Revolucion is infamous for ripping off the unawares so I thought it warranted a topic of it's own.

The following is a true story.....no names were changed because no one is innocent.

Last Wednesday Young Ronin and I were cruising the many clubs on Revolucion...we started at Lord Blacks (see Lord Blacks heading for the lowdown) and kinda stumbled our way back to the Zona, hitting a buncha the Revolucion clubs on the way back. Pretty standard fare except for a couple of experiences I had which, hopefully, by relating them here some of you can avoid some hassle.

Most of our stops were pretty uneventful....till we got to Rio Rita/007/69/54...whatever that club is. Everything was going well, talked them down to two bucks a beer etc even though I didn't know any of the waiters, girls or bartenders there. I struck up a conversation with this one chica and eventually it got to where she told me she was one of the only two girls who did more than just table dances. So we struck a deal, 50 bucks....we go down that long hallway that leads to the bano's but we don't go into any of the small rooms. Instead we go through a doorway, then up some stairs to a another club...only it's completely vacant...stage, tables, chairs and two or three small stalls with chairs in them. I notice a waiter guy kinda followed us up but he's hanging in a doorway where he can't see anything...nothing wrong with being safe I figure. Everything went fine..although in a chair...and as I'm pulling up my pants this other waiter looking guy with a walkie talkie comes up to me, says something with the word "policia" in it and says I had illegal sex. As I'm pulling up my zipper I say "what illegal sex"? I'm totally floored by this, the guy claimed to be security but had no patches on his shirt, no utility belt...just a white shirt like a waiter. At this point I'm over being stunned and I'm almost yelling at him "What? What are you talking about?" and some other stuff I don't remember. I don't think he was expecting that kind of a response....meanwhile all these posts from the board are going through my head....more crackdowns on Rev etc....but I figure this guy is just trying to get some cash out of me. We're walking down the stairs (the chica and other waiter are gone at this point) and I'm yelling at him "Just how much money are you trying to bullshit out of me?" and all he's saying is stuff about "illegal sex" and "policia" I'm noticing the idiot is actually walking a step or two below me as we're going down the stairway and I'm debating if I should give him a little shove and wish him a nice trip down the stairs....and hopefully Ronin will notice me zipping out the door! However when we get to the bottom of the stairs I see the older waiter guy that was hanging by the doorway and a guy in a brown shirt. They say something to each other, the guy in the brown shirt tells me he's the manager and there is "no problem", even asking what kind of beer I wanted. I go back to where Ronin is sitting, he asks how it went...I told him the story and we had another beer. Oh and the chica came back and sat with me for awhile, I asked her what that was all about and she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders and asked Ronin if he wanted to go up too. We split.

OK, wild shit...who knows what all that was about right? We go over to the La Carribean, we're both in pretty good shape now...after 5 or so clubs and 2-3 beers in each one. Ronin and I hook with with a couple of girls...we're downing a few and I buy a round for me and the chica and pay the waiter with a twenty. Here's where I got stupid. A few minutes later the waiter comes over and asks for the money and I felt strange...but ...well....a little drunk, distracted by the chica and still kinda blitzed from doing the girl at Rio Rita and dealing with Mr Security...anyway I hand him another twenty. The chica, bless her little soul, says "why you pay him twice?". I thought "man I thought I had already paid" and as I'm getting up she says "don't say I said anything ok?" I nod a yes at her and head over to the bar where the waiter is standing and say "Hey I paid you twice!" He mutters something and shows me a few bills he pulls out of his pocket (standard ruse) and I say "I don't give a shit, I paid you twice and you know it!" so he turns around and walks towards the other end of the club with me behind him "speaking to him", it's kind of hazy at that point but suddenly I notice I've got him by the lapels (he was wearing a jacket) and bent over backwards against a metal rail. Behind me I see Ronin so I know my back is covered....I figure "shit here it comes" and wait for the swarm of waiters to hit when this better dressed guy appears and asks me how much the waiter owes me. I say "vente" and the guy pulls out a roll and peels me off a twenty...turns out he's the manager. Everything cooled off at that point and Ronin and I go back to drinking and hanging with the girls we were with. I thank the chica I was with, she asks if I want a private dance, which I normally don't do but figure she earned it so I blow the twenty on a two song grope session with her in a back booth. As we leave the place Ronin noticed he was missing something from his pocket.....but wasn't sure enough to want to go back and accuse the girl he was with so we continued to the Zona where we split up.

