Scores (strip club)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scores is a strip club in Manhattan, New York City, and is one of several gentlemen's clubs which changed the face of adult entertainment in that city during the early 1990s and has gained wider notoriety and popularity mostly due to frequent mention by Howard Stern.
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[edit] Competition, history, publicity
Similar clubs that opened during this period include Flashdancers and Goldfinger's. Scores followed suit, opening as a venue run by businessmen from Denver and Texas. Later, it was taken over by New Yorkers and became at one point embroiled in controversy over alleged Mafia connections. Scores has attracted a lot publicity due to comping a lot of free visits to Howard Stern, who often mentions the club on his radio show, along with attracting a fair amount of celebrity guests. The somewhat lesser known but earlier established Flashdancers actually holds claim though of being NYC's first "table dancer" club, begun in 1991 with the consulting help of Centerfold Stars (BookCenterfolds talent agency). These clubs, along with Tens (formerly Stringfellows) are considered to be "gentrifying" clubs; displacing the old B-girl hustle bar in Manhattan with lavish adult nightclubs.
[edit] High rollers
"American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men. After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit. [...] The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least the third in the past two years involving contested credit card charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000 bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges. After a lawsuit last year, Scores spokesman Lonnie Hanover said that high rollers visiting Scores' super elite Presidents' Club spend thousands of dollars on single bottles of champagne and tip strippers as much as $10,000 for lap dances and for spending time with them. The district attorney's office has said it is investigating alleged overcharging at Scores. Hanover said that each time a patron spends $10,000, Scores calls the customer's credit card company to get the charges approved. Scores even fingerprints the customer and requires him to get on the telephone with a credit card representative, he said." [1]
[edit] Popular culture
On an episode of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, anchor Tina Fey, upon reporting that former writer and castmember Al Franken was considering a run for the U.S. Senate from his home state of Minnesota, stated that if he were to win the seat, "he would be the "first SNL alum to hold office since last year, when Tracy Morgan declared himself to be the 'Mayor of Scores'."
In the movie Rounders, which is set in New York City, Scores is briefly mentioned.
[edit] Alleged tax evasion
In February 2006 a Manhattan grand jury returned tax evasion indictments against two Scores executives and a bookkeeper. Manhattan's District Attorney said that an investigation into customers' complaints of overcharging revealed a scheme by Scores' managers involving shell companies, the pressuring of some strippers into giving kickbacks, and the falsification of income tax returns.
