On the evening of August 19th, the atmosphere at Actors’ Equity headquarters in North Hollywood was electric. The setting sun cast a warm glow on a diverse gathering of workers, union members, and eager press teams equipped with imposing black video cameras. Anticipation and curiosity hung in the air as the crowd awaited the commencement of speeches. Just two days prior, on August 17th, Actors’ Equity, the national labor union associated with AFL-CIO representing over 51,000 professional actors and stage actors, had taken a significant step by filing a petition for a union recognition election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of workers at a topless dive bar situated off Lankershim Boulevard in NoHo.
The Star Garden Topless Dive Bar may resemble other establishments where patrons pay to witness nudity, engage in various forms of intimacy, and briefly escape into fantasies beyond their reach. Yet, it is a workplace filled with as many reasons to depart as to stay. Charlie, one of the Star Garden dancers, eloquently conveyed why this fight was so vital, “The reason why all of us are fighting so hard for it: The girls, every single person we worked with, created this community that it felt like a co-op already.” Charlie’s description of this community mirrors experiences in many managed spaces within the sex trade, cultivating an environment of vulnerability, camaraderie rooted in survival, and fostering deep bonds of friendship. All the Star Garden dancers who spoke with the Observer chose to be identified by their stage names, a common practice at their workplace.
If the Star Garden workers are recognized as employees, as indicated by the union’s filing with the NLRB, they will be granted the opportunity to participate in a union election. They have been picketing outside the club since March, having been denied access to work after raising concerns. Consequently, they haven’t technically been Star Garden employees since then. However, if they are deemed to have been wrongfully terminated, they will become eligible to partake in a vote to certify the union. As reported by the LA Times, “Most of the dancers involved in the petition said they were barred from entering the club when they showed up for work the next day.”
Although the 2019 California law regarding labor classification, AB 5, seems pertinent, it is unrelated to the Star Garden workers’ ability to unionize. An earlier law, AB 2509, explicitly designates dancers (or workers generally in “public housekeeping establishments” and the “amusement or recreation industry”) as full-time employees, not independent contractors. A 2000 analysis by the California government regarding the law’s impact clarifies, “This clarifies situations where dancers may be incorrectly identified as independent contractors and not employees entitled to keep gratuities.”
The Star Garden workers’ struggle has been woefully underreported or misreported, but it shares a common thread with the broader labor movement in the United States, which often targets Amazon and Starbucks. However, equating these situations without considering the nuances overlooks a labor movement specific to sex workers, including erotic dancers, that has been ongoing for nearly fifty years or more.
“When we were listening to the Starbucks and the Amazon union talk, they were like, they’ll take away your benefits. They’ll take away all of this and then like eventually get to your job. I’m like, they didn’t give us that; it just goes straight to being fired,” explained Charlie.
The circumstances leading to the unionization effort at Star Garden have been largely underreported, but the results are undeniable. Reports have highlighted troubling incidents, including customers engaging in inappropriate behavior such as hugging workers without consent, non-consensual video recordings by regular customers, OSHA violations, and favoritism shown to individuals allowed to stay past the 2 A.M. closing time. Dancers allege that these events occurred in the lead-up to March 18th when the strike commenced.
One noteworthy exception is Suhauna Hussain’s reporting in the LA Times: “Left to deal with inappropriate behavior from customers on their own, every dancer who spoke with The Times described feeling vulnerable to abuse. All said they had been groped, picked up, smacked, restrained, or grabbed by customers without their consent.” This corroborates what sources have shared about their experiences at Star Garden.
Every worker interviewed at Star Garden described a hostile work environment where their jobs were continually under threat. Charlie emphasized the use of an arbitrarily applied $200 lap dance quota, unusually high for a dive bar, which was weaponized whenever management wished to remove a worker. Workers reported outright hostility from management, including abuse related to quotas, surveillance, and working hours.
Star Garden’s owners have not responded to multiple interview requests from various news outlets, including inquiries from the Observer for this piece. The sole statement from a Star Garden representative came in July when the bar’s lawyer spoke to BuzzFeed. Joshua Kaplan denied all misconduct, characterizing the dancers’ claims as “maliciously false.” Kaplan did not respond to questions from the Observer.
I attended the rally on August 19th at Actor’s Equity and the picket line at Star Garden. I spoke with around ten workers and organizers, as well as attendees of the event. They described a pattern of workplace abuse leading to the strike. While walking alongside two workers near the picket line, I witnessed Star Garden’s security guard sitting unhappily behind joyous protesters who cheered each time a supporter honked while driving down the boulevard. We moved to a location where we could speak freely without surveillance. Both workers noted that it was not unusual for Star Garden’s management to repeat workers’ private conversations back to them as a not-so-subtle reminder that they were constantly being monitored.
The first “strike” was sparked by an incident referenced in several news reports, albeit not fully described. Four different Star Garden workers confirmed that a worker had approached the acting manager on duty to request that a regular client (a term referring to patrons who visit regularly and often receive special privileges to encourage repeat visits) no longer be allowed to stay past closing time. The manager on duty responded by discrediting her concerns, making a “joke” that the regular would harm her if she
