The Mint is changing hands, but no one will be taking off their clothes. That's the stripped-down version of this story about the popular dive bar. It's the naked truth, says Mint Cocktail's new owners, who also run a stripping service.
Perceived ch-ch-changes at the sleepy bar, 3540 E. Grant Road, have been keeping residents of the nearby Palo Verde Neighborhood Association up at night. Ever since Wild Boys #1 LLC came on the scene a few weeks ago, buying the bar and applying for a liquor-license transfer, neighbors of the Mint have had visions of men in G-strings dancing in their heads.
This is because the owners of Wild Boys #1 LLC, Ricardo "Skyy" Garcia and Chris Smith, also own Wild Boys Strippers. The website for Wild Boys Strippers shows a bunch of hunky guys without chest hair in awkward poses that allow them to casually flex their muscles. There is also a video for strip-o-grams, a specialty of theirs, featuring said men without chest hair. There are stripper dudes standing in front of hay bales. There is stripper guy wearing a vest with a naughty look on his face, and stripper guy in a firefighter outfit. There is stripper lady in a fountain.
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Garcia also has an instructional stripping DVD for sale for $65.
"If you think you have what it takes to become an exotic male or female dancer, then I suggest you buy my DVD," Garcia says in the movie.
Anyway, you get it. This was not what the Mint's neighbors wanted to be thinking about, but how could they not?
Concerned about his constituents, City Councilman Steve Kozachik kept his shirt on. He then took on the crusade, asking the city staff to research the finer points of the City Code related to stripping and G-strings in an attempt to perhaps somehow stop the transfer.
The Koz was trying to help, but he couldn't do so without at least occasionally talking about G-strings. For example, if, hypothetically, male strippers in the Mint were prancing and dancing, "the G-string would have to come off" in order for the City Code to kick in regarding where strip clubs can happen in the city, he said. If the G-string stays on, it's just a bar.
"There are certain clothing requirements (for bars), which means you have to cover up basically the G-string area," City Attorney Mike Rankin told me.
All of this - the G-strings and strip-o-grams, the city's seeming inability to do anything about G-strings and strip-o-grams, the potential for bachelorette parties - just seemed to make the problem worse. Neighbors began to fret about possible violence or drug activity that comes with strip clubs. A neighborhood meeting was held earlier this week.
There was once a Wild Boys Show Club in Tucson, which later became Club Envy, which was later shut down after a shooting. While Garcia said he held events at Club Envy, he was never an owner, manager or partner there.
"It's not going to be a neighborhood bar any more," Ronni Kotwica, Palo Verde Neighborhood Association president, told me. "That's our main concern."
Well, at least for now, everyone can celebrate, preferably with their clothing on. Maybe even at Mint Cocktails.
"We have no plans to make this a strip bar," Garcia emailed me from Europe yesterday morning. "We are happy with (the Mint) just the way it is."
In his email, Garcia said he and his business partner used the Wild Boys LLC name because it's the trademark they own.
"Chris and I have no plans to make any changes in fact we also kept all the previous employees," he wrote. "The customers have been coming there for a long time and we have been meeting most of them. They are all very nice and we seem to have a great report (sic) with them."
The Mint has been around longer than most Tucsonans. It was founded by Joe Montgomery in 1934 and was once downtown, Mint management recently told the Star. Back in the 1950s, folks used to ride their horses to the bar, and if they drank enough, they would ride their horses through it.
"It's a great feeling knowing that we have bought a great establishment and a Tucson tradition," Garcia said in his email.
So there you have it.
There are lessons to this.
First, strippers appreciate history and tradition, too. Second, it's never a good idea to ride your horse through a bar, regardless of decade. And third, when you next visit the Mint, keep your clothes on (for now).
You never know what you don't know.
Contact columnist Josh Brodesky at 573-4242 or jbrodesky@azstarnet.com
