The Penthouse Club in Vancouver has existed for seven decades

The glamour and originality of Canada's strip clubs has been restore recently. Diamond's on Dundas Street in Mississauga host some pretty amazing shows.

An intro from the clubs website

The Penthouse Night Club was founded in 1947 by brothers Joe, Ross, Mickey and Jimmy Filippone. Eldest brother Joe would often have private parties in his upstairs apartment that consistently drew the attention of the local police. These raids became as common as the parties themselves, so much so that one day a headline in the Vancouver Sun read “Joe’s Penthouse Raided”, and so a Vancouver landmark was born.

Originally the Penthouse was one of Vancouver hottest Supper Clubs attracting celebrities and stars from around the world. Acts like Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole, the Mills Brothers & Harry Belafonte were regulars on the stage entertaining crowds nightly.

Those crowds often included stars like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Max Baer & Gary Cooper, to name a few. The Penthouse was the place to see and be seen. Many of the stars photographs still to this day grace the walls of the club as a reminder of the rich history that we are a part of. This was officially recognized recently with our induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Today the Penthouse continues to be one of the premier night spots in the downtown core and one of Canada's most famous Entertainment Landmarks.

Heres a second article from vanmag.com.

At the Penthouse Club, a dancer with the stage name Kate Hudson pivots around a brass pole in an all-white snow-bunny outfit-pleated miniskirt, tiny hooded sweatshirt, and leggings-to 50 Cent's "In Da Club." The bar, with its casino-worthy red carpeting, its Dijon-coloured walls, and the vintage photos of patrons like Jimmy Durante and Max Baer, echoes the louche glamour of the past without falling into kitsch. The crowd, about a third women, is mainly in its 20s and includes a corn-fed dude from Oregon who hurls a loonie onstage before a waitress settles him down.

The Penthouse Club is very different from Ashley Madison.
If you are married in North America and looking for fun then you gotta check out Ashley Madison.


Rayelle-the wispy 28-year-old whose nom de pole originated from her passing resemblance to the Almost Famous star-first took up exotic dancing a decade ago. When she returned to the job in 2005 after a long-term relationship ended, she found Vancouver's strip-bar landscape had shifted drastically. "There's a lot less bars," she notes. "Honestly, I think it has to do with the Internet. You can get so much more access there than what we're providing."

In its seventh decade of business, the Penthouse Club has seen liquor laws and societal norms pass like buses at rush hour. The Seymour Street institution went from being the only nudie bar in town to one of several dozen in the early 1990s, when Vancouver was often touted as the stripper capital of the world. Now, at a time when the city's shedding strip clubs like, well, a dancer peeling off undergarments, the Penthouse survives by capitalizing on its colourful history for movie shoots and stag parties and by attracting the square-jawed, Axe-cologne-wearing revellers from nearby Granville.

"We've been able to thrive as one of the few remaining bars with stripping," says owner Danny Filippone, 45, whose competition is down to the soon-to-be-closed Cecil around the corner, Brandi's in the financial district, and the No. 5 Orange on Main. "When you're downtown and you're out with your girlfriend or your buddies and you want to go out for a drink and want something different, you go to the Penthouse."

Danny's grandfather Giusep­pe purchased 1033 Seymour, the house next door to the Penthouse, in 1933, before acquiring the Penthouse's eventual address five years later. The 1019 Seymour location was first used as a nightclub in 1947, and was managed by Filippone's father, Ross, and uncles Mickey, Jimmy, and Joe. Before obtaining a liquor licence in 1952, the Penthouse operated as a bottle club, serving ice and mixers to patrons who brought their own booze. The live, nude entertainment came around 1970 in the form of Vegas-style burlesque acts and, eventually, raunchier fare.

Prostitution was once closely linked to the Penthouse. In the 1970s, the city closed the club after Danny Filippone's father and Uncle Joe were charged with living off the avails of prostitution, a charge they eventually beat on appeal. (Joe was killed in a robbery in an office at the Penthouse in 1983.) "The Penthouse was known for its prostitution," says Filippone, "and the truth is-I'll tell you straight up-people would come here and get a girl."
A gregarious, barrel-chested man with light hair and a ready smile, Filippone speaks about the past with a gimlet-eyed glint. In the office that once belonged to his father and that is covered with both show posters and portraits of his two boys' soccer teams, he explains how, as a child, he would visit at night, entering through the kitchen and crossing the stage between performances. Later, when he was in Grade 10, a math teacher proudly flashed his Penthouse Club VIP pass at him. "Those Gold Cards were never charged for," he says. "They were always earned."

