"Millions and millions of dollars, both taxpayer money and club operators’ money, went into this battle and I think it was finally established that these clubs are part of the social fabric, for better or worse."
Tampa has a reputation as the strip club capital of the country, part of its identity along with Cuban sandwiches and Gasparilla.
But that’s more myth than reality.
We don’t have the biggest (Miami does), we don’t have the most per capita (that’s Portland, Ore.), we don’t have the weirdest (also Portland, birthplace of two vegan strip clubs and a strip club haunted house).
So why is Tampa stuck with that label?
To find the answer, flash back 20 years, to a heated battle over morality and money. Those were the days of lawsuits and undercover busts, when police dragged dancers out of clubs in handcuffs. When thousands crammed into the Tampa Convention Center to hear strippers and clients testify until the early hours one morning. When this city laid down the law.
Read more at the Tampa Bay Times