Playboy bunnies in cotton-tail costumes will dip their last bunny dips Saturday night when the last Playboy Club in America closes.
The Hilton Inn dropped its Playboy Club franchise to "create a new image" for the lounge connected to its hotel. "It sometimes discourages group meeting planners from selecting the Lansing hotel," sales director Shelly Ahlers said.The club, which opened in 1982, was the last holdout in a 28-year tradition. Playboy Enterprises Inc. shut down all the clubs it owned in 1986.
Nearly 30 Playboy Clubs sprang up around the United States after Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner opened the first in Chicago in 1960.
Every club followed the Hefner formula: Waitresses served drinks while perched on spike heels and squeezed into low-cut satin costumes. Bunnies were trained to serve drinks by "dipping" demurely rather than bending over.