Russian, Ukrainian & FSU Information & Manosphere Discussion Forums
Information & Chat => FSU Culinary, Restaurants & Night Life => Topic started by: shakespear on July 20, 2008, 02:26:27 PM
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I've just been told by my source in Moscow that within the last 60 days the infamous "Hungry Duck" has closed it's doors for good. The Duck, created by Doug Steele in the mid-1990's, was the headquarters of all things decadent and promiscuous in Moscow as Russia bloomed from communism to a free market economy.
The place was (in)famous as the wildest nightclub in the world for a period between 1995-2002. From what I understand, the current leaseholder of the space had a long-term lease that he wasn't willing to sell back to the building owner; who wanted to remodel the place for officespace. The leaseholder was a pretty powerful security man, but the building owner was able to find somebody high enough in the government to suspend his liquor license (that cost a pretty penny I imagine). The frustrated leaseholder tried to operate the place as a beer-only establishment but after a few months, the place went bankrupt. It's now operating as a Russian beer bar named "Kroushka".
Those of you who were lucky enough to have been to The Duck during it's heyday realize that Moscow has lost a landmark in their social transition. It was a place where young curious Russian girls could get their first "hands on" exposure to people and things western. It was a place where conventional mores and standards just didn't apply. Girls would dance topless on the bars. Beefcake male dancers would pick out suitably drunken deyvs from the audience and incorporate them in their "shows". Spontanious oral and vaginal copulation regularly occurred in plain sight in the booths and bathrooms. It was an amazing place!
I remember escorting a group of western men back in 2001; all on their first trip to Russia. Before leaving for Volgograd on Saturday, I was able to arrange for them to be "guest bartenders" during Friday night Ladies Night at The Duck. The guys still talk about this as one of the top highlights of their Russian experience today.
I met some famous people there. When he was regularly dancing in the beefcake show at the club, I was on a first name basis with Sergey Glushko, better known by his stage-name as "Tarzan". I understand that he married the famous Russian singer Natasha Korolyova and is now a national celebrity. One night I was in my usual spot "behind the bar" with the other regulars and in walked Harrison Ford. He was in Moscow working on the film, "K-19: The Widowmaker". He heard about the place and wanted to see it for himself. He bought me a drink and we talked for about 30 minutes.
I hadn't been to the Duck since Summer of 2005. I wanted to remember it for what it was, not what it had become. With increased prosperity trickling down to the masses, especially in Moscow, the need for mindless wild free expression and drunkenness as an escape from their financial misery was replaced by deyvs with jobs, responsibilities and a timeclock to punch. With increased personal prosperity came the ability to actually own those western things they could once only dream about. That's when the wildness that made the Duck a special place seemed to disappear. In my last visit, there was no topless dancing on the bars, no audience participation in the beefcake shows and MUCH calmer feel to the place. The place had lost it's "edge". When I walked out the door that night I knew I'd never be back.
Time brings change. Prosperity brings change. If Moscow is anything, it is changing. RIP Hungry Duck. I'll always have fond memories of you and absolutely no regrets. :P
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Found a couple of old pictures from The Duck I'd like to archive. I really have to laugh at the one of me caught in the middle of one of the (in)famous "Dylan" shows (these shows were chastized on the floor of the Duma). You just had to have been there to understand:
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You just had to have been there to understand:
I kind of think you don’t give enough credit at times Shakey. Despite not being there, we understand everything. :-X
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I kind of think you don't give enough credit at times Shakey. Despite not being there, we understand everything. :-X
I really don't think you do or can.
While there are quite a few economic similarities between Moscow 1995-2002 and Kiev today there are a few political and social factors that make the situations completely different.
You just can't describe the feeling of being in The Duck during the "Fat Girls Show" and watching hundreds of young Russian publicly degrade all the symbols of communism that only a few years earlier were the sanctum of their culture. Things were changing. Attitudes were changing. Russia was in the infant stages of becoming what it is today. The people that were there in the Hungry Duck 15 years ago are now running the country.
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The people that were there in the Hungry Duck 15 years ago are now running the country.
Really? What's the guy above your head doing now, head of Rosaviakosmos?
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Really? What's the guy above your head doing now, head of Rosaviakosmos?
Couldn't say for sure. My guess is that he's lying on a tropical beach somewhere, sitting on a pile of tax free money bigger than either one of us will see in our lifetime. I can assure you in his lifetime he's banged more Russian girls than the combined total of this forum. ;D
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Ha-Ha-Ha
A few more old photos I recently discovered that depict party life at The old Hungry Duck.
