Atlanta: Clermont Lounge

As essential a part of Atlanta’s cultural history as Tara and Ted Turner, at least among its clientele, this decades-old strip club in the basement of an SRO hotel is one titty bar no one’s girlfriend or wife will ever begrudge them a visit to. Many of the dancers redefine the term “Rubenesque” and may be pushing retirement age, but there’s talent on display here that Chuck Barris would die for: We once watched a dancer balance lit matches on her nipples while shaking her hips to an Allen Ginsberg track on the jukebox. Yet there’s nothing quite like hearing the bar’s brusque doyenne, Blondie, recite her Bukowski-esque poetry before smashing a beer can (or a patron’s skull) between her voluminous boobs. Cheap booze and a laid-back, communal vibe make the Clermont a colorful pit stop for local bohemians and miscreants, Mexican day workers and lipstick lesbians, rednecks and rock stars. You never know what you’ll encounter in the parking lot: an ambulance or a slumming celebrity (like Trent Reznor) trying to ignite their own farts.

Photos: Matthew MacCarthy