Playboy Club

The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first club opened at 116 E. Walton Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States, on February 29, 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club Room. Members and their guests were served food and drinks by Playboy Bunnies, some of whom were featured in Playboy magazine. The clubs offered name entertainers and comedians in the Club Rooms, and local musicians and the occasional close-up magician in the Living Rooms. Starting with the London and Jamaica club locations, the Playboy Club became international in scope. In 1991, the club chain became defunct. On October 6, 2006 a new club was opened in Las Vegas,^[1] and in 2010 new clubs were opened as well in Macao ^[2] and Cancun.^[3] In time the Las Vegas club closed on June 4, 2012,^[4] the Macao club closed in 2013^[5][6] and the Cancun club closed in 2014.^[7][8] In May 2014 the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles opened a Playboy themed lounge consisting of gaming tables and Playboy Bunny cocktail waitresses.^[9]

History

Playboy Bunny waitresses, Brazil, 2009

The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960, and later there were clubs in Miami, New Orleans, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, Boston, Des Moines, Kansas City, Phoenix, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, Dallas, Buffalo, St. Petersburg, FL, Lansing, San Diego, Columbus, OH, Lake Geneva, WI and St. Louis. There were Playboy Club resorts in Jamaica, New Jersey, and elsewhere. The last American location before Playboy Club Las Vegas opened was Lansing, Michigan, located in the Hilton Hotel, which closed in 1988. International Clubs existed until the 1991 closing of the Manila, Philippines Club located in the Silahis International Hotel. In 2010 International Clubs were opened in Macao and Cancun but in time the Macao Club closed in 2013 and the Cancun Club closed in 2014. Manila was the only Club ever to be featured in Architectural Digest. During the last three months of 1961, more than 132,000 people visited the Chicago club, making it the busiest night club in the world. Playboy Club membership became a status symbol. Only 21% of all key holders ever went to a club. At $25.00 per year per membership, Playboy grossed $25 million for every 1,000,000 members.

The Rabbit-headed metal Playboy key (supplanted by a plastic key-card in 1966) was required for admission to a club.^[10] They were presented to the Door Bunny. Through most of the years, a strict dress code was enforced.

In 1965, Hugh Hefner sent Victor Lownes to London to open Playboy's British casinos, following legalization of gambling in the United Kingdom. In 1981, the casino at 45 Park Lane (now a luxury hotel, 45 Park Lane) was the most profitable casino in the world,^[11] and the British casinos contributed $32 million to the corporation.

The Playboy Club's Douglas DC-9 jet airliner executive aircraft at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in 1975. It was used for transporting guests and staff.

The Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, had a ski slope and was one of the first to install a chair lift. Its "Playmate Bar" featured the Russ Long Trio and its showroom was managed by Carlo Cicirello. The 32-piece house orchestra was headed by Chicago pianist, Sam Distefano. The Lighter Side Trio entertained at all of the Playboy Clubs from 1972 to 1975, led by Joe DiPietro, with Douglas Brett and Charles Raimond.

On October 6, 2006, Playboy opened a new Playboy Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new club at The Palms, with its prominent neon bunny head, had casinos, bars, and a restroom with pictures of Playmates on the walls.^[12] The club closed in June 2012.^[13]

Australian women were invited to Sydney to audition for the iconic Playboy Bunny role and for positions as singers and dancers at the Playboy Club. A minimum of five women were chosen to travel to Macao for a six-month contract as a Playboy Bunny. The Macao Playboy Club opened on November 24, 2010.^[14]

In October 2010, it was announced that a new Playboy Club in London was to be opened on the site of the old Rendezvous Mayfair Casino 14 Old Park Lane. It was opened on June 4, 2011.^[15][16] The 17,000 sq ft property, spread over two floors, was designed by London-based architects Jestico + Whiles.^[17] The club features a casino, cigar terrace, gentleman's tonic, sports bar ("The Player's Lounge"), night club ("The Cottontail Lounge"), cocktail bar under the direction of Salvatore Calabrase, and a fine dining restaurant under the reins of Iron Chef Judy Joo. Along the stair-walls, a row of lenticular portraits are hung winking and smiling at guests as they walk by.^[18]

In November 2012, spokesperson Sanjay Gupta announced that PB Lifestyle, the company in India with rights to the brand, would be opening its first club in India at Candolim, Goa in December 2012. It was planned as a 22,000 square feet (2,000 m²) beach location.^[19] In April 2013, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar refused the application on "technical grounds".^[20] Parrikar said only individuals, not corporations, were eligible to operate a beach shack style club. The law did not preclude opening a night club.^[21] After the Goa club, PB Lifestyle planned to open clubs in Hyderabad and Mumbai.^[22] India's obscenity laws ban material deemed "lascivious or appealing to prurient interests".^[23] Adult magazines such as Playboy are banned in India. Designer Mohini Tadikonda has altered the original Playboy Bunnies uniform to satisfy India's obscenity laws.^[24]

