This story originally appeared in the Sept. 8 edition of the Weekly LINK Reader. To see these stories first, subscribe here.
This week on The Sunday Story, business reporter Kenton Hornbeck explores Newport’s history of gentleman’s clubs. You can listen to this story below or read the full story here.
In 1976, if you decided to take a lunchtime stroll to buy a few cheese coneys from a Monmouth Street chili parlor, it was a near guarantee you’d read one of those three messages plastered to a marquee in bold lettering on your way. Hiding in plain sight, blended into a streetscape full of banks, sandwich shops and jewelry stores, was an assortment of X-rated businesses.
“There were about 20 of them up and down Monmouth Street,” Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin said. Today, there are only two strip bars in the entirety of Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties.
While other Northern Kentucky cities like Covington had strip bars, no other city in the region had adult entertainment woven into the fabric of the community quite like Newport.
During its “Sin City” era, Newport’s reputation preceded itself. The economic values of modern Las Vegas manifested in the small river town sitting at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers.
Newport’s economic association with organized crime, gambling and adult entertainment was the subject of national intrigue and political conflicts. During the city’s gambling era, A-list celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sam Cooke and Marilyn Monroe frequented its bars, clubs and back rooms.
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