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Playboy Club |
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
A Playboy Club was originally one of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises until 1991, with the first club opening at 116 E. Walton in downtown Chicago on February 29, 1960. The clubs were essentially bars with entertainment, featuring Playboy Bunnies serving drinks to keyholders, and performances by some big names in entertainment. There is now only one Playboy Club, and it is in The Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Hugh Hefner opened his first Playboy Club in 1960. He was inspired by Burton Brown's Chicago chain of Gaslight Clubs. The Gaslight Clubs opened in 1953, featuring women dressed in velvet, one-piece "bunny" type costumes, and had live entertainment.
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The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1960. The last American location was Lansing, Michigan, which closed in 1988. International Clubs existed until the 1991 closing of the location in Manila, Philippines. Manila was the only Club ever featured in Architectural Digest. During the last three months of 1961, more than 132,000 people visited the Chicago club, making it the busiest night club in the world.
Playboy Club membership became a status symbol. Only 21% of all key holders ever went to a Club. At $25.00 per membership, Playboy earned $25 million for every 1,000,000 members. This revenue stream was critical to the development of the Playboy empire.
In 1965 Hugh Hefner sent Victor Lownes to London to open Playboy's British casinos, following legalization of gambling in the United Kingdom. Gaming income from these casinos enabled Playboy to continue throwing money at financially disastrous clubs, theaters, resorts, record companies and film investments. The magazine's income was modest compared to that from these casinos. In 1981 the casino at 45 Park Lane was the most profitable casino in the world and the British casinos contributed $32 million to the corporation. Playboy showed a total profit of $31 million that year, meaning the rest of the empire made a net loss of $1 million. However, in that year Victor Lownes was fired, and gambling licenses were not renewed, thereby cutting off Playboy's biggest source of income and creating a financial crisis that would only be solved by enormous changes within the empire.
The Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin had a ski slope and was one of the first to install a chair lift.
Playboy recently opened a new Playboy Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new club at The Palms, with its very noticeable neon bunny head, has casinos, bars, and a bathroom with pictures of Playmates on the walls.
Famous entertainers who performed at the clubs include:
Playboy also owned resorts in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
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