Locations and opening dates

Playboy Club Bar at the Palms in Las Vegas

• Chicago (February 29, 1960)
• Miami (May 20, 1961)
• New Orleans (October 13, 1961)
• St. Louis (October 16, 1962)
• New York (December 8, 1962)
• Phoenix (December 19, 1962)
• Detroit (December 28, 1963)
• Manila, Philippines (January 1964)
• Baltimore (1964)
• Kansas City (June 13, 1964)
• Cincinnati (September 16, 1964)
• Los Angeles (December 31, 1964)
• Ochos Rios Club, Hotel, & Resort, Jamaica (January 4, 1965)
• Boston (February 26, 1965)
• Atlanta (March 6, 1965)
• San Francisco (November 13, 1965)
• London Casino & Club, U.K. (July 1, 1966)
• Montreal, Canada (July 15, 1967)
• Denver (December 9, 1967)
• Lake Geneva Club, Hotel, & Resort, Wisconsin (May 6, 1968)
• Playboy Towers, Chicago (November 1, 1970)
• Miami Plaza Club, Hotel, & Resort (December 22, 1970)
• Great Gorge Club, Hotel, & Resort, New Jersey (December 22, 1971)
• Clermont Club, London, U.K. (1972; not strictly a Playboy Club but non-costumed Bunnies did work there)
• Portsmouth, U.K. (December 1972)
• Manchester, U.K. (December 13, 1973)
• Tokyo, Japan (December 9, 1976)
• Dallas (July 27, 1977)
• Osaka, Japan (February 1, 1978)
• Nassau, (Paradise Island) Bahamas (April 11, 1978)
• Nagoya, Japan (July 16, 1979)
• Sapporo, Japan (April 25, 1980)
• Atlantic City Hotel, Casino, & Club (April 14, 1981)
• Buffalo (April 24, 1981)
• St. Petersburg, Florida (May 8, 1981)
• Lansing (September 17, 1981)
• San Diego (December 17, 1981)
• Columbus, Ohio (December 7, 1982)
• Des Moines (March 12, 1984)
• Omaha (May 18, 1984)
• Rhodes, Greece (April 2, 1999)
• Las Vegas (October 6, 2006) – Closed June 2, 2012
• Kuopio, Finland (September 22, 2008)
• Beirut (April, 2011)
• Cologne (August, 2012) - Closed May 2013
• Los Angeles (May 2014)
• Hyderabad, Telangana, India (August 10, 2014)

In popular culture

• In a 1982 episode of the TV show Laverne & Shirley entitled "The Playboy Show", guest-starring Carrie Fisher, Laverne takes a job as a Playboy Bunny at The Playboy Club despite her father's wishes.^[25]
• The 1985 TV movie A Bunny's Tale, starring Kirstie Alley, was based on writer and future feminist leader Gloria Steinem's 1963 article for Huntington Hartford's Show magazine, a critical account of her time working as a Playboy Bunny at the New York Playboy Club.
• The 2000 TV movie, A Tale of Two Bunnies (aka Price of Beauty) starring Marina Black and Julie Condra, tells the story of two girls working as Playboy Bunnies in 1961.
• In the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Bond replaces his wallet with that of the recently killed diamond smuggler Peter Franks to confuse his contact, Tiffany Case. When she opens the wallet she finds Bond's Playboy Club Member Card, which she uses to identify the man on the floor.
• The film, Hefner: An Unauthorized Biography, includes leotard-wearing women being trained as hostesses in a Playboy Club.^[26]
• In Mad Men Season 4, episode 10 ("Hands and Knees"), Lane Pryce (who is a member) takes his father and Don Draper to dinner at the Playboy Club in New York City and introduces them to his "chocolate bunny" girlfriend, Toni.
• In season one, episode two of Swingtown, the characters visit the Playboy Club.
• September 2011 saw the premiere of NBC's The Playboy Club, a television series focusing on the employees and patrons of the first Playboy Club, located in Chicago. A competitive 10:00 PM Monday slot contributed to low ratings and led to the show's cancellation on October 4, 2011.^[27]

See also

• Nyotaimori
• Breastaurant
• Wet T-shirt contest

References

External links

• The Playboy Club Bunny Manual (July 1969)
• The Playboy Club London Review