Please understand that all these pictures are over 10 years old and have no relation to my current life as a happily married man :innocent:
1) Brad At The Duck: this series of pictures was taken during a visit to The Duck in October 2000. Shows me and a row of pretty young deyvs dancing on the bar, me dancing on the bar and me enjoying a drink with one of the Duck's female party guests :evilgrin0002:
2) HD#3: taken during the same trip, shows me and Johnny, the manager of The Duck during the late 1990's and early 2000's
3) HD#5: different night in the spring of 2001 I think - shows some deyvs dancing on the bar
4) HD#14: Obviously being black didn't deter my friend Johnny from dating pretty white chicks in Moscow
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4) HD#14: Obviously being black didn't deter my friend Johnny from dating pretty white chicks in Moscow
To bad they werent goodlooking!!
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I'm sure they'll be some folks who will miss the restaurant as well. It was suppossed to be top notch.
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From the New York Daily News:
US Secret Service Agents Visited Moscow Strip Club
Saturday, April 28th 2012, 08:25 AM
Moscow, April 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Ahead of a state visit to Russia by then president Bill Clinton, US Secret Service agents had visited a downtown Moscow nightclub known for raucous parties in 2000, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The latest revelation follows recent reports of Secret Service members visiting prostitutes in Colombia in April during current President Barack Obama's visit.
Secret Service staff and White House advance staff preparing for Clinton's state visit to Russia attended events at the Hungry Duck nightclub, the daily said citing informed source. A Clinton spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
The Hungry Duck, which opened in the mid-1990s in Moscow, featured performances by strippers and patrons, it reported.
It was set up by a Canadian, Doug Steele, together with several partners from Georgia. They sold their interest in 1998 following a dispute with a number of influential Russian officials. The nightclub closed down for good in 2009.
As many as 920 women supposedly once took part in a mass striptease at the Hungry Duck.
In the latest case related to President Obama's visit as many as 12 Secret Service agents, supposed to ensure the safety of the American leader during his visit to Colombia for a diplomatic summit, as well as 12 military members of the delegation, were suspended from their duties and sent home for "inappropriate behaviour."
The agents allegedly visited a strip club there and some brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms, the newspaper said.
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4) HD#14: Obviously being black didn't deter my friend Johnny from dating pretty white chicks in Moscow
To bad they werent goodlooking!!
Quite.
Try to think of how they'll look now
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Good times huh Shakespear!!! :laugh:
You only live once. Will you be going back to search for similar clubs? :whistle:
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Good times huh Shakespear!!! :laugh:
You only live once. Will you be going back to search for similar clubs? :whistle:
There are no similar clubs now in Moscow.
The whole attitude of the culture has changed completely.
It was a once in a lifetime "Venn Diagram" where exploitation, opportunity and
money intersected in the perfect way to make it happen. Such an opportunity
probably won't happen again in my lifetime.
Plus, I'm 20 years older now.
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I knew about this but never was there. They did try to re-open the Hungry Duck in 2012.
Here is the news story.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/world/europe/moscows-hungry-duck-recalls-decadent-heyday.html
It closed within 4 months of opening and is now a strip club.
And Johnny the former manager (pictured above) died of AIDS in 2013.
Like I said, only once in a lifetime . . . . . . . . . .
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I knew about this but never was there. They did try to re-open the Hungry Duck in 2012.
Here is the news story.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/world/europe/moscows-hungry-duck-recalls-decadent-heyday.html
It closed within 4 months of opening and is now a strip club.
And Johnny the former manager (pictured above) died of AIDS in 2013.
Like I said, only once in a lifetime . . . . . . . . . .
:popcorn:
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They certainly were wild old times that I also remember as a much younger version of myself. I am sure I remember the place being open in after 1999, maybe 2000-2002, perhaps different owners. There are videos taken in the place available on the web that give a somewhat censored idea of what "Ladies Nights" were like.
I also recall a place called Green Cactus, which was much smaller, but a similar vibe. Between those places and "Propaganda" a western man living in Moscow was never short a girlfriend.
Similar places existed in Arkadia, Odessa at the same time. I guess we could include the Kiev riverboat in the infamous list. The "party games" got pretty wild after midnight with club goers being invited from the crowd to get on stage, usually out doing the professionals.
It all seemed to finish just as quickly as it started and behaviour reigned in collectively
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They certainly were wild old times that I also remember as a much younger version of myself. I am sure I remember the place being open in after 1999, maybe 2000-2002, perhaps different owners. There are videos taken in the place available on the web that give a somewhat censored idea of what "Ladies Nights" were like.
