasn’t really sure what a dance hostess was but I was over 18 and decided to check it out.  I called the club and made an appointment to meet with the manager.

That evening I made my way to Club Starlight, which was located at 1224 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.  I entered the building to find a dimly lit room with pretty girls seated on red leather sofas.  Before I could see anything else, I was escorted into an office to meet with the manager.  He told me that the owner was a retired police officer.  He explained that the club would not tolerate sexual activity with the customers and that leaving the building during your work shift would get you fired.  He went on to explain that my job (if I were to accept this assignment) would be to show up looking attractive and to have a seat on one of the red leather sofas.  When a man approaches me and indicates that he would like to spend time with me, I will then go to the time clock and punch a ticket and give it to the man to hold.  He will then decide if he wants to dance with me, play pool, watch TV, have something to eat or just have soft drinks and chat.  No alcohol is served in the clubs.  When he decides that he is ready to leave (or find another girl) he will take the ticket to the cashier and pay for his time with me.  I also got a receipt for the time spent with him.  I don’t remember how much they were charging the customers but I made between 7 cents and 9 cents a minute, depending how many night a week that I worked.  It was a little better than the 10 cents a dance that the taxi dancers used to make in the 20’s.  I was also allowed to receive tips.

Well, I needed a job and getting paid to dance, watch TV, play pool, eat and make small talk certainly seemed easy enough.  After all, I was an actress and I could just pretend that I was acting.  I had been doing these things on dates for years, for free, so I took the job.

I started the next evening.  The girls were friendly and full of advice.  Some of them were single mothers just trying to earn a living but most of them were aspiring models or actresses who wanted to keep their days open for auditions and work.

The only women allowed in the club are the ones working there.  Men would enter the club and usually take some time to look over the girls to see who they would like to spend some time with.  Of course, some of the regulars came in to see a specific girl that they had previously taken a liking to.  Then there are the “looky-loos,” who sit there rubbernecking without ever paying for a dance.  The girls alerted me to who the “grabbers” were and also the “big tippers” and the “stiffs.” (no tips)  The most sought after men were the ones who would spend a couple of hours with you chatting and dancing then leave you with a big tip.  Certainly, married men were no strangers to the club.   The first thing they tell you is that they are married.  It’s like they need to confess.  Of course, their wives don’t understand them and they sleep separately.  There are also some single guys who are just afraid of being rejected.  They know that as long as they have money they can have someone to dance with or talk to.

I was fairly popular and was kept busy on most of my evenings but this really wasn’t the job for me.  I only worked there for about five weeks because I found the job kind of sad and depressing.

I checked online and was surprised to learn that this club still exists and apparently it is still quite popular.