Wadda night!

Oh I just remembered some of the stuff I was yelling at the second waiter "Mi no beginner! Mi no gringo estupido!" (apologies to my gringo buddies). HAH!

Hey Brother Red (the not gringo estupido!), what a story--a night of adventures fo' sho! Good advice, to keep ya eyes peeled for scams on Revo...

Carribean and Aloha and a number of bars are owned by the same people. My ex favorita was looking for a new bar to work at and one Sunday night we went to about 8 bars and they explained to her that the bars were owned by the same people.
She was given two offers on the spot to work the following Monday, but she didn't see any advantage to working at these bars.

Also I believe Aloha is the one that turns into a normal dance club at night. In the afternoon when they have the girly shows a lot of the girls or TV's are groping you as they are picking your pocket. Based on a couple of those experiences I stay out of those bars. The same person also has Peanuts and Beer and you'll notice similar formats in the bars owned by this person or family.

Redongdo, just when I thought I'd seen or at least heard it all. That Rio Rita security shakedown is a new angle for the crooks who staff these clubs. At this point, being a Revo club-smart veteran prepared to deal with every situation (or so I thought until I read your story), I actually find some perverse entertainment value in watching these two bit scam artists trying to work their crap on me. It is amusing to be in an environment where the club places informational cards on the tables (usually on weekend evenings in Peanuts and Rio Rita's) warning the customers about their own personnel!! So you encountered the classic attitude in both clubs....the manager gives his staff free reign to bilk the customers, but only to the extent that they don't realize they are being bilked. As soon as realization kicks in, the staff are obviously instructed to back down, or the manager will intervene on your behalf. It's a system that cuts across all of these commonly owned clubs along Revolucion...it's OK to play the customers but only to the extent that they don't realize what's going on. This system obviously brings in a mother lode of extra cash to the clubs from all the unsuspecting tourists who go to these clubs, without risking constant brawls between the relatively few "aware" customers and the club crooks.

That leads to one slice of advice...there really is no need to risk physical confrontation with the "swarm" of waiters and security scum when an attempted ripoff is in progress. Firm but calm insistence that you KNOW what's going on along with a demand that the situation be made right works EVERY time!! I have been in these situations literally dozens of times, and NEVER has a club con artist failed to back down in the face of demands that the situation be corrected - this without ever making a scene or approaching physical violence. Always use diplomacy over violence in these clubs because it WORKS...and I have seen situations where the customer was all about physical confrontation and they messed him up pretty bad, and it wouldn't have mattered who he had watching his back, unless it was Jackie Chan - though I know how tough Ronin can be!

Every time I have gone into Aloha I have witnessed a gringo yelling at a bartender, waiter, owner et al... stating that he has been ripped off.
While it looks real cozy in the back, with no lighting and far away from the stage ( a good place for a lap dance) I would bet that is where one's pocket gets picked.

I bought one of those 99 cent chains from one of those little girls on the bridge, and a TV at Aloha was able to take it off my neck without me noticing or feeling it. "what a Pro".
I shook his/her hand afterwards as I was leaving.

That night on Revolution was quite an interesting one. The scam at Rio Rita was a new one on me, too. Now, not only do you have to be concerned about taking a chica from one of the Revo clubs to your hotel, but also that the club staff may try to extort money from you in their own club. The incidents at Carribean were nothing unexpected, however. With the exception of my pickpocket experience it all worked out without any loss. And, because I routinely split up my money, I didn't lose much. I concur with Erip that simple "firm but calm insistence" is the way to go, which at the end of the day was actually what occurred, albeit maybe more "aggressive" firm and calm insistence. The scam artists are all playing a game on Revolution. Once they know that you're in on the game or scam and that your insistent about not settling for it, they almost always back down, at least in my experience. These incidents do bring home the importance of maintaining awareness at all times, planning ahead for possible scams and not letting your guard down. But that's all part of the adventure and fun of TJ.

