1979_12 The Daily Collegian December 1979

              December 10,1979
Topless dancers enhabit the frontier of Alaska
Alaska - the last frontier where the
caribous cruise and the men still sweat
for their pay. They log and fish in the
snowy, sleepy wilderness towns like
Ketchikan on the Gulf coast, and work on
oil production maintenance crews on the
North Slope near Anchorage, where the
pipeline has changed the frontier life¬
style
But, like the early frontier of the
"lower 48" states, women are scarce
"Three men to every woman," Hass
Amann estimates, it's his business to
know He recruits women to "work hard
for terrific pay" as topless dancer-
waitresses in two old Alaska nightclubs
He works from his home in Porterville
and advertised in Fresno last month for
"nightclub workers 19 or over "The laws
and valley standards would not allow
him to specify - "female and topless *
But as soon as Amann picked up the
ohone to answer questions about the
ids, he laid it on the line Topless, fe-
•nale dancers - no shame involved Pros¬
titution? Nope - it's barred in theircon-
-act If a dancer gets in trouble for pros¬
titution, her 12-week contract is null and
His candid approach to the facts
might convince a woman caller that he is
on the level And she would listen closely
as he described the natural beauty of the
state and the beauty of making over S800
i week or more, plus free housing and
transportation to and from Alaska No
matter how tempting, though, she must
dance nude from the waist up, and that,
to a great extent is the crux of her de-
Fresno's Robin Rachal was convinced.
She had been working as a bookkeeper in
Calwa, supporting her three-year-old
son and, at 23, was finding times hard.
She called Amann, (lacked her bags and
headed on an all-expense paid adventure
to Alaska, or as Amann described it, a
place where "there's real men and real
women and no patent leather shoes."
It was to be a place where she could
earn money faster than being a book¬
keeper. But could she get up the guts to
Uke her top off? "I was scared in the be¬
ginning, but I finally did it, and now it's
great," she said. <
In her first three weeks, originally at
the Shamrock in Ketchikan and now _t
the Embers in Anchorage, she has sa.ed
a bank roll of $1,300. She thinks that
when her 12-week contract expires,
she'll stay on. "I love the money and the
people I'm working with -- and our lov¬
able boss," she said convincingly.
Enter John Conway, the boss, who
promised that he was not holding a gun
to Robin' s head. Conway came to Alaska
in the late 60's and hasn't left since.
The financial opportunities were ripe for
.im to buy the two clubs. He described
Ketchikan as a sleepy little logging town
ot 9,000 near the Canadian Alaska bor-
-ier. Anchorage, a similarly rural city be¬
fore the pipeline production, has
changed a lot, he said. There are now se¬
ven night clubs and a high demand for
topless dancers. The competition has
gotten stiff, and "You've got to be on
your game," Conway said
So Amann went to work for him in
October and ran the ads which got the
girls who are now making the bucks.
"There was a high demand for dancers
so we decided to make an effort to find
quite a few." The effort was extended
from Seattle, Wash, to San Diego, find¬
ing 11 girls from the San Joaquin Valley
in the process.
But why look for topless dancers in
Fresno where the major newspaper
won't let you use the word topless in
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"We feel that these girls can commu¬
nicate with the guys because a lot of
them come from rural areas them¬
selves." They're not quite the plastic
people you might find in the big cities."
He said that the men on the slope work
hard for three weeks straight, and then
get seven days off. They go to Anchor¬
age to party and, "after being away from
women for so long, you want companion¬
ship -- to sit down and have a conversa¬
tion and a drink," Amann said. An out¬
going personality is more important than
the looks, he said.
The personalities of the women from
rural valley towns he classifies as the
'girl back home" type. Also, a lot of wo¬
men who do not have more than a high
school diploma, work in fruit packing
houses in the warmer season, and are
now looking for supplementary work, he
said, pointing out the recruiting advan¬
tages of the valley. "Why should she be
packing potatoes for a couple of dollars
when she could be dancing and waiting
on tables and having a good time?
