Chance has fallen hard from the dizzy heights it once enjoyed as the city?€™s premier gay nightclub. The droves of gays who once hung out here on the weekends have been largely replaced by straight couples. A group of tired-looking teenage hustlers continues to flock around the exit, and the occasional transvestite still makes an appearance.
But the raw energy of the mid-1990s is clearly gone.
To be fair, Chance is not by any means a waste of a night. It remains one of only a handful of gay-friendly clubs out there. The waiters are attentive and food and drinks at Chance?€™s three bars are inexpensive. Chance insiders say the turning point came when the club was swarmed by riot police on a 1997 drug raid. The raid kept regular patrons at bay for months, and now owners seem to have gone overboard in making sure the club stays in the up and up. Such efforts may be the reason why the male strip show is only a half-hour long and heteroerotic. It also may be why the young men never take off their G-strings.
Or perhaps it is to blame for the biggest change at Chance ?€” its trademark dance between two men in an aquarium. Back in 1996, the men slid out of their trunks halfway through the act and let the dozens of men tightly clustered around the aquarium ooohh and aaahh at dangling genitalia. Now, the trunks don?€™t come off until the act?€™s final moments. Then the show?€™s over before the crowd ?€” now mostly female ?€” catches a peek of anything more than a bare buttock.
Cover: 100 rubles for men and 150 for women. 11/15 Volochayev-skaya Ulitsa. Metro Ploshchad Ilycha. Tel. 298-6247. 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Credit cards: none.
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