Marilyn Night Club, located on Baross Street, has been adding color to Budapest's nightlife for 31 years now. Naturally, the windows are impossible to see through—because inside, bombshell dancers are busy stealing the guests' hearts at the tables—but the shockingly modest price list displayed beside the entrance still manages to inspire some trust. Anyone emboldened by this transparency, somewhat unusual for the nightlife, would do well to take a deep breath and step through the club's door into the pink-painted unknown.

This is indeed one of Budapest's most prestigious entertainment venues, this is indeed one of Budapest's most prestigious entertainment venues, skilfully navigated through the wild nineties by its female owner, creating an institution where not only big-time businessmen and Hollywood celebrities, but even the average person wandering in off the street can have an unforgettable evening.

Homely—that's the first word that comes to mind when stepping through the entrance. However, as your gaze wanders to the stage, the tables, or the shower cubicle where girls are undressing, entirely different adjectives come to mind. The space is defined by a modern interior, subtly exciting lighting, a stage designed for pole dancing, comfortable armchairs, tables specifically built for tabletop dances, and a long bar counter. If the first thing the guest notices is the pretty bartender, they inevitably wonder: if the bartender looks like this, what must the dancers be like? Of course, the question is purely rhetorical, as the answer hits you squarely through your optic nerves.

Thirty years ago, the genre of strip clubs further west meant more or less safe adult entertainment, but things played out very differently here. In 1985, Rózsaszín Cica (Pink Kitten) opened on Wesselényi Street, which was Budapest's first private strip club, where initially everyone could find what they were looking for—soothing bar music, pretty ladies, and good drinks for an exciting evening.

Then, around the regime change, Budapest’s nightlife was flooded with mafiosos.

There is another way

On May 21, 1993, Katalin Csomós opened Marilyn, then named Blue Angel. She was in her early twenties, and at that time, the Budapest nightlife was hardly calibrated for fresh beginners. Luckily, she had some experience with well-known figures of the underworld.She started her career at Malév, where she had to work tirelessly for a non-competitive salary, so after two years, she decided to say goodbye to the nostalgic Hungarian airline and began working as a waitress at an entertainment venue in the truck parking lot on Nagykőrösi Road. The daily life of the disco and restaurant was heavily influenced by the organized crime that re-emerged in post-regime change Hungary. “Fights were regular, the ambulance often had to come out, and the police were frequent guests. It was unbearable in the long run,” says Kati, who also acknowledges that the connections she made there later significantly eased her way.

In the disco, the bouncer was Zoli Seres, who already had a serious name then, and later became a well-known figure in Budapest's underworld. Kati maintained a good relationship with him, which at the time was akin to a life insurance policy if one wanted to succeed in the nightlife. Weapon and drug trafficking started appearing here too, along with increasingly dangerous individuals exploiting the uncertainty and chaotic power dynamics of the transition.

Despite the obvious dangers—or perhaps because of them—hospitality was lucrative, but after a year and a half