Minnie's Lounge

Minnie’s Lounge was originally a liquor store. It had a brief run as a bar in the 1970s and 1980s, as one of the go-go bars that made Admiral Wilson Boulevard one of the more notorious stretches of highway in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

When, in the 1970s the nightclub business all over South Jersey began to suffer, three clubs on the eastbound side of Admiral Wilson Boulevard began featuring scantily clad female dancers, popularly known as “go-go” dancers. The French Quarter, along with the Admiral Tavern and the Oasis Lounge (later known as the Harem Lounge) all became go-go bars. By the mid-1970s Minnie’s Lounge opened up on the westbound side of Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Of the four bars, Minnie’s was probably the most famous, as “Miss Vicki,” the ex-wife of entertainer Tiny Tim, danced there for a few years.

As in New Jersey bar entertainment is strictly regulated, the girls dancing in these bars were usually wearing more than what can be seen on your average beach, the reality of what was going on in the go-go bars was far more tame than what the media generally portrayed. However, around 1979, an x-rated bookstore that featured “live, nude girls” opened up at 3000 Admiral Wilson Boulevard in open in Pennsauken. Consequently, Admiral Wilson Boulevard had a very bad reputation by the early 1980s. There was a limited amount of prostitution in and near the three motels on the westbound side, the Four Winds, the Oasis, and the Wilson Motel, but nothing on the level that existed in New York and other cities at that time.

The “go-go” bar business became less profitable as time went on, and the bar portion of the business was closed. The business returned to its original use, and has been known as Carool’s Liquors since the 1980s.