Robin, who has lived in Fresno for
seven years says that the guys are pro¬
bably like Fresno guys, "they are more
or less the same   - because men are
Except that these men come down
from the slope with close to $5,000 in
their pockets that they're itching to
spend on a good time. Robin helps them
reduce their cash flow quickly. She en¬
tices them into buying her a drink from a
$40 bottle of champagne, and gets a 30
per cent commission on each one she
sells. Selling 9 bottles a night "easy,"
making $75 a night in tips and getting a
flat salary of $175 a week, has her sitting
pretty, with close to $1,000 a week.
So far, Robin hasn 't had any problems
with the guys. "They treat you with re¬
spect -- it's really nice and if you don't
want them to touch you, they won't,"
she said. She hasn't bedded down with
any customers and neither have any of
the girls she shares a rent free house
with, as far as she knows. If a guy does
hint, or ask outright to go to bed with
him, 'You don't say yes and you don't
say no, you say maybe, and then don' t."
As Amann said, prostitution is not in
the contract and besides, he said, they
probably couldn't compete with the ex¬
perienced prostitutes that have made a
killing during the pipeline construction.
"They'reestablished in their business..!
they're a lot more aggressive, too. We
don't want to deal in that,' he said.
And they don't, according to the Alco¬
holic Beverage Control Board, which has
no prostitution busts on file since Con¬
way took over the operation.
Topless dancing is legal and accepted
in Alaska and so is carrying an ounce of
marijuana. "It's a liberal state,' Amann
Amann, a 37-year-old Scandinavian
feels there should be no shame in nudity!
In his culture, 'nudity was nothing but
nudity - there's nothing dirty about it,"
he said. "Why shouldn't a girl benefit
from it?"
Robin is one who is benefiting without
shame. But what about the embarrass¬
ment of her three-year-old when he is
able to understand what his mother does
for a living? 'He won't be embar¬
rassed,* she said. "As long as I'm provi¬
ding the things that he needs, it will be
all right. I'm not ashamed of what I'm
doing. Everyone is human and everyone
has a body-it's natural; it's not dirty,"
she said. She would even recommend
the job to her younger sister.
Robin agrees with Amann and Conway
that Alaska is a breath-taking sight. She
loves to travel and saw a 600 mile stretch
of Alaska coastline when she moved
from Ketchikan to Anchorage. The
Shamrock in Ketchikan is a small night¬
club built in the 1890's where Robin said
you have to push a little harder to sell the
champagne. It seems the loggers and
fishermen prefer whiskey and beer. 'It's
not a class operation like the Embers,'
Amann said. 'Ketchikan is like what the
West was before California became the
"in* place. There are more adventurous
types here: people looking to succeed by
working hard," he said.
The Embers, one of the original An¬
chorage nightclubs is a bit more modern
See Page 15
December 10,1979
Swenson's Holiday Special
Eat Hardy and Drink Free
Hot chocolate, soft drink or coffee, free with
any purchase of special sandwich or quiche
with this advertisement
494 L Shaw (across from Fashion Fair)
226-8996
Viewpoint
Simplicity is the
message at Christmas
It's only 15 days to Christmas and you
could care less. Finals are coming up and
you're worried. Rent is due and the
landlord is upset. Shopping for gifts at
Fashion Fair is like going to a mad¬
house. Clerks flash phony smiles and try
to sell you an overpriced microwave for
your mother. Inflation is sapping your
pocketbook and a religious madman half
way across the world is tempting us to
go to war.
Though Christmas is thought ideally
as a time of "giving and sharing," this
holiday season, it's easy to be cynical.
Political and economic problems are
mounting at home and abroad. Christ¬
mas commercialism runs rampant,
centering on the selling of Santa Claus.
Confused by all the rubble of our society
some may ask the age-old question -
what is the meaning of Christmas?
Some slogan-supporting altruistic
selflessness is usually offered as an
age-old answer. But beyond all the holi¬
day cliches of how Christmas is the time
of "cheer and joy," is a simpler message
from where the cliches derived.
That message was outlined in the life
of a humble man named Jesus of Naz-
areth hundreds of years ago and can still
apply today.
Among his teachings, he said man
should love and respect his fellow man.
Life is for the sharing and giving of the
heart.
