European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 13, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Dollar dancers of Houston by Lisa Belkin new York times Essica is 21 years old Nunci Yves with her 5 year Oid daughter on Iho East Side of downtown Houston in n neighbourhood where daily Hie is lived to Spanish during the week Jessica who would identity her Salt Only by her Tirol name wears an Orange  last food Resla oian. Uniform and Sells Lacos and soda on Friday and Safir Day nights she vans n Black mini dress with a rhinestone hell and Sils with her i lends Al a table Al the Edge of a Toca dance finer  coma  ask her to dance  the song ends they give her Dollar. I Don l like Thorn but l need Tho Money said Jessica who is Young curvaceous and popular and who earns up to $50 ii night ii helps me pay the  in. Houston there Are Hun Diode of Young Dollar dancers like Jessica poor uneducated immigrants who arc linked by spirit in not by  the 10 conts a dance girls of the 1940s they Are often dropped Oil Al the clubs by husbands and children sometimes Jessica s Boyfriend comes along to watch there Are also hundreds of men like Juan oni of Jessica s Par Noison a recent night. Most Are in the Umed Siales illegal finding whatever work icy can and sleeping in Barracks like quarters. Juan who looks like a Loen Ager works As a janitor the Dollar Ite drops on Trie table alter each Danco makes him ool that to is world something these girls Are Nice to said they Don t say no when you ask for  Erma Bombeck Dollar dancers and their paying partners Sway on the floor of the Estipo club in Houston. There Are dozens of these clubs on the Edge of downtown Houston their Neon signs hidden from View Ori streets the White Middle class Largety travels and in answer to the inevitable question a Dollar usually buys Only a dance men who Are looking for prostitutes have other places logo said Alfredo Santos a taxi Driver familiar with he clubs girls who Are turning tricks Don t waste Lime dancing " Las Chen has where Jessica spends her time is  rustic looking inside with i Long bar a Largo dance Hoar and a band thai plays mostly mexican cum Bias or polkas. At Al Mexico Pool tables Tako up most of the brightly is room Wilh just a Small area of Bare Concrete floor left Lor dancing la fiesta largest and a trading the youngest crowd has armed guards at Tho door perhaps the Only thing the clubs have in common besides poor women who will Daneo for a Dollar with Downtrodden men is Hal business is worse than it used to be that immigration Laws killing us said Jerry Johnstons owner of a Tipo which is next door to la fiesta. Since inc government started prosecuting employers of illegal aliens to said Manyol his patrons have lost their jobs the girls Aren l making As much Money and we Aren t making As much he said. It s Lousy  ii there is anyone who can be colled an Export on Iho clubs it in Santos the Taxt Driver who is pursuing his master s degree in Urban studios at Texas Southern University for eight years he has conducted his own surveys by talking to his passengers i drive the women and they Laid about which Bill they can pay now or which child is going o got to go p the doctor,1 he said. The Merit Mey talk about How they spent too much Money arid How the Money order Fiey Send Bach Homo is going to be smaller this  Santos guesses that More than 500 women spend at Lossl Somo of their evenings dancing Lor dollars they Are As Young As 16 though the drinking age is 21 and As old As 40. Some Are Prosl Sulos looking Lor business to said but not a Large number. There is an unofficial pecking order. The Young girls Hove the luxury of looking Down on he men they re ugly and they smell dul they think they re  said Angel 19. Dressed in a Black top and a sequined skirt for her evening  Tipo they think  dance but they can to said Jessica s younger sister Yolanda i Only like them because they can pay " the men in turn get to look Down upon the older less attractive women they Liko the Young ones said Elva 36, who had. Only earned two Dollar s by the Lime the clock Rie ored Midnight at Las Chen has ii makes them feel like big men if hey can pick and  i Don l mind she said swirling her Boer. What else would i do on a saturday night but come women do mind eventually they leave and a new generation moves in to Lake their place. All i do is sit i Don t make any Money said. Carmen who is 40, and who spent much of Iho night weeping in he ladies room Al Al Tipo she said she was thinking of bringing her daughter to the club this summer. She likes to dance arid she thinks in will be inn her Mother said i worry Aboul her but maybe Shell Mako  my Mother told me the other Day with a straight lace Hal an 83 year old woman at a weight watchers meeting slowly approached i he instructor afterwards and said Tell me again what i m nol supposed to eat Hal is the Mast depressing thing i be head Al year when does it Slop in t there Ever a Lime when we can accept the principle of Gravity and get on with our lives How Many years do we have to choose Between an Olwe and three Days of Senous bloating How Long can a woman be expected to live by the old adage1 the Shoil Osl distance to Walcer pitl thinness is a straight line to the bathroom two women were Lalong in aisle a of she supermarket a couple of Days ago i overheard one say. In t in a shame Liz Taylot is putting in Back on one of the women had in Roo chins and the other could t see her shoes Lor the overhang i wanted to say i Page 16 the stars and stripes heard Tho horse she Rode in National velvet has gone to pot loo1" my god when is the Public going to give Iris woman permission to be 57 years old and in charge of her own life. Who cares in Oprah had a hamburger or if Tho grease dripped off her elbows or if she eats both oars Elf a 6 tool tall solid chocolate Bunny fans want their idols to Slop Iho clock they Don l want to see Barbara Walters Wear glasses. Raquel Welch become a grandmother or Angie Dickinson with Gray hair. I Don t know the logic but it probably has something to do with the Public s own mortality. Thoy re the same age and they could look that Good if they had Money they Don t make those same Hinds of demands of Public politicians authors artists musicians or corporate executives at a luncheon recently i quietly observed four women at the next table Between All the lifts Lucks monday March 13, 1989 and nips there was enough ski arid fat left Over from Tho our of them to Mako a fifth person. Alt Oldham a around Wilh a surprised look on their takes. If the Slock Market crashed not one of them could have blinked an Eye lot atone express or Nolion i occurs to me there should be some kind of correlation Between your mind and your body. What docs it profit a 78-year-old woman to sit around the Pool in a Bikini if she cannot feed Horsell or to have your lace listed and not remember who took it there s a compulsory age for everything in his country you Are Lold when to receive social Security to retire to Roach adult status to drink alcohol Vole and enter the first Grade is it too much to Ash. When am i old enough to pig ouf without having to All on your Knees and confess bless me Jean Nidetch. For j grave sinned