The Strip-a-grammer
A little girl dancing with jockeys at a grown up social. A young man having a drink and the time of his life with his pals. A married couple celebrating their 25th anniversary. No matter where a person is in his or her life, a visit to the Cockatoo Inn is often a memorable encounter. We’ve heard all the stories, and all the people who have let the Cockatoo make a mark on their lives. Well, we thought we did. Ever hear about the strip-a-grammer and her lone visit to the Cockatoo Inn?
The Last Dance
This story comes from Melissa, a former model and dancer who tells us she worked at the original strip-a-gram company back in the 1980s. For the uninitiated, a strip-a-gram is a dancer a person orders for someone else. The strip-a-gram company (sometimes spelled “strip-o-gram”) sends someone to dance and strip (partially or fully) at the lucky recipient’s office or home. Melissa writes:
The first and only time I was lucky enough to visit the Cockatoo Inn bar was in 1981. I worked for a company called Strip-A-Gram the Original out of NYC. I was a dancer/model and delivered strip-a-grams all over the city. One Saturday night, my last ‘gram was in Hawthorne, at a party.
The strip-a-gram finished, I was heading out when a woman in business like attire stopped me to chat and invited me out for a drink. I accepted and she said to follow her car, a white BMW.
Cockatooinn.com rendering:
The Strip-a-grammer’s First and Lone Visit
When Melissa followed, she noticed something interesting:
Interested to see where we would go, I marveled at her vanity license plate that read, “Obla-Di”.
She took us to the Cockatoo Inn, where we sat at a mostly empty bar, right at the end near the entry. I was delighted with the ambiance and decor having spent my childhood growing up in Orange County and visited many such bars, as back in the 60s they let kids run in and out while their parents daytime drank, or let parents bring their kids to these dark bars at night as well.
Obla-di, Obla-da
And what about that obvious Beatles’ reference? Melissa reveals:
We had a chat and I asked her why she had the Beatles lyrics on her license plate. She said that she had an unexpected divorce that had turned her life upside down, and that she found strength in that song, with some of the lyrics saying “La La La La life goes on” so she chose that to keep reminding her to lighten up and move on. We parted after our drink never to connect again. The Cockatoo remained for a long time and often while on the way to LAX I’d purposely drive past it.
We were intrigued – what did this woman want? Why Melissa? She explained:
In LA, and Hollywood, as you probably well know, there are many predators, men and women, who want some type of a piece of you. I wondered what this woman wanted after she saw me strip down to lingerie, but she just wanted to share a drink and a chat. It was seamlessly perfect. Ha ha.
Getting into Strip-a-grams
We were naturally fascinated with Melissa’s story, and asked her how she got into stripping down to lingerie as a job. (Asking for a friend, lol.) She recalls:
A friend showed me the ad. I was a nutritional consultant with many celebrity clients on one show that got canceled. Being suddenly out of a job, they canceled all my services and I then had no work suddenly.
Also with my being a dancer and personal trainer my friend thought this could be a temporary way to earn income. I was the first! They don’t have anyone but porn actors reply to their ad and they didn’t want them. I was classy. The girlfriend of one brother was a seamstress and we designed costumes together. Later I had costumes made at Trashy Lingerie in La Cienega as well as by a private costume maker.
The longstanding and famous Trashy Lingerie, impressive. And how many strip-a-grams did Melissa say she delivered?
So in about a years time I delivered about 730 strip a grams. Once I worked for seven weeks straight without a day off.
It was fascinating. From jails and fire houses to hospitals to Chasen’s, the Diamond Ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hotel to the set from the film Star Trek Two and the set of Knotts Landing impersonating Joan Van Ark’s sister. There was one delivered to a one year old baby boy on his birthday as he sat in his high chair. His parents video taped it for his eighteenth birthday.
Super fascinating. Thanks to Melissa for sharing her story!
Ever wind up by chance at the Cockatoo? Ever get a strip-a-gram back in the day? Tell us about either below!
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