I try to avoid Ave. Revolution, except Madonas. Otherwise it is Zona Rio or Zona Norte where IMHO you don't need to worry about getting ripped off. It appears in Ave. Rev. the game is who can rip off who. You wonder who started the rip off, the gringos or the mexicans. I know that no self respecting local would be caught dead on Ave. Revolution.

I have to agree with Robertosol. I NEVER go to Rev anymore. I used to go there when I was about 20 years old...a long time ago, and I recall one dancer trying to slide a ring right off my finger. I decided I didn't really like TJ and hardly ever went for many years. Then about 2 years ago I heard about AB and CC on the internet and it sounded good. I went down with a bunch of friends and they all wanted to go to the same old places they knew about...San Souci and Bambi Club. So in order to go along with the group we went there. It was just like I remember from many years ago...you walk in the door and immediately get swooped on by waiters and ugly women...hopefully they were women. I realized why I hated this place, one of my friends got ripped off, nasty women tried to get me to go to the room, or at least buy them a drink and when that failed asked for $1 for their children. No thank you. And then finally my friends were ready to go check out Adelita's. OH MY GOD! This place rules. We all fell in love with the place and my whole impression of TJ has changed. I make every effort to go at least once a week and my life has improved dramatically. I am completely hooked on the place and look forward to the next trip as soon as I get home from the last. I guess I have been there about 70 times in the last 2 years and NEVER once have I or any of my friends been ripped off. Even the waiters are honest when they bring you your change. Once in awhile I go into CC and have had good experiences there too, but I feel more comfortable at AB and have made a few friends among the chicas and maseros. To me it just doesn't seem worth the hassles to go anywhere else. Of course with this attitude I could be missing out on something great...sorta makes me sad...I guess I'd better go console myself between Perlita's legs.

I would never encourage anyone to try out Rev bars as an alternative or even a supplement to the zona. I realize that the hustles and hassles will just NEVER be worth it for the majority of us. In my case, I choose to prowl around Rev once in a while as a change of pace. I've logged a few hundred trips to TJ, and wearing out the pavement between AB & CC gets old for me at this point. So I like to taste everything that TJ has to offer to keep it interesting and satisfy a sense of adventure (and I also enjoy temporarily regaining my anonymity when I go to Rev). You never know what you'll see or what will happen when you spend time along Revolucion...as opposed to AB & CC where it is always exactly the same thing...albeit a good thing and most mongers are content to explore no further.

I've never been down to the rev clubs. I've always been interested in going, but still haven't made ith their. Am I missing anything?

Governor, if your only interest in going to TJ is having sex with hotties, you are not missing anything. There are hotties to fuck in Rio Rita's, P&B, Caribean...even Sans Souci and Bambi. But that's not why I go to these clubs...I go for nastier floorshows - which may ocasionally include cameo appearances by female customers wandering in off of Rev from the disco trail (see my Lord Black post) - or get interactive on a serious scale with exhibitionist male customers. I like buying a girl a drink and having her stroke my crotch while we sit together as well as providing full access to her own set of goods. I enjoy interacting with the non-mongers, male and female, who visit these clubs out of curiousity. I even like an occasional nasty lap dance. It's all entertainment and a nice warmup for encounters with AB/CC girls who may grant little in the form of foreplay.

There are also nice clubs on Revolucion where hassles are minimal or nonexistent - Madona's, Penthouse, Catwalk, Caesar's for stripclubs, and Mexico Lindo for a straight hooker bar. That's another distinct layer of the TJ scene.

But no, I would not visit Revolucion solely to pick out a girl to have sex with (with the exception of Mexico Lindo)...Rev is only the sideshow and the zona is the main attraction.

Hey Erip,

I thought I was "a Revo club-smart veteran prepared to deal with every situation" myself and was totally flabbergasted by the first situation. The second was totally a case of negligence on my part as a cardinal rule in the Rev clubs is to always track your change...and when you hand a bill to a waiter make sure it's clear what the denomination is...even to the point of saying it to the waiter and making sure he repeats it. I also concur the best way to deal with incidents is to bring in a manager...it was just a case of alcohol and adrenaline when I had the waiter by the lapels, I still wonder what Ronin thought when he saw me looking like I was gonna eat the guy.

