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The New York Observer

New York Strip Clubs and High End Escorts To Benefit From Financial Crisis

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September 22, 2008 | 10:29 a.m.
Ashley Dupre has a secret.
Ashley Dupre has a secret.

As most New York industries entered total terror last week, it seems Manhattan's strip clubs are not losing any business. New York Magazine reports that at Rick's Cabaret last Tuesday night, all 20 VIP suites were occupied and the main room was a love fest of lap dances and neck massages. 

One stripper named Margo told the magazine, “I was giving a back rub to some guy earlier tonight. I told him he had some knots in his neck. He was like, ‘Yeah, I work at Lehman.’ ”

Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociologist at Columbia University, told New York that while strip clubs will eventually begin losing profits like everyone else, high-end call girls will see an increase in revenue.

“Fifty to 60 percent of their client base, if not more, is finance guys,” he said of the nightclubs. But call girls, he said, "specialize in taking care of their clients’ emotional needs and ‘wellness’—listening to their problems, conversing. Forty percent of the time, they’re not even consummating.”

Meanwhile, Natalie McLennan, the $2,000 an hour call girl Mark Jacobson wrote about in 2005, has a tell-all coming out. The Price: My Rise and Fall as Natalia, New York's #1 Escort reveals how, through her pimp Jason Itzler, she came to know another high-profile escort by the name of Ashley Dupre. The New York Post has published an excerpt in which Ms. McLennan takes responsibility for "turning Ashley out." 

An excerpt of the excerpt: 

If this girl was going to work out, Jason wouldn't need to sell her on the idea; she'd have to come to us. An hour later, she arrived at the loft.

Her face was adorable. She was tanned, with shiny, flowing brown hair. I could tell she was young, and I could sense that I was more street smart than she was, but she had that hungry glimmer in her eye that told me she was game for anything.

Every other girl who had come to work for the agency had either worked as an escort before or, like most of our girls, was new but had to be sold on the idea and have her hand held at every step. Ashley appeared to be happier to have found us than we were to have her.

"Ashley, I'm going to have to see you naked," Jason interjected.

"That's normal, right?" she asked.

She looked to me.

"I got naked for him. I've never worked anywhere else, so I can't really say, but it's normal here," I said.

"It's OK. I don't mind taking my clothes off," she chirped.

In two minutes, they were back.

I got back to business.

"Every girl starts at $800 an hour. If and when that changes is dependent on the reviews you earn. Reviews are posted by clients on a site called TheErotic-Review.com, and they have a huge impact on your success."

I asked her what she wanted her name to be. She was drawing a blank. She had Dior sunglasses on her head and had a sort of well-bred, suburban look to her. Her curves were extreme, her body screamed sexy, and her voice was a little throaty and cute.

I had the perfect name: "Victoria."

JUST hours after he'd laid eyes on Ashley, Jason wanted to send us straight to work. He had a great client lined up for us, a regular.

He wanted Ashley's reviews up and working for her right away.

Ashley and I were amazing together. She wasn't skinny at all, you'd never feel like you could break her, but she didn't have any fat on her body.

The only thing I didn't love were her breasts. She had implants, and I didn't think they were the greatest. She told me she got them when she was 16.

I was going to have to deliver my report to Jason: This girl could be our next superstar.

So Ashley officially became Victoria. Not long after, Ashley was lying on my bed. I was on my laptop. I pulled up a new review for Ashley.

She jumped up and read it over my shoulder. It was a 10/10; I gave her a big hug.

 


 

 

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