SCOTTSDALE – Babes Cabaret is under nude management.
A partnership that includes Jenna Jameson, a Paradise Valley resident and perhaps the world’s most famous adult actress, has quietly purchased Babes, the strip club confirmed Friday.
The move represents an extension of Jameson’s Club Jenna brand into live entertainment venues. Established in 2000 with her husband, Jay Grdina, the Scottsdale-based company produces adult entertainment for a variety of outlets. In a May posting to her Web diary, Jameson wrote she is “super excited” about purchasing the Scottsdale club. Jameson said she and her partners had tried to buy the venue for more than three years.
The new owners plan to remodel the club and launch a search for new dancers, said a Babes employee, who declined to identify herself. It will relaunch in the fall with a new name, the employee said.
The club also plans to establish a live Web site that fans can visit to watch the dancers perform.
“It will be our first Club Jenna strip club {ellipsis} so watch out!” Jameson said on her Web diary. “Hopefully it will be the first of many to come.”
The planned renovation of the club, 2011 N. Scottsdale Road, wasn’t exactly what Scottsdale had in mind when it launched an effort to revitalize south Scottsdale.
Babes sits less than half a mile away from the planned ASU Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation, the centerpiece of the city’s revitalization efforts.
“Well, we know where the high-tech workers will be spending their lunch hours,” said Lisa Haskell, a neighborhood activist. “Maybe they can work on some high-tech silicone upgrades.”
She laughed.
“Is this what they meant by ‘innovation’?”
