OVER the weekend, I visited Metro Manila cities where there are macho dancer bars purposely to check on the latter establishments’ business names. Methinks only a handful of people care to stop and stare at business signages bearing weird, if not unique names. You see, business names reveal the nature of the business and make any curious mind ponder on them for a second. What’s in a business name, anyway?
Some establishment names are double entendres and what better way to prove this than to check out the signages displayed outside the many male strip bars spread across Metro Manila. In a hired taxi, my driver and I agreed to start with White Bird, that huge male entertainment bar on Roxas Boulevard, because of its proximity to the hotel I was billeted at in Pasay. You see, the latter and Paranaque City, where the bar is situated, share a border. White Bird is the lone male strip bar in Paranaque City, popular in its own right and a hit with some East Asian tourists. The business name “White Bird” connotes something and that may mean a guy’s cock, a white cock at that – at least from a local’s perspective. And for some, a white wang is superior. Does this mean its dancers have white birds?
From Paranaque, we headed straight to Lourdes Street in Pasay where Machette Entertainment Bar is found. The name “Machette” does not refer to a bolo but to a man with good looks and attractive toned body. The choice of a business name must have been “influenced” by that short-lived fantasy television show “Machete.” By choosing “Machette” as the name of a male strip bar, you are, in effect, telling the public your entertainers are indeed Machettes, that is, sexy and goodlooking. Indeed, many Machette dancers are! It’s no wonder more female patrons are drawn to the bar, outnumbering homosexual men, in a way.
In neighboring Manila City, the Philippine Capital, one can find two thriving macho dancer bars, namely Boy Next Door Bar (BND) and Ginoong Modelo Entertainment Bar. However, onlyBoy Next Door seems to attract the attention of curious passersby. Interestingly, BND may mean its strippers are the boy-next-door types, not unlike those dancers at Makisig Entertainment Bar on Roosevelt Street in Quezon City. I like the way the owners thought of naming their businesses: very attractive, tempting and kind of suggestive, if you will. Now, won’t such business names tempt curious customers to visit the bars?
They say the most famous macho dancer bar in the Philippines is Adonis. Is it because it holds the distinction of being named after the Greek deity, Adonis, considered the most handsome man, that it’s at the top of the chain? The first time I saw Adonis Macho Dancer Bar twelve years ago the first thing that came to mind was the dancers must have all been damn handsome, hunky, and gorgeous. I assumed they were carefully selected, if only to give justice to the name “Adonis.” Adonis boasts of a combination of eye-candies and “simply average looking dancers,” including those with no regard for personal hygiene. Which is both sad and disappointing to point out.
If a macho dancer bar goes by the name of “Makisig”, you are inclined to think the men are “dashing”, “well-dressed”, and “muscular.” In a way, many Makisig boys give justice to the appellation but, over-all, they are generalized as boy-next-door-type ones, which is also appropriate. On the other hand, Hotmen Macho Dancer Bar tells you only one thing. Their men are hot. Or, are they?
We visited Prince Xanadu Entertainment Bar on Scout Borromeo Street, also in Quezon City, and I waved at the doorman-cum-guard, who waved back at us. In a way, Xanadu, as it’s popularly called, can transport you to a different planet in the same way the now defunct Apollo 14KTV Disco Bar and Resto could, only Apollo offered you something else, if you know what I mean. The “planet” I pertain to here is the fact that you, the customer, get entertained by performers like the GPX Dance Group which is noted for its superb dancing skills.
How about Formula 690? It’s a “remake” of the now defunct Club 690 then a popular macho dancer bar on Retiro Street in Quezon City, which street is now called Norberto S. Amoranto. I wish they called it Formula 69 and it would have been more attractive but vulgar, which vulgarity would certainly alarm the city hall folks. Or, it would have been controversial.
Over in Pasig City, there’s a small macho dancer bar, called Big Boys Entertainment Bar. The Ortigas Avenue Extension-based establishment, used to be called Hotstuff, is the lone male strip bar in Pasig. I like to think the boys there are big, that is, endowed, if you will.
What do you think of such business names as Club Mankind, Dreamboys, Emotion Hunks, Mr. World, Solution Disco, Cheetah (Cebu Province), Navigator (Cebu Province), King Cobra Entertainment Bar (Olongapo City)? What can you associate them with?
The most controversial, provocative, and vulgar macho dancer bar business names ever were Male Dog and Male Bol’s on Sta. Cruz district’s Oroquieta Street and Rizal Avenue, respectively. Of course, these two had long left the scene but the memories are still there.
Double entendres, indeed!
The Gonograd Resident 