Fast-food will displace fast thrills in Mount Ephraim, NJ, where a Taco Bell is expected to rise on the site of a landmark Black Horse Pike "gentleman's club."
"What a Christmas gift for the borough of Mount Ephraim!" Mayor Joseph Wolk told the Courier-Post on December 18, after the local planning board blessed variances required for the project. A legal effort by the placid Camden County community to get rid of the garish joint altogether went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rebuffed it in the early 1980s, Philly.com reported.
Most recently called Jersey Girls and perhaps best known for colossal signs promising a "Nude Girl Sex Show," the establishment has loomed over Mount Ephraim's western gateway for close to 40 years. At various times it also offered table dancing, couch dancing, a "2 Girl Shower Show" and "Love Booths."
The club was once part of a mini-empire of South Jersey porno 'n pole-dancing palaces that included locations on the pre-parkified Admiral Wilson Boulevard and near the late, great Pennsauken Mart.
Updated at 12:20 PM