hours: 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 a.m.

cover: day/night, $15 (admission to the upstairs 64-channel video booths is free)

food/drinks: none

private dances: All types, performed all over the place. Every dancer seems to have different "official" prices, but day-shift laps in the main theatre start at $10.

vip rooms: Additional $15 for entry into the Sin City rooms.

dollars & sense: ATM surcharge is $4.00. (The one at "Play Fascination" just up the street is $2.50.)

stage fee: $100 per shift (day or night)   tipouts: at dancers' discretion

In a Nutshell

• A fairly large, dark and decidedly sleazy place to play. The Sin City rooms in the back (extra $15) are where the MSC's infamy is reborn daily. Mileage leans high, dancer quality leans low, but if you look carefully there are a few roses among the thorns. Amateur customers beware - competition is fierce, hustle is not soft-sell, and what you're told will happen often won't.

Full Review

• MSC is a big place, announced by a huge marquee, with one large main stage and a small, eye-level runway. Stageside action is close, and often spills off the stage into your lap (have your dollar tip ready), especially during feature performances. Market Street is one of a handful of SF venues with weekly (or at least regular) feature performers. For what it's worth, feature performances in San Francisco seem to run way closer to being on time than in most other cities I've visited. You can actually show up for a 5:30 feature and usually not wait more than 5-15 minutes. On the other hand, many features are SF locals, and no-shows seem to be more common than in other cities.

• At the rear of the main theatre, there is a fairly large, wide open wall-dancing room. The lure of this room is a mystery to me, especially considering the privacy afforded elsewhere, but if you absolutely have to have wall dances, there's a place for it.

• The "Sin City" rooms are behind the main stage, and there is an additional $15 admission. These include:

• • Bangkok Room - Another stage and private booths for lap dancing
  • Playland Stage - A large room behind the Bangkok room a stage and private booths all the way around.
  • Cinema Cinema - X-rated movies and lap dancing
  • Wet & Wild - A shower show that doesn't actually exist. The shower was taken out and just replaced with more private booths. There is no shower show at MSC.
  • Unnamed room at the end of the hall, with fairly large private booths.

• You have to explore these rooms with a dancer. Or two. 'Nuff said.

• Several times per day, all of the girls are called to the stage for an introduction and lineup. This usually happens around noon, 5:15, and 8:15. If you don't have a favorite regular, it's a good idea not to get too attached to a playmate until you've seen this "menu".

• And if you ever lose your mind and decide to go on a DJ-killing rampage, start at Market Street Cinema. It'll be no real loss, since the DJ is virtually unintelligible anyway.

Updates

• 2/8/99 (contributed) - I went to MSC today, and it was very depressing. All the girls could talk about was the deja vu takeover, and all were unhappy, unsure about it. Nobody likes changes, but in this case, I think the worries are justified. There were 33 dancers for the 5:15 lineup, maybe 20 guys in the whole joint. Girls were complaining about making quota. Leilani, a tall black woman, who had sweetly asked me to dance three times, cussed me out the fourth time as I walked past her trying to get the attention of Bailey. She cussed me out, and then threatened me, offering to "knock off my glasses, asshole". And I thought she was so sweet!!!!

• Even long time steady Champagne was in a foul mood. At least she just ignored me and did not vent on me. Finally I asked her why she did not solicit me, she said it looked like I was Mimi Lee's regular. Then walked away decisively. Man, if she is in a bad mood, I'm leaving, and I did.

• 1/15/99 (contributed) - Add Swan to the list of girls you want to take you to a private room. She might be older than some like but she enjoys what she does. Have her invite Rebecca to join you and they will have to help you out of the booth.

• 1/15/99 (contributed) - Another positive recommendation for the other Mimi ("Mimi Lee", no accent); quote: "Mimi Lee is a sweetheart." I second this recommendation.

• 1/99 (Laar) - There were 40-50 customers and 20-25 dancers for day shift. Very vew of the girls were eye-catching, at least in a positive way. At first glance, one looked like a man in a bikini. (This is a rough job, but someone has to do it.) One really sorry event was a dancer with a tiny body and a huge mouth loudly asking a quiet Asian man, "What are you looking at, Mr. Chong Fong Dong?" Damn, baby, that's low even by MSC standards.

• Kia was displayed as the feature, but as it turned out she wasn't. I'm told that MSC has a habit of advertising features that aren't actually scheduled, or scheduling two at a time in case one is a no-show or gets pissed and leaves. I hear Kia was not happy about this, as she's very good about showing up as scheduled.

• China Flower appeared as the feature. China's performance was energetic to the point of being frantic, definitely more randomly improvized than rehearsed, but she's reasonably attractive, with a nice natural bod, and a good attitude. She vanished after the stage show, which was unfortunate, because she was much more interesting than any of the house girls.

• I've received good recommendations for Rebecca, Missy, Ryan and Crystal. Angel Love (Angeli from Crazy Horse) and Maya also are great company. Baby and one of the Mimi's ("Crazy Mimi", strong accent) can be a lot of fun, but tread carefuly. Avoid Lisa, aka Amber.

If I Could Change One Thing...

• Make it two things: First, lose the bait-and-switch scam with the features. Second, I'd love to see the quality of dancers raised a notch or three, but I'm not holding my breath.

The Bottom Line

Club Quality   No award-winning ambiance here; purely functional.

Dancer Quality   2-7 Some shouldn't be dancing; a few are quite nice; see the on-stage lineup before getting too committed.

Dancer Attitudes   / Come to play, not to socialize.

Heat   Maybe I need a bigger Heat-O-Meter.

Go?   I guess you should see it at least once. Mileage has to be really important to make this a regular hangout.