That being said I've always enjoyed bopping around the Revo clubs as an alternative to the Zona, which for me also started to become predictable and repetitious.

It is a little more wild and wooly out there and you have to keep your eyes open more in the clubs (as opposed to outside of the clubs when in the Zona) but I usually have a better time. I wouldn't let all the naysayers on the board prevent you from checking out the clubs. When I first met Ronin I believe he was a little put off by all the negative postings....from walking that one block stretch of Articulo 123 between Rev and Const. to having to keep an eye out for the weirdos and pickpockets in the Revo clubs themselves. Not to imply that he was "scared" but just chose to avoid hassles. Once I took him through those areas and the various clubs and showed him how I dealt with the areas and circumstances (much more subtle and preventative than the story I related above!) he kept saying things like "I don't see what those guys are talking about....etc".

Revolucion can be a whole lot of fun, the girls are wilder (at least in the club), the shows can be really funny...especially when gringo's are pulled on stage or their girlfriends/wives jump on for impromtu guest sets and the whole feeling is much more one of spontaneity. You just have to keep your wits about you a little more and realize, that until they know you, the folks working in those clubs view you as a one shot visitor and you're open game.

"I still wonder what Ronin thought when he saw me looking like I was gonna eat the guy."

Tu es muy machismo!

No, muy borracho y estupido!

Red -

man you're a toughguy in the Zona dude! way to kick some ass.

you probably had sex with the same girl that gave me warts ;)

San Puto
I was glad to see your mangled Spanish. Now I realize that you probably were unaware that Puto meanas "faggot" in Mexico. I was wondering where you were coming from there.

Nothing I say is ever serious. Give me some credit.

I used to have a rep as a jokester on another board... which is exactly why I changed my name on this one.

I was passing some upscale Revolucion bar and the barker said something about the best pussy in Tijuana. (Given my "disguise", {loco gringo bum} I don't know why he bothered me - I guess business must be really bad.) I replied "Soy norteamericano tijuaniado y conozco bien the mejor esta in la coahuila". (I am a "tijuanified" gringo and I know well that the best is in the "zone". I must have suprised him, he actually had to stop and think before replying.

My new spanish word in my vocabulary is "Tijuaniado/a", often used to describe a vehicle that has been thrashed half-to-death but the potholes of the Tijuana streets, but doesn't always carry a negative connotation. I suspect that to descibe a chica as "una puta Tijuaniada" would be quite an insult......(but I'm just guessing)

Isn't the term "Revolucion Rip Off" redundant?

PUSSYCAT IS A RIP OFF JOINT!!! STAY AWAY!!!

Last night I go in to try something different. There were only five or six girls working. The waiter sits me down and brings me a girl and two drinks. He tells me $14. No problem. I give him a $20. I am waiting for change. He shows me a $1 bill with his left hand. He insist I only gave him a $1. I watched him put the $20 in his right pocket. He keeps asking for the rest of the money. I told him to f*** off and I left leaving the girl and all of the beer and unfortunately my $20 bill that he stole. This is a typical rip-off posted in the scam section.

As I was leaving one of the employees follows me and asks me what was wrong. I told him nothing and I raced out the door. If I was in the U.S. and the same thing happend to me I would have complained to the manager and called the police, but I feared for my safety and left.

That was a big mistake they made doing that. They lost a lot of business that night. I was going to spend $100 + on lap dances and drinks. Also I am making sure that who ever reads this does not go there.

I can handle $20 loss. I hope they will lose a lot of business by me posting this.

GO TO HONG KONG FOR THE LAP DANCES AND DRINKS. When you go there go up stairs. The waiters are friendly, they help you get a HIGH MILAGE girl, and the girls are very photo friendly. There will be about five private lap dance boths for some VERY HIGH MILEAGE LAP DANCES AT $10 PER SONG. I like doing this warm up before going to ADELITAS where I eventualy end up getting laid.

Remember, STAY AWAY FROM PUSSYCATS!!!!!