🚨Update!🚨 We are STILL fundraising to buy our own club! In light of some new twists and turns in the saga of our story, that club is not going to be Star Garden, but we always knew that that may be the case which is why we made sure to emphasize that this campaign is to raise funds to buy A CLUB, whether it be Star Garden or another club if it was impossible to get Star Garden!
The reason for that is the fact that the owners of Star Garden reached a settlement with the dancers on strike! Included in that settlement is recognition of their union, the re-opening of Star Garden, and the rehiring of all the locked out and fired dancers! What fantastic amazing history-making news!
Even though Star Garden is no longer a venue option for the Co-op we still plan to buy another club. With the bankruptcy court deadlines out of the way we don’t have to make snap decisions in a panic— we have time to dream together and really strengthen our vision for our club. All of the SG dancers remain fully committed to the Co-op and it is also a super integral component of the movement to transform the industry because co-ops can support union organizing drives by creating earning and fundraising opportunities for workers that face retaliation. We will have both a unionized club and a worker owned co-op in LA- and because the Co-op will be unionized, two union clubs right here in LA!
We hope this helps explain the storyline of the past couple weeks; it really has been a wild ride but don’t worry, we are in it for the long haul! THANK YOU so much for supporting us in all things so far! We are still fundraising, so please continue to donate and share! Those stars are still going up on the ceiling wherever we end up!
🙏🥳❤️
(END OF UPDATE)
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It’s happening, and there’s no stopping us now!
Read on to learn about our story and how YOU can help us SEIZE THE MEANS OF SEDUCTION and become the nation’s only unionized and worker-owned strip club!
One year ago, the str!ppers employed at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar began the picket line chant, “Whose club? Our club!” In March of 2022 we walked out of the North Hollywood venue to protest unsafe and unhealthy working conditions and to demand equitable treatment for all dancers regardless of race, gender, body type or disability- and our customers followed. We proved that a str!p club is nothing but an empty building without its str!ppers. Our picket line protest and street theater on the Lankershim Blvd sidewalk became our “sidewalk str!p club” where customers, neighbors and the labor community became not only an audience, but fervent supporters. It didn’t take long for news of The Star Garden Dancers’ fight for fair treatment to move to the national stage. LA str!ppers became a symbol for all American workers fighting back against poor working conditions. Headlines from the LA Times and the Observer proclaimed “Str!ppers protesting at North Hollywood topless bar were unlawfully fired, NLRB says,” and “Star Garden: Str!ppers are Organizing Whether You Like it Or Not” fueled our movement in the media and further emboldened our campaign.
Despite the intense public pressure, Star Garden’s owners, Steve and Jenny Kazaryan, continued to ignore us– and they even claimed dancers weren’t workers!
We responded by forming an organizing committee and affiliating with the live entertainment union Actors’ Equity Association.
The picketing continued. Legal battles were fought.
Meanwhile we were proving our resilience by inviting our community to support us at fundraiser shows that we produced ourselves under the banner Stripper Co-op. We raised nearly $100,000 in mutual aid. We spoke at national conferences.
We held a vote for union recognition, but the vote count was pushed back by the National Labor Relations Board due to a management delaying tactic.
Steve & Jenny continued their stalling tactics in hopes that wewould give up.
Now they have even filed for bankruptcy to try to stop the unionization effort.
The battle continues. The NLRB will continue to fight to hold Steve & Jenny accountable. Soon the bankruptcy court will entertain offers for the club.
Dancers want to seize the means of seduction! With your help, we the Star Garden Dancers have the opportunity to buy the club and have the North Hollywood venue operated as a Str!pper Co-op, becoming the only worker-owned union co-op str!p club in the country. Our success producing shows during the campaign as well as a partnership with the nonprofit L.A. Co-op Lab has given us confidence that we can run our own club. This is not without recent as well as historic precedents. During the worst days of the pandemic when venues were closed, we ran our own online shows to perform our art and our current live productions are still streamed virtually. Additionally, the workers of the Lusty Lady Theatre in San Francisco successfully ran a union co-op for over a decade. Across the country many of Equity’s venues are owned and operated by the stage artists.
We’re almost there...
Dancers need your help – and your dollars – to secure a lease, make improvements, purchase licenses, stock the bar and pay unionized employees. We need your pledge now.
Every supporter’s donation will be honored on the club’s ceiling in a universe of stars, each representing a donor. For donations over $1,000, your name will appear on a constellation, and for $10,000, a whole galaxy will be named for you.
In the event that we are unable to secure the purchase of our beloved home club Star Garden, we intend to use the money we raise in this campaign to purchase another strip club venue for the purpose of achieving our unionized co-op strip club dreams. We thank you for believing in us and trusting us!
There’s no stopping us now. With your donation dancers can secure a final victory over strip club managers and blaze a new path where we have the dignity of ownership over our labor, and where dancers are safe and respected, and won’t face discrimination.
Whose club? Our club. Make us – YOUR club!