I also recall a place called Green Cactus, which was much smaller, but a similar vibe. Between those places and "Propaganda" a western man living in Moscow was never short a girlfriend.
Ah yes - spent many an evening "fishing" on Thursday night at Propaganda on Bolshoi
Zlatoustinsky. Other great memories from Phlegmatic Dog, The Real McCoy on Tuesday
nights, Voodoo Lounge, Fabrique and Imperia Lounge.
Face control was non existent if you showed an American passport.
It was a great time to be a foreign man in Moscow with lots of money, who spoke a little
Russian and possessed just a little bit of "game". :evilgrin0002:
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:thumbsup: tiphat
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They didn't allow cameras at the Imperia Lounge but I found some pictures
on the internet that will give you an idea what it was like back in its heyday
https://www.google.com/search?q=imperia+lounge+moscow&rlz=1C1VFKB_enUS617US619&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=yDDfQ4ZyMcihyM%253A%252CCO-lMVOuMrvNyM%252C_&usg=AFrqEzf_GYU-etAl3kuK6I8OVUkQQIrITA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH1Iq9nbjdAhVLzVMKHc9EBt4Q9QEwA3oECAQQCg#imgrc=yDDfQ4ZyMcihyM:
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Here are some from Propaganda:
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1VFKB_enUS617US619&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=OnqaW7Yzx8LOAsK2ipgN&q=propaganda+bar+moscow&oq=propaganda+bar+moscow&gs_l=img.3..0.58844.73090..73794...7.0..1.155.4734.0j35......2....1..gws-wiz-img.....0..0i30j0i67j0i5i30j0i8i30.YxYOTp7e_JU
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Some more from the Vodoo Lounge:
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1VFKB_enUS617US619&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=EHuaW6uQM4WczwLpjarYAw&q=Vodoo+Lounge+Moscow&oq=Vodoo+Lounge+Moscow&gs_l=img.3...15915.16305..18729...0.0..0.142.275.0j2......1....1..gws-wiz-img.Xct8xlwsmxw
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And not to be forgotten: Fabrique
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Nothing really has changed!! Its just an end of an era for foreigners flashing their passports about in Moscow..Thats all..
Every thing else is the same!! Even some of those cubs are still going its still a big party in you want it..
You just got older thats all that changed.. ;D
But you can still go partying and clubbing if you want and continue those time kind off.. as Nike say "Just do it"
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You just got older thats all that changed.. ;D
But you can still go partying and clubbing if you want and continue those time kind off.. as Nike say "Just do it"
My energy level has dropped in the last 20 years.
64 year old men don't pass face control in Moscow very easily >:(
Still visit Papa's Place and visit with Doug Steele when I'm back in Moscow.
We tell old stories and remember good times gone by . . . . . . .
I'm saving all my energy for one last blowout with B.B. in the Ukraine :evilgrin0002:
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You just got older thats all that changed.. ;D
But you can still go partying and clubbing if you want and continue those time kind off.. as Nike say "Just do it"
My energy level has dropped in the last 20 years.
64 year old men don't pass face control in Moscow very easily >:(
Still visit Papa's Place and visit with Doug Steele when I'm back in Moscow.
We tell old stories and remember good times gone by . . . . . . .
I'm saving all my energy for one last blowout with B.B. in the Ukraine :evilgrin0002:
I'm saving all my energy for one last blowout with B.B. in the Ukraine
Dirty bugger... :)
Your as old as you feel!! A little botox and a few other things , before you know it your just 39!! .. If I go out to a club with the wife Im 35.. If we go to dinner I'm 45.. :laugh:
I never understand people who think there is a certain time/age you MUST be settled down or MUST not be doing this or that.. you live once after that its 4 billion years 6 foot under.. So enjoy yourself..
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Found this link yesterday. Some might find it of interest. Fewer actually have experienced it.
Enjoy:
Video Link Here (https://vimeo.com/33754210)
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4 owners died, of AIDS?
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4 owners died, of AIDS?
That was back when the Chechnyan maria owned the place. Their demise was under much more dubious circumstances. However one of the long term managers (Johnny) died of aids(4:10 on the tape helping the girl on stage). The first dancer stage name "Tarzan" real name Sergei Vitalievich Glushko married to famous Russian singer Natasha Korolyova.
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Oh Shakes, you are so right.
It was a short period of time that will never be repeated.
