West Side strip club closes rather than get proper zoning

It’s the Monday before Christmas and the locks are getting changed at the Westside Show Lounge.

In its different incarnations, the club had been serving up lap dances for decades.

Now it’s closed forever thanks to being sold on Monday.

Situated in a unique spot at the intersection of I-10 and Executive — the strip club had a hold on the adult entertainment business on the West side of the city.

Doctor Manuel Hernandez said the club was able to provide a service to the lonely men of El Paso interested in the company of a pretty woman.

A 1995 undercover investigation by T.A.B.C. agents reported the women were giving more than company.

The agency fined the club $75,000 and suspended its liquor license after an investigation found dancers touched agents’ genitals.

The Prince was renamed the Show Lounge, skirted the T.A.B.C. and became a bring your own booze business.

It was another battle that brought the “Prince” down.

Hernandez and the realtor who sold the club say an ongoing lawsuit with the city over the club’s zoning designation is what’s made them give the business up now.

“We were zoned M-3, and that’s manufacturing, and we knew that we didn’t have the proper zoning, however the city allowed us to exist without the proper zoning,” Hernandez said. “In recent months the city has been very demanding in that we get the proper zoning, but we did not believe that we would be able to get the proper zoning, so we did not apply. So we decided we would sell the club and this is what was done. We sold it today.”