Skip to main contentSure, Oregon's got fishing, mountains and beaches—but the Beaver State also has lots of strip clubs. Indeed, The Oregonian reported last month the state ranks second behind West Virginia in flesh clubs per capita, at 2.6 per 100,000 residents.
So WW sprung into action when it got an email from one of the key lawyers in the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision that cleared the decks for table and lap dances. Laura Graser's concern: All the talk after the Sept. 29 court decision striking down the Eastern Oregon town of Nyssa's distance requirement between customers and performers was perhaps leading to confusion between table and lap dances (which her clients at Miss Sally's Gentlemen's Club do not offer). Always interested in explanatory journalism, here's our guide to the "differences":
| TABLE DANCE | LAP DANCE | |
|---|---|---|
| What | When a performer leaves the stage to perform a personal dance for a paying customer—but usually not on the table. | When a dancer moves around on or near a patron's clothed lap. Some clubs have a more secluded area or a special chair for lap dances. |
| Proximity | With the protection offered by the court decision, close enough to the pockets of your freshly pressed Dockers that you can easily hand over cash to the dancer. | On, or hovering just above, your freshly pressed Dockers, zipper securely fastened. |
| Dangers | Broken high heels, twisted ankles. | Crabs. Kidding! (Well, mostly kidding.) |
| WHERE | Most strip joints in Oregon. | Not at Graser's clients' Nyssa establishment (which is 18-and-over and doesn't serve alcohol). But they're a go in many of Portland's finest establishments, like Magic Garden, Sassy's and Mary's Club. |
| HOW MUCH | $20 to $40. Like the Todai sushi buffet, dances are sometimes cheaper earlier in the day and on weeknights. Unlike Todai, they don't come with senior discounts. | Same price range as table dances. |
| CONCLUSION | While some may be confused by distinctions between table and lap dances, it turns out most Oregon strip clubs use the terms fairly interchangeably. | |
WWeek 2015