I also was able to visit on Ladies Night at the "Duck" many times between 1999 and 2002. As you remember in those days a foreign accent, lots of dollars to spend, and an acquaintance on the inside, was enough to get you access while the Male strippers and free booze was on. The audience participation was real, and at 10 when the local lads were let in it was often a free for all in my memory as well. I at times gave condoms from my wallet to the bar tenders so they could sneak off to the toilets, or booths, for a quickie.
I remember the girls dancing on the bar top topless as it got hotter and hotter inside. I once saw one of the girls on the bar top dancing with no panties on, letting guys feel her up as she danced on the pole, and eventually she sat down and let random guys lick her on that bar top.. I was gobsmacked.
I'm sure you remember that there were some small steps up to opening windows that let you out onto the terrace top for some fresh air. I remember once rescuing a severely drunk girl who was being dragged along the floor by a bouncer (with the intention to kick her down the stairs), and carrying her out to the terrace to sober up without getting raped. While I had her on her side to keep her airway open, I was being mocked by a group of girls about my paralytic girlfriend. When I replied in my broken Russian that I was just helping out, they became a lot more friendly.....and long story short, I went home with one of them much later in the morning..........and not before my "patient" very ungratefully staggered off an hour or two later, with mouthfuls of abuse, LOL.
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Found this link yesterday. Some might find it of interest. Fewer actually have experienced it.
Enjoy:
Video Link Here (https://vimeo.com/33754210)
When this thread was revived in '18 I read through it and tried to picture what this 'Hungry Duck' must've been like... didn't realize it was quite so disreputable. Had I been the owner there certainly wouldn't have been any guys up on stage. And what, the good lookin' gals only came out on special occasions?
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LOTD, you missed the point.
The owners had male strippers to get the girls in, free/or super cheap booze kept them there.....and drunk.
which meant (paying) men were lined up to throw their dollars at the club to get in.
Don't worry the owners made money during the time it was in it's hay day....not withstanding the many payoffs to stay open. I believe Doug had one too many offers he could not refuse, and the crims then ran it into the ground. I'm sure Shakespear knows far more than me about the era, and I thought he laid it out well.
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Oh Shakes, you are so right.
It was a short period of time that will never be repeated.
I also was able to visit on Ladies Night at the "Duck" many times between 1999 and 2002. As you remember in those days a foreign accent, lots of dollars to spend, and an acquaintance on the inside, was enough to get you access while the Male strippers and free booze was on. The audience participation was real, and at 10 when the local lads were let in it was often a free for all in my memory as well. I at times gave condoms from my wallet to the bar tenders so they could sneak off to the toilets, or booths, for a quickie.
I remember the girls dancing on the bar top topless as it got hotter and hotter inside. I once saw one of the girls on the bar top dancing with no panties on, letting guys feel her up as she danced on the pole, and eventually she sat down and let random guys lick her on that bar top.. I was gobsmacked.
I'm sure you remember that there were some small steps up to opening windows that let you out onto the terrace top for some fresh air. I remember once rescuing a severely drunk girl who was being dragged along the floor by a bouncer (with the intention to kick her down the stairs), and carrying her out to the terrace to sober up without getting raped. While I had her on her side to keep her airway open, I was being mocked by a group of girls about my paralytic girlfriend. When I replied in my broken Russian that I was just helping out, they became a lot more friendly.....and long story short, I went home with one of them much later in the morning..........and not before my "patient" very ungratefully staggered off an hour or two later, with mouthfuls of abuse, LOL.
Whenever I was in Moscow on Friday night I was made "guest bartender" from 7:30 to 10 when they started letting the guys in the place. Worked up a sweat pouring out all those free beers, vodka and juice and martini and juice. It gave you the inside track on who and where the available talent was in the bar. Been on that patio many times.
Ten minutes until 1 was the critical time. The Metro stopped running at 1 and the girls that had to work the next day had to get home. Any girl in the place at 1:01am was staying for the night.
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LOTD, you missed the point.
The owners had male strippers to get the girls in, free/or super cheap booze kept them there.....and drunk.
which meant (paying) men were lined up to throw their dollars at the club to get in.
Don't worry the owners made money during the time it was in it's hay day....not withstanding the many payoffs to stay open. I believe Doug had one too many offers he could not refuse, and the crims then ran it into the ground. I'm sure Shakespear knows far more than me about the era, and I thought he laid it out well.
Doug walked away from The Duck being owed close to a million dollars from his "Chechnyan bosses". Over the remaining years they ran the place into the ground stripping out all the cash in the process. Doug went on to start another iconic and successful bar called Chesterfields and later known as The Boar House across from the Kursky Station.