IMHO, strip CLUBS, like Scores in New York, Spearmint Rhino in L.A., are really a waste of time and huge amounts of money. They're just as creepy as you describe them, and never worth visiting sober or often. Strip BARS, on the other hand, can be fun, as they're just dive bars that have strippers as, at their finest, a side attraction. The good ones welcome women, even single women, of the sort who aren't out in a gaggle looking for a fake lesbo lapdance. The real strip bars don't offer lapdances either. This is an ESSENTIAL attribute. This is what the defunct Billy's was like in NYC, and Jumbo's Clown Room is sort of like in L.A.