So, before you fight for a parking
space during the Christmas rush or wait
in line buying material goods for your
loved ones, recall His message and re¬
consider the simplicity that Christmas
should represent.
Christmas jobs still available, but not in stores
Looking for a job for over the vacation
to help pay off those Christmas debts?
The looking might be a little hard if
you're looking a little late, but if you
need the money bad enough, there are
openings.
"Actually, this is the time of  year
where business slows down," said
Audrey Stratford, service representative
for Manpower Temporary Services. She
also added she did have a few part time
jobs for the vacation in warehouses and
behind typewriters.
"We need anyone we can get who type
and file," Stratford said,* the market
gets light right about now with the
IRS taking a big chunk of the file clerks
whom we draw from. *
Raisin holiday gift packs ideal for
gifts, also benefit CSUF students
The Raisin Wives are back again with
their Holiday Gift Pack of California new
crop raisins.
Suggestions for the ideal Christmas
gift for friends, relatives, business asso¬
ciates, ana everyone are tne raisin gift
packs sold by the Raisin Wives of Cali¬
fornia at the CSUF Viticulture Depart¬
ment and the Gift Pack Store at 2448 N.
Weber, Fresno.
Monev made from this project is used
for scholarships for Viticulture stu¬
dents at CSUF and for grants to the Viti-
For that project
you' ve labored over so long.
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Wide selection of cover material.
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Lower Level
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culture Department.
Raisins are sold in a variety pack for
$9.95 at the campus plus are packaged to
mail for an additional shipping and
handling charge of $3.95. The pack con¬
sists of: one 14 oz. pkg.- Chocolate coat¬
ed Raisins; one 15 oz. pkg.- Golden
Bleached Raisins; two 15 oz. pkg.- Natu¬
ral Raisins; 101 oz. pkg.- Chocolate coat¬
ed Snack Packs; 10 1 oz. pkg.- Natural
Snack Packs; and one Booklet of Favorite
Raisin Recipes.
To place a Christmas mail order write
to: Raisin Wives of California, P.O. Box
12853, Fresno, Ca., 93779 or call for
more information at 233-1561.
One occupation which most college
students think of when they think of
Christmas vacation is that of sales
clerk at a large department store. Well,
you're a bit late.
'We look for about 60 to 80 qualified
applicants to help during this time,' said
Bill Darrow, personnel manager of the
Fashion Fair J .C. Penney. 'But we
usually hire during September and
October. However, there is a certain
amount of attrition, and jobs do open
up.'
Darrow added that these jobs are
usually in two main areas, customer
assistants, who ring the registers and
wait on customers, and stock handlers,
who work to replenish merchandise on
the shelves.
You'd think that the post office would
need plenty of help now the holiday
season has rolled around, but unless
you have passed your civil service exami¬
nation in the town you plan to work in,
you' d better forget it.
'We already have all our casual
(part-time) help, and they work inside
the building doing whatever is required
of them,' said Ara Varatzian, examina¬
tion specialist, 'but there are a number
of towns which have Sub-Rule Carriers
(fill-in mailmen) positions open."
As for the number of openings in the
post office, according to Varatzian, that
is a 'military secret.'
How about Christmas in Yosemite?
According to Paul DeRuosi, supervisor
of student employment here at CSUF, if
you don't mind spending your Christ¬
mas away from your family, you prob¬
ably could have a job somewhere in the
And his student employment office
will continue to have jobs throughout
the holidays.
'We will be open all through the
break,* DeRuosi said, "and anyone who
wants a job and keeps coming by can
probably get one. We always have spot
jobs, and these one or two day jobs
can involve anything from inventory to
washing cars to doing yards.*
Just like everyone else contacted,
DeRuosi made it clear that the big
thrust in Christmas hiring is over, but
some jobs in the retail area, demonstra¬
tor jobs, and even jobs atmpvie theatres
might still be available^
Another approach which most stu¬
dents use is simply to try to gain employ¬
ment where they«*vere working during
the summer.
And if you are in Santa Clara, Ana¬
heim, Buena Park, or San Fernando
Valley for the holiday^ amusement
parks are always looking for over 18-
year-old help.
Or perhaps the best solution is one by
Scrooge: don't buy presents, and don't
get into debt.
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