I was excited! I was finally walking into the women-only Arcadia club, a place I’ve heard so much about, but never thought I would visit. This is a place where the ladies get drunk and go crazy uninhibited by the other half of mankind, in fact only the bartenders and strippers were male. Digesting all of this and harboring a den of sin in my mind, I checked my jacket and walked over to the main and only room.

Nothing came close to what I expected. A rather small room with cozy tables and booths was half-filled with somewhat bored females. The drinks were exorbitantly expensive ($8 for a rum and coke), and strangely priced – a straight vodka cost $3, while a screwdriver was $7!

The main entertainment was male striptease and it was by far inferior to that at other places. Consequently, the patrons I talked to seemed quite bored with the show and excited about moving on to another club.

A few others who appeared more interested in the strippers told me that the show usually heated up later on, especially on Wednesdays, when the most candid striptease took place.

The same night featured a brief "live" concert by some Russian wannabe-Backstreet-Boys band, followed by another band of four guys who looked like the fathers of the first five. The night’s program also offered something like an intermission for the less patient ones, featuring a performance of Jam Style i Da Boogie, quite a head-spinning break-dancing foursome.

After I left Arcadia, I decided that this would be a great place to meet women, if they would let guys in. But they don’t, leaving a significant share of both sexes bored and lonely.

30 Leningradsky Prospect, Str. 2
Metro: Belorusskaya, Dinamo
Tel: 214-7311
Hours: 9 p.m. — 5 a.m.
Cover: 350 rubles. No men allowed.