The Lusty Lady in San Francisco closes: End of the road for America's only unionized and worker-run strip club The Lusty Lady in San Francisco was the country's only unionized and worker-owned strip club It closed for business in the early hours of Tuesday morning after it's landlord refused to re-sign the club's lease Landlord Roger Forbes owns almost all the clubs in the city - including the one next door He denies evicting the club to poach its business, while the club's workers claim that he refused to negotiate The club was known for hiring interesting, edgy dancers who don't fit into the usual generic pneumatic blond mold By Alex Greig and Daily Mail Reporter A San Francisco strip club that billed itself as the world's only worker-owned, co-op peep show closed its doors for good in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The venerable Lusty Lady first opened on Kearny Street in the Broadway strip club district of North Beach in the 1970s. It went on to become the only strip club to successfully become unionized and the first to function as a stripper-run co-operative before announcing two weeks ago that it was being forced to close its doors after its landlord refused to re-sign the lease. Last dance: An exotic dancer performs outside a bar window on Columbus Avenue during a funeral procession to symbolize the closure of Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco on Monday evening Employees carried a coffin-shaped box during a funeral procession to symbolize the closure of the strip club earlier this week Two exotic dancer embrace as the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco closes after its landlord refused to negotiate on a lower rent In 1996 the Lusty Lady became the first - and only - strip club to successfully become unionized. It also became the first to function as a stripper-run co-operative after the dancers bought the club in 2003. The club was the second opened by two business associates, the first being Lusty Lady in Seattle, which closed in 2010 citing the financial climate and the online pornography industry for its closure. Originally, the clubs showed 16mm peep show films, but in 1983 live nude dancers were introduced. In 1997, following several grievances, the Lusty Lady became the only successfully unionized sex business in America. A group of exotic dancers perform on the street during a funeral procession to symbolize the closure of the U.S.'s first and only unionized, employee-owned strip club Exotic dancers hug after participating on the final night of the legendary club which became the only successfully unionized sex business in America Its dancers, nicknamed Lusties, differ from the usual blonde, pneumatic and tanned women in mainstream strip-joints and are known for their unusual monikers such as Fortune Cookie and Kitty McMuffin. After its owners decided to close the business, the club's workers bought the club for $400,000 in 2003. The club's landlord was Roger Forbes, a strip-joint magnate who was also a partner in Déjà Vu, a company that owns most of the adult theaters and clubs in San Francisco. He acquired the building housing the Lusty Lady in 2001 and more than doubled its rent. Forbes, 71, had denied that he was evicting the Lusty Lady because it was a competitor to his other businesses, which number eight strip clubs just in the Lusty Lady's North Beach neighborhood, and instead claimed it was because of a default on rent. 'If I was concerned about [the competition], I've had that building fifteen years now, I could have found a way not to extend their lease for the last ten,' he told The New York Times. The venerable Lusty Lady first opened on Kearny Street in the Broadway strip club district of North Beach in the 1970s Employee shake hands as the Lusty Lady strip club prepares for closure in the early hours of Tuesday morning The Lusties disagreed, saying, 'You can say it was because you're delinquent on rent... but the truth is that there's $80,000 that walks through this door every month that, once you close, is likely going to go to one of [Forbes's] other establishments in the neighborhood,' said Scott 'Big Red' Farrell, the Lusty Lady's general manager. One Lusty Lady worker, identified only as Tora, was more direct: 'Our landlord is a dildo and didn't want to negotiate,' she told The New York Times. Unlike the dancers at Forbes' clubs who actually pay the club for their stage time and work as independent contractors, the Lusties belong to the Service Employees International Union and earn hourly wages and overtime. Forbes business partner is Harry Mohney, known as the 'Howard Hughes of Porn'. According to SFGate, Mohney, Forbes and their companies have recently been named in a federal lawsuit that alleges the 'leases' they force their lap dancers to sign for their stage time are a scam designed to avoid their legal responsibility to pay minimum wage and employment taxes. People congregate outside the Lusty Lady strip club on Monday - the last ever evening for the local institution forced to close Michael Jackson impersonators dance in the entrance lobby of the Lusty Lady strip club on its final night 'Mohney and Forbes have created an elaborate scheme of corporations, business entities, trusts, straw men, consulting agreements and licensing agreements, all for the specific purpose of concealing their ownership, operation or control of these clubs, and avoid compliance with various federal and state labor laws,' said the suit, filed in April on behalf of five Déjà Vu dancers. Many see this latest closure of a San Francisco institution as a sign the city is losing the eclectic small businesses and liberal attitude that has made it so culturally rich. A message on the Lusty Lady Facebook page reads: Dear Ladies and Friends in the Community, It is with shaking hands & tear stained cheeks that I write to say, we just heard from our land lord, they will NOT agree to a new lease, they are closing our doors. They have given us just TWO WEEKS. Please help us spread the word, and make it a glorious & glamorous two weeks! Thank you so much for all the love and support over the years! The Lusties Participants hold up umbrellas during a funeral procession to symbolize the closure of Lusty Lady strip club Originally, the clubs showed 16mm peep show films, but in 1983 live nude dancers were introduced The two Lusty Lady strip clubs spawned numerous books, articles and film references. Lily Burana, who worked in the San Francisco Lusty Lady documented her experiences there in the 2001 book Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America. Another Lusty Lady alumnus Carol Queen, pHD, also wrote about the club in Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of a Sex-Positive Culture. She told blogger Vanessa L. Pinto: 'When I began there in 1990, it already had a reputation of hiring interesting, edgy women who would not necessarily have fit at other clubs. We had punks, dykes, women's studies majors plus one sexology grad student, me.' A worker at the club, named Prince$$ told The New York Times that if people want to keep their small local strip clubs, they should support them financially. 'I tell people, if there's a local place they love, hollah with a dollah. You can't pay the rent with Facebook likes,' she said. An employee holds a coffin-shaped box during a funeral procession to symbolize the closure of Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco Lusty Lady workers once described the worker-owned strip club business model as 'a rare and ideal situation' but 'not without its challenges,' but it seems the club couldn't overcome its biggest challenge, rising rents and increasing homogenization that has touched even the stripping industry. Dancer Courtney Crimson told Vanessa L. Pinto that even though the club is closing, the ideals it embraced will live on. Despite this pitfall I feel that the Lusty Lady has started a revolution for the rights of sex workers everywhere. And I feel that this revolution will continue long after we're gone.' Employees wave as they prepare to close the door of the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco, California on Monday night for the last time