Billy's Topless

[hamptonVMphoto]

Anyone out there remember the legendary "Billy's Topless" in New York City, 24th and 6th AVE in the 1990's? If you do please share your stories.
Artist, Musicans, Bikers and the Wall St. Robots all gathered here to wet the thirst and look at the beautiful dancing ladies. The most unpretensious place on the planet.
I lived in Chelsea in the 1990's on 19th and 7th Ave, my subway stop was right there on 6th Ave, Billys Topless was next to a Hardware Store. Most of the girls working there were supporting their boyfriends in bands on the lower east side and then there were girls from Long Island and New Jersey working far enough from home so that their fathers friends didn't see them stripping. The music was always brilliant, the stage was small and close that made you feel a part of it. Always felt alive and energized when I walked in Billy's. It wasn't about the hustle it was about the real sensation.
I fell in love many times at Billys . My first love was Kimmy from the Island. She was half Rican and half Irish. Had a basement apartment so far down Long Island you always fell asleep on the train ride there.
Kimmy had a ferret chained to her brass bed that always creeped me out. The little critter had a big dog water bowl at the end of the bed.
If you're trying to get a mental picture of Kimmy right now you might envision a hippie chick with kinky brown hair and curvy latin booty and her mouth never stopping with words.
After Giuliani forced Billy's to a water downed version of itself, Kimmy moved on to the Pussycat Lounge in Tribeca. I never seen her after the year 1994.
Diedra from Vienna, Austria was a real dancer who moved to New York in the early 1990's to be the artist she was trained to be. She ended up working at Billy's Topless to pay her rent in Murray Hill. Not long after I met her she took me back to Vienna. She all dissolusioned with dancing and New York, just wanted a simple existence. She started to work for the guy who invented Red Bull and I moved back to Coney Island after the visa expired. I still get emails from her sometimes telling me she is going to marry some guy but it never happens. This may seem a melancholy tone but if you have ever been to Billy's Topless circa early to mid 1990's you know what a special place in history this was. A strip club? yes! a naked lady dance hall that is nothing but a Bagel shop now. This place, Billy's Topless was the real thing. And if there is anyone out there that shares this, please communicate your Story.

[Mike Duggins]

Yes, I went there back in the day. It was quite reasonable in price and the girls were pleasant. Naughty but not trashy. It was kind of a real vintage topless bar instead of one of these loud, flashy, clip-joint sucker traps that most strip clubs have turned into now. R.I.P. Billy's.

[Paul Ferris {★}]

I remember going by it all the time but I never went in it. Was this the place where the guy who owned it didn't allow girls with implants?

[MistressDidi]

I had a submissive who was a bouncer there. Boy, if those walls could talk. That was right-up-in-your-face stripping!

[Ed Barnas]

Yep, I remember Billy's and the Stop-sign logo in the middle of the name that made you think it was "Billy's Stopless." Only went in once or twice mid-late 90's. I just passed that corner yesterday and, unfortnately, the bagel shop is still there. - Ed

[Mckenzie]

awesome!

[Wink Holliday]

Personal stories about NYC never fail to make me miss it. I left Brooklyn in '91 for the wilds of suburban NJ, and split for Colorado in '95. I still have a few friends out there, but it's been years since I've gotten together to see anyone. And there's little more beautiful than the East Village during leather jacket season.

[Bella Blue]

I remember you telling me about this place. I wish we could go there.....instead, skeevy titty bars here, eh?

It's nice to see you write....btw.

[Mimi First]

You make me want a time machine!