If the walls could talk. The Bear Chest Lounge has been around for a long time. It has seen good economies and bad. It still perseveres. It has the swagger of another era when strip clubs actually got plopped in residential neighborhood segueing off the neighborhood bar construct so endearing to Wisconsin.
Now days more often than not, you will find your favorite strip clubs no doubt looming in the confines of an industrial park or on the edge of your town. But not the Bear Chest, its right by your grandma's house. It is easy to get lost looking for it on the near north side of Beloit. Unless of course your grandma actually really does live down the way from it.
For a residential neighborhood, there is ample parking. There is an old glass sign near the roof that says, "Go-Go Entertainment Dancing." Another painted sign on the outside wall has a picture of a bear and a treasure chest.
The building basically has the demeanor of a house or corner grocery. The ceilings are low, the back room is the dance area. You step down a few steps to get to the seating and stage. I imagine the bar area as what was once the old house's kitchen. The lap dance cubicles are on the way to the rest room. I don't know, but I kind of like the well-worn old demeanor of the place. That's just me of course.
Cover charge seems to be five Bucks lately. The place opens about five or sixish in the evening. You might want to call first.
Be careful if you have high hopes of gaggles of girls; there may only be three or four, especially on a week day. Now this lends itself to an economic cascade of sorts. Fewer girls, lends itself to fewer guys, which in turn tends to nudge the girls into pestering you to buy drinks or let them give you a lap-dance you may not be in the mood to do. Remember, it is their job to extract all your money from you - one dollar at a time if necessary.
As always, you are in control of your own visit. If you let the girls pressure you into something you will regret...well, Christ, I am not your damn mom. In general, the bartender girls are laid back yet polite and friendly. The dancers are in general friendly and chatty, if you stumble on the right one.
The girls will dance naked, but the caveat is, it seems to be left up to them. Some will keep their skimpy threads on. The girls will not usually wander around after the stage dance and ask for another tip like some places. Word is a lap-dance will set you back 20 Bucks. The lap-dance cubicles are well-worn and there is only a few. There is a V.I.P lounge, I took a peek in the open door and it actually looks rather spiffy. But I did not get to do an up-close inspection - could be a different story when the door is closed. One of the girls suggested a half hour in the V.I.P would run a hundred Bucks for a half hour of private dances et cetera. Sorry, I am on a tight "Great Recession" budget.
A bottle of Miller Lite will run you four Bucks. If you linger without buying anything, the soft-spoken bartender girl will politely remind you there is a one-drink minimum. On Monday and Tuesdays the drink special is six, 8/ounce Miller Lites for 10 Bucks. I think they put them in a bucket for you. They also have a couple of gaming machines.
I don't find the old neighborhood threating. I used to live in an inner-city burrow similar to the north side of Beloit down in Dallas. If you act like a fool in any neighborhood you will usually find yourself in the minority. Yuppy subdivisions with their covenants and no-vehicle-repair-in-the-driveway ordinances can be way more obnoxious than an old neighborhood with a gritty old strip club.
Cool Dadio probably will fire up the teal and cream Harley in the summer and make a swing back by the place. Drop in the joint sometime before the nanny-staters discover it is a place they have not run off yet. Keep your attitude and expectations in reality and you might find it a hoot.
Find the Bear Chest Lounge at 1901 Wisconsin Avenue, Beloit, Wisconsin. Call (608) 365 - 3333 for more information.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Specialist John O. Tollefson, 22, was killed by a bomb while on patrol in Ashraf, Iraq, on July 27, 2005. He was from the Fox Valley city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. John was a 2001 graduate of Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac. Specialist Tollefson was with the 411th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas. At the time of his death, John was survived by his parents Walter Tollefson of Fond du Lac and Mary Steinman of Rosendale, and two sisters, Katie and Jessica. Specialist John Tollefson was the 42nd Wisconsin service member killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
95,593 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,411 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,386 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1009 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
317 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
656 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,716 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
5,190 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
101 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
17 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
140 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
