Washington Post Covers Strip Club Conflict In Ritzy D.C. Enclave

The Washington Post may be known for its deep coverage of politics and world events, of course cementing its legend in the 1970s by exposing the Watergate scandal. But on Thursday,  the esteemed newspaper took a deep dive into a local D.C. strip club—one that suddenly finds itself at war with its neighbors due to its location adjacent to one of the capital’s, and the country’s, most upscale neighborhoods. The enclave to the west of where the club sits is home to such well-known figures as Barack and Michelle Obama, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, who in addition to being one of the world’s wealthiest humans is also the owner of the Washington Post itself.  But not far from the mansions that house those luminaries, and many others, sits a strip club that has residents of the area up in arms—over its new name. The new owners of the club recently rechristened the establishment “Assets.” “It’s just crass,” local resident Marie Drissel told the Post. “It’s 2019—what are they thinking? Why didn’t they pick a nondescript name?” Another resident, in a letter protesting the club’s appellation, noted that the Urban Dictionary reveals that the name is “a well known, vulgar term for a person’s rear end.” But the club’s manager, 26-year-old Gabby Miller, told the paper that she considers the name “cheeky,” and that it conveys the idea that “something of value” lies within the establishment. Miller has a very different idea about why the tony local crowd objects to the strip club’s presence. “The problem is that there are some black faces on this side of Connecticut Avenue,” Miller, who is African-Amercan, told the Post. “They’re seeing dark faces coming in and out of the building. They’re seeing the bouncers outside. They’re saying the things that you would expect a 75-year-old Caucasian to say.” The club, she says, unapologetically appeals to black customers. But Douglas Friedman, who wrote the “person’s rear end” letter to local officials described himself as “flabbergasted” by Miller’s implicit accusation of racism. “I and most of the people—virtually everybody I talked to—were unaware of who their clientele is. Race has no issue,” he told the Post. While the owner of the property that houses Assets, taxi tycoon Jerry Schaeffer, did not answer the Post’s requests for comment, his son Jeff told the paper that his dad—who also lives in the same upscale district—was unmoved by the resident’s complaints. “Let them say what they want—isn’t it free speech? Who cares?” he told the Post. “Let them picket. It’s good exercise. Maybe they’ll live a little longer.” Photo By AgnosticPreachersKid / Wikimedia Commons