During a reception in the lobby of AMC Madison Yards theater, following a private screening of “Magic City: An American Fantasy,” a diverse crowd of well-connected Atlantans greeted one another to celebrate Atlanta’s most famous and influential strip club.
Music entertainers 2 Chainz, Jermaine Dupri and Killer Mike mixed with Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, and dozens of Magic City dancers, some of whom, as the documentary’s creator Cole Brown told the crowd before the screening began, would likely perform later that evening at the club.
Guests posed for photos and enjoyed a catered Magic City Kitchen buffet that included the adult lounge’s equally famous lemon pepper wings and fresh house salad. They also shared their initial thoughts after previewing the first two episodes of the five-part series, which debuts Friday on Starz television network.
A former Magic City dancer once known as “India,” dressed in a sparkling mint-green fringe dress, said she recently retired from stage and lap dancing to pursue a career in the music industry. She spoke fondly of her experience as a nude entertainer performing for tips in the downtown Atlanta gentlemen’s club.
“Magic City has put me in a position to level up and level out,” she said. “See now, (when) the documentary comes out, I might renew my license, come in there for a little week or two before I move down to Florida, just for fun. But Magic City is a place you don’t stay forever. You make so much, and they give you so much opportunity that you can do whatever you want.”
Indeed, the mighty Magic City, located at 241 Forsyth St. SW, with its cityscape facade and seductive logo above the entrance, has become a defiant symbol of Atlanta’s unique relationships with culture, power, survival and success.
But it’s the women — dancers, mothers, wives and more — who have some of the most captivating tales when it comes to Atlanta’s famous gentlemen’s club.
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