When the nation's eyes are on Detroit, a little city across the border will be luring visitors with sex, drugs and gambling. REBECCA COOK DUBE checks out the scene.
Brandy, an Ontario native, is psyched and ready with her cheerleader outfit for next weekend's Super Bowl in Detroit. And she doesn't even like football.
Brandy makes $200 an hour as a call girl in Windsor, a Canadian city just across the river from Detroit where prostitution and all-nude dancing are perfectly legal. The town's strip clubs, escort services and entrepreneurs like Brandy are hoping to lure some of the 100,000 Super Bowl visitors their way for a different sort of fun and games.
"I think every girl will be busy," says Brandy, 21, who asked that only her first name be used. She's posted alluring photos of herself in a cheerleader outfit on her web site, hoping to drum up Super Bowl business. And she doesn't think her clients will mind if she can't tell a Steeler from a Seahawk.
"I don't know nothing about it, but they don't care," she says.
Sex for money is legal in Windsor, although street prostitution is not. Brandy and her colleagues meet their clients in hotel rooms or private homes. In fact, one of her friends is renting out his apartment for Super Bowl week -- escort included.
Totally nude dancing (but no touching) is allowed in the city's strip bars, while Detroit dancers can only go topless. Completing the hedonistic trifecta, visitors to Windsor can also enjoy legal Cuban cigars, banned in the U.S. because of the trade embargo with Communist Cuba.
According to the Super Bowl host committee, the game is expected to infuse about $300 million into the area economy. Hotels in Detroit and Windsor are booked solid.
"It's all welcome excitement," says Raymond Chu, owner of Windsor's La Casa del Habano, which sells Cuban cigars. Chu takes a philosophical view of his city's so-called sinful image: "Canada in general has more liberal social values, more like Europeans. I can see the social values would be a bit of a shock to some people."
Canada is also known for its permissive attitude toward marijuana. Medical marijuana is legal and regulated. Simple possession remains technically illegal, but the law is rarely enforced. Adding to the country's liberal reputation, the Canadian Supreme Court recently ruled that "swingers" clubs featuring group sex and partner swapping are legal.
Windsor's mayor and civic boosters have tried to downplay the "Sin City" moniker, hoping visitors will instead enjoy the Ice Festival, the art museum, the great Italian restaurants and all of Windsor's good clean fun.
They have a strangely sympathetic ear in Renaldo Agostino, marketing director for four all-nude Windsor clubs.
"Windsor's a great city with a whole lot more to offer," Agostino says. "I'm looking forward to bringing my kids down to the Ice Festival."
Still, he says, "People are going to come for the adult entertainment, no doubt about it."
Agostino has tripled the amount of men and women working at his four clubs, and expects to at least double his normal weekend business.
"It'll be the biggest party Windsor's ever seen," he says.
His brother, Remo Agostino, owns another strip club called The Boom Boom Room. On Friday night he's hosting an autism fundraiser with football star Doug Flutie, and on Saturday he's got the Super Bowl Hustler party.
"For businessmen such as myself, it gives us an opportunity to showcase our establishments," he says.
Remo Agostino says Windsor should embrace the Sin City image and market itself like Amsterdam, with a red light district for adult fun, and museums and culture for the whole family.
His advice for Super Bowl visitors: "Come and have a good time, and remember what happens in Windsor, stays in Windsor."
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asap reporter Rebecca Cook Dube is looking forward to the Ice Festival.
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