Danny Filippone worked with his father for over 20 years, until Ross died in 2007. For a number of years, he has been responsible for the club's evolution. In 2001, the Penthouse, which had the dingy charm of a small-town legion hall, was gutted and rebuilt. "I could see that downtown was really starting to take shape, because there was a long time where the Granville Mall was pretty stagnant," he says. "The Penthouse was becoming old, but what was becoming trendy was old." The walls were repainted to their original colour, and the photos, many of which came from a stash discovered in Joe's office, were restored and framed. The Penthouse took a half-step back to its nightclub roots, occasionally bringing in live music and magic shows, even as it served as a set for the CBC show Intelligence and the upcoming Halle Berry flick Frankie and Alice.

It's been the movie producers who've insisted that the Penthouse retain the burgundy stucco exterior. "It's one of the biggest arguments I have with my wife," says Filippone, who's dressed in dark jeans and an embroidered black shirt. "We fixed up the inside of the bar, but when people drive by they think it's the same place." Renovations like Roman columns are still being planned, but Filippone insists the club will keep its marquee-the name emblazoned in neon lettering under a cityscape lost to history.

Since the 2001 renovation, Filippone has also kept the Penthouse away from the seedier aspects of stripping. The hookers are long gone, and although the club offers private dances, the dancers must keep three feet away from patrons. "You can send your boyfriend out on a stag and know nothing bad's going to happen," says Rayelle, who dances at the Penthouse every fourth week between stints at clubs in Surrey and Chilliwack. "But he's going to have a great time."

A large part of the club's success is also due to the reemergence of the Granville Street entertainment district, where restaurants and nightclubs are overtaking the porn shops and pawn brokers. Charles Gauthier, executive director of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, attributes the area's transformation to both civic policy and economics. "City hall placed restrictions on pawn shops and adult bookstores," he says. Nearby establishments that leased their property, like nightclub Richard's on Richards and massage parlour Madame Cleo's, have seen the ground sold from under them.

Gauthier, who's quick to say he's never visited the Penthouse, remains skeptical about its future. "I know a lot of people thought the Cecil would be there forever," he says about the rival club that's becoming a condo tower. "It's the nature of development pressures."

Filippone runs the Penthouse with family, which includes his mother and two siblings. "I'm not obligated, but delighted," he says about being responsible for his family's legacy. "I feel it would be a shame to let all the work that my dad and my uncles put in to make the Penthouse go to waste."

The family recently sold a nearby parking lot for development, and Filippone says that he's been offered millions for the Penthouse land. "I'm not silly. I look at every offer." He admits he's still struggling with his father's death, "but in the past two or three years, our business has never been better."

The club is eager to welcome new visitors, but Filippone insists there's still a place for the regulars. "There are customers who've been coming here for literally 40 years," he says. "There's one guy who comes in with his housecoat and slippers on, with his personal limousine out front. For a lot of people, this is their spot, was their spot, and will always be their spot."

A third article about filming a movie at the Penthouse club in Vancouver.

A "Little Sexy time" for Chris Pine and Tom Hardy

Posted on 11 Dec, 2010 by Henry-K in Blog Worthy,

Movies Actors Tom Hardy (“inception”) and Chris Pine (“Star Trek”) must get a kick out of the last day on the set of their new movie ‘This Means War’ which was shot on location at the “Penthouse Night Club” in Vancouver.

The duo spent the last couple of days inside the notorious gentlemen’s club; a place as famous for it’s impromptu private parties by original owner Joe Filippone as it was for the constant police raids crashing them.

Is it "sexy time?" - Tom Hardy & Chris Pine having fun shooting at the "Penthouse" gentleman's Club on location in Vancouver - photo: Splash

Established in 1947 and as one of Vancouver’s most popular supper clubs the venue has played host to Hollywood celebrities such as: Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Max Baer, and Gary Cooper.

The Penthouse was the place to mingle and be seen.

Today as an exotic nightclub, The Penthouse remains a famous landmark and a tourist attraction in downtown Vancouver.

Now, Pine and Hardy are the next generation of famous footsteps walking the foyer and shooting a scene for the McG directed movie – the story of two close friends in war with one another as they fall in love with the same woman (played by Reese Witherspoon).

Also starring in the film is E Televison’s talk show host, Chelsea Handler.

A forth article about the Penthouse club in Vancouver by John Mackie, Vancouver Sun.

