By: Daiyu Tang
Photos: Daiyu Tang ((No AI))
I have to confess my dear readers that I do like a massage. There’s something really great about two (or four) strong hands giving your body a deep tissue massage. Then there’s all the extra bits like a scalp massage or as a pianist, how proper care of my hands can really feel good.
Now, the slight issue is that to get a proper massage you have to somewhat park your scepticism and also park your pride, because to get one the best place in Hathian that I’m aware of is the Rub n’ Tug down on Bourbon. Yes, that means you are spending money in a place where people seeing you go in will just assume you were there until you were ‘happy’, but in reality the place is more than that. You can go in there and not go further than you want and that, despite the name and the reputation means RnT has a lot going for it.
And it has started, as so many Hathian chapters do, with a change in ownership, a lick of paint, and if I might suggest, the suspicion that someone is either making things better or setting up a much prettier crime scene. But let’s give Lila the benefit of the doubt and dig in more!
New Hands On The Old Gal
When I arrived at the RnT, press pass visible because I have learned from experience that one should make professional boundaries obvious in certain Bourbon Street doorways, I found Lila Hunter at the entrance. She introduced herself as “boss of this old gal”, which is possibly the most affectionate way I have heard anyone refer to a building that has seen more tension release than the HPD complaints department.
“Changed, returned, and mine,” she said, when asked about the change in ownership.
It is a hard working sentence, isn’t it? From my memory, the RnT has always had this strange way of collecting owners who leave, return, rebrand, repaint, or otherwise decide that Bourbon Street’s most obviously named relaxation venue still has something worth saving. Lila told me she had owned the place years ago, before life and “family emergencies” pulled her away. I will not pretend Hathian readers do not know how much can hide under a phrase like that, but the point for now is simple enough: she is back, and the business is hers again.
We’ve come across Lila in the Observer once before (and I will admit to being basic and just searching her name then face matching her) when she was a witness and helper to a serious shooting at the After Shift bar. Lady knows how to deal with danger and I think on Bourbon St. that’s not a bad thing!
New Decor
Inside, the difference was noticeable. The building is still the building, and there are limits to what anyone can do with old walls, old floors and old memories, but the place was clean, really clean. Not ‘someone waved a mop at it’ clean, either. Properly scrubbed. Fresh. Almost spa-like, which is not a phrase I expected to use about the Rub n’ Tug unless I had been drugged. Which I hadn’t been. The air carried spa smells like lavender, menthol, eucalyptus and vanilla and although some of the more questionable wall art remains, Lila seems aware that the posters have been there longer than some local feuds and might need replacing before they become load-bearing. I saw the same art in an article from 2016… ouch.
“This is an old building, and listed, so I can’t change the physical aesthetics,” Lila told me. “Yet, everything inside will be meticulously clean.”
Not New Approach
Of course, one cannot write about the Rub n’ Tug without addressing the name, the reputation and the obvious question that makes every reader in Hathian drool. I would have said ‘blush’, but you lot are monsters… so… And in any case, Lila did not dodge it.
“This place is known for the heavy advertisement and practice of a happy ending,” she said. “It’s important to know that it is not a guarantee. It is down to individual masseuse discretion and consent. The world has caught up and sex workers should be somewhat protected. Earning reputable money should be an option for all.”
This last part matters more than some may think. Massage is intimate even when it is entirely legitimate. People have preferences. Bodies carry tension differently. Customers may want a woman, a man, someone quiet, someone chatty, someone strong enough to turn shoulder knots into a orgasmic experience without the actual orgasm. The more varied the staff, working in a safe and clean environment, the more likely RnT will succeed.
“I am open to any who want to learn, earn and have a boss they can rely on to protect them in situations they do not want to be in,” Lila said.
To that end, she floated something more substantial than a discount card (or even the free massage tokens I got from the previous owner Max). Lila says she is willing to sponsor ambitious young minds: anyone who shows promise, ambition and loyalty to learning about the body or business may have the chance of tuition fees being covered, subject to terms. Interested students should reach out to her!
One of the RnT staff arrived during the interview. She was polite, keen, and very willing to help the article by offering me a massage, which I declined because contrary to public rumour I do occasionally know how to work without becoming part of the story and my bum has featured already in a RnT story.
The staff member spoke warmly about the business getting proper management, and Lila during the questions I asked was very supportive.
Contest
Lila is offering three free massages, personally from herself, to winners who send in a piece of artwork or a short poem based on the local area. The winning work will be displayed inside the RnT, replacing at least some of the existing decor, which I can only support on civic, artistic and possibly GOD IT NEEDS IT SPIRITUAL grounds.
The artwork can be Hathian local, sensual, strange, pretty, grimy, poetic, erotic if that is the artist’s route. Hathian has artists. Hathian has poets. Hathian has people who think writing a threatening message on a wall counts as mixed media. This is your chance to prove you can do better and maybe get your shoulders fixed for free. Turn aside from Terrorism and other bad stuff, and write messages of love to get a freebie!
To enter: Submit a piece of artwork or a short poem based on the local area. Winning pieces will be displayed inside the Rub n’ Tug. Contact Lila for details. (( Lila ‘Lipzy’ Hunter (lila.pixels) ))
