Controversial strip club opens
By James Cullum
On opening night last Thursday, every single spot in the Paper Moon parking lot was full.After paying a $12 cover charge, dozens of men sat on black lounge chairs, surrounded by neon blue walls and paying $12 for mixed drinks and watching women strip out of their clothes on two stages.
While they enjoyed themselves, many of the patrons had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, that the county has been watching every move the business makes, hoping it will be shut down by violating a zoning ordinance or some other law, while many county residents and local business owners are outraged that the central Springfield community will have to contend with what they see as another blight on their community.
The strip club is the third in Northern Virginia, joining the 1320 Club in Springfield and the Crystal City Restaurant in Arlington.
Aware of the public outcry, Paper Moon manager Brian Ackerman joked, “This isn't a strip club. If you notice, the dancers have pasties covering their nipples, so they aren't even technically naked.”
The Springfield community is “worried about the negative results that come from having a strip club in an area that, for the last 10 years, has been ridden with gang violence and commercial blight. We've been working to reverse negative trends, to have this area be transformed into something like the Reston Town Center. Then the strip club opens and threatens all our hopes for revitalization,” said Springfield Civic Association President Tawny Hammond.
“I'm in shock that it is around. We were trying to do that whole family-style renovation in central Springfield, but this just smashes it,” said Dr. Allison Fennell of nearby Colonial Animal Hospital.
Frasier Boyd, the owner of the Richmond-based strip club chain, is a 1983 West Springfield High School graduate who owns six other Paper Moon clubs around the country.
Boyd paid $5 million for the building, which was the former Dauphine Steak House (a closed-up strip club) and another million to gut it, renovate the interior and be up to code so that Paper Moon could open before the grandfather clause allowing it to operate in Virginia expired on July 16.
After talking with a zoning official who was given a tour of the club on opening night, Boyd said, “I'm here to be very low key and not bother anyone and be very supportive of the county.”
The club is now open from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and in a few months will be running at full steam, open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day of the week.
While walking to his car after leaving the club, James Cox, of Woodbridge said that the club “can't have a negative impact on surrounding developments. I haven't seen any naked posters of women outside the place. There's just a building with a sign that says 'Paper Moon'. That's it.”
To emphasize the county's determination to monitor the strip club, the day before opening night, an electronic message board stood outside the club advertising available staff positions. Electronic message boards cannot be displayed outside by private businesses in Fairfax County.
County officials found out about the sign and contacted Paper Moon staff, who soon took it down.
"While Paper Moon has a legal right to be in the former Dauphine's location, it has the responsibility to follow every one of the county's ordinance requirements and regulations. I commend our zoning office for moving quickly on the illegal sign. I will not tolerate any business breaking the law in Lee District," Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay (D) said.
McKay has said on more than one occasion that he will do all he can to shut the strip club down. But that will be difficult since, “I'm abiding by everything the county has asked me to do,” Boyd said, “And we're here to stay.”