The Lamplighter Lounge is located at 160 W. Larpenteur Ave. at Rice Street in St. Paul.  It is located in a small strip mall.

Its original owner was Gary Landreville, and I’m told that it was a neighborhood, middle-class bar, with a sign above the door that said “Pink Champagne on Ice.”  Guys stopped there after work, and sat around a 15-ft., oval bar.  There was a small dance floor and a juke box.  My correspondent, who lived in the neighborhood, says it was well kept, clean, and there were no problems or fights.

In 1980, a folk-rock singer named J.D. Elias performed

Courtesy Mark Youngblood

Then Gary sold it, and it became a topless place.  A space that had been a barber shop and then a pizza place became a glassed-in space where the girls do their show.  They are totally nude, but the reviews say the glass gets kind of smeared…

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