Vancouver's infamous strip club has been a local landmark for decades

John Mackie, Vancouver Sun. Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007

You need earplugs to walk around downtown Vancouver these days, and a construction helmet. The crash-boom-bang of construction for new high-rise towers and the Olympic SkyTrain line is omnipresent: Whole sections of town are being torn down and rebuilt, seemingly overnight.

But there is one well-known local building that has managed to survive the boom. The Penthouse Cabaret has been an institution at 1019 Seymour since it opened in 1947. It's always been somewhat infamous -- in the old days, it operated as an after-hours "bottle club" where people drank illegally. In more recent times, it's operated as one of Vancouver's premier strip clubs.

But its famous neon sign and wonderfully sleazy interior decor have made it something of a local icon, even for people who've never set foot inside the doors.

Danny Filippone outside the Penthouse on Seymour.

Photo: Steve Bosch/Vancouver Sun

This Sunday, the club will mark its 60th anniversary with a special show. There will be live music from Jessica Beach, and dancing from Candy, an all-female troupe that "incorporates Broadway, jazz, pop, rock and a touch of burlesque."

For history buffs, Danny Filippone will be on hand to tell some stories. And there are a few stories to tell.

The Filippone family has owned the club since Day 1. Danny's grandfather moved his family to a house at 1033 Seymour in 1933, and then the family acquired a garage next door.

Danny's late uncle Joe was an industrious fellow, and with Danny's father Ross started up several businesses, including a taxi company and a boxing club. Joe lived upstairs over the garage turned-boxing-club and had big parties, one of which was raided by the cops. The Vancouver Sun ran a story with the headline "Joe Philliponi's Penthouse Raided," and the name stuck. (Joe Philliponi's name was spelled wrong by an immigration officer when Joe arrived in Canada from Italy.)

The brothers decided to turn Joe's penthouse into an after-hours joint. In 1947 it was virtually impossible to get a licence to sell hard liquor in Vancouver, so people would bring in their own booze in brown bags, then buy mix from the establishment.

The Penthouse used to have spotters on the roof who would press secret buzzers to alert patrons that the cops were about to raid the joint. The customers would hide their bottles in secret drawers under their tables, then pull them out when the cops left. Because it wasn't a legal bar, it didn't have to conform to normal closing times, so it would be open from 11 p.m. 'til 6 a.m., or until everyone went home.

It became a favourite hangout for celebrities who came to town to play clubs like the Palomar (which the family owned for a time), the Cave or the Marco Polo. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, Louis Anmstrong, Frankie Laine, Harry Belafonte, Errol Flynn -- they all dropped by to drink 'til the wee small hours in the VIP room at the back of the top floor.

"Sammy Davis actually played there for one month," says Filippone. "He stayed at the club, because he couldn't afford a hotel."

A couple of years ago, Filippone and his wife were moving a photocopier at 1033 Seymour, the original family home which they still own and use as an office, and noticed a hole in the wall."I put my hand in and there was a chest," he recalls.

"We yanked it out. We thought we were going to find millions of dollars, but it was even better: All these original pictures that uncle Joe and my dad had taken. They were signed by Louis Armstrong, Jersey Joe Walcott, Joe Frazier, Sammy Davis Jr., all the celebrities. We had something like 120 of them."

The old photos will be on display on Sunday, along with photos of some of the burlesque queens Uncle Joe and Ross started importing from Vegas in the '60s. The club finally got a liquor licence in 1965, and the strippers the Penthouse brought in helped introduce a whole other dimension to Vancouver nightlife.

Uncle Joe was shot and killed at the Penthouse in 1983. Danny Filippone started managing the club three years later, in the middle of the exotic dancer boom.

"It went from three or four bars to something like 45 hotels that had strippers," he says. "Now it's gone completely full circle and it's down to three again."

Strippers still ply the stage several days a week, but the Penthouse also has live music and is an in-demand film location (it's the club in CBC's Intelligence). Singer Avril Lavigne recently booked it for a photo shoot.

"In the past six, seven, eight years, we've completely turned it around," says Filippone. "Whether it's because of the Granville Mall being so busy or the fact that all the other strip bars have closed, the Penthouse for some reason remains one of the busiest bars downtown. Not just strip bars, bars."

A homeowner on Richards Street recently sold her two lots for $6 million to a developer, which means the Penthouse property is probably worth $10 million or more.

Filippone confirms that he's had many offers to sell, but says his family has no intention of doing so, at least in the near future.

"It's not just the money," he says. "We really really have this feeling that the Penthouse is a huge part of our family."

jmackie@vancouversun.com

Toronto Exotic Massage Home