Crazy Rock Relegated to History Books

It's the end of an era, of sorts. The area's last strip club, Crazy Rock, has closed and is being purchased by the .

Despite a sign saying the "gentlemen's club" would reopen Aug. 7, a deal to purchase the property was announced by the village this week and the deal should close next month, Romeoville Mayor John Noak said.

He described the sale as "mutually beneficial for all parties," and while he wouldn't go so far as to say that Romeoville was eliminating a less-than-tasteful business from its Illinois 53 corridor, he did say he thought the strip club had "come to the end of its usefulness."

Noak also conceded that had the village not purchased it, someone could have bought it and kept it a "gentleman's club."

With its closure, there are no full-nude strip clubs in the -Romeoville area, although there's bikini dancing at The Cellar in unincorporated Joliet. If you're looking for the "full monty," as the Brits might say, you'll need to head over to south suburband towns, such as Harvey or Bridgeview, to get your fix.

Crazy Rock was something of a landmark, having been in business for 20-plus years at its 9 Rock Road location.

Strip clubs used to be more routinely located on the main drags of towns, such as Route 53, but slowly they've been pushed into industrial areas, where most people don't realize they exist.

Romeoville's current ordinance does just that. Joliet took it a step further, prohibiting full or partial nudity at any business with a liquor license and requiring that a special use permit be obtained for any gentleman's club that wants to open in an industrial-zoned area, Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas said. There is also a requirement that any sex-oriented business be 1,000 feet or more from any school, day-care center, park or religious institution, he said.

The village's $1.35 million purchase of the Crazy Rock site also includes an adjoining apartment building. Plans will be made for the buildlings after village staff have had a chance to go through them and determined their structural viability, Noak said.

The property is in the village's Route 53 tax-increment financing (TIF) district, money from which has funded the first part of the Veterans Memorial, landscape islands, the White Oak Library facade upgrade, and road and infrastructure improvements, according to a release from the village.

Future projects include the R.C. Hill site redevelopment, the second phase of the Veterans Memorial, construction of a community center and upgraded infrastructure in the downtown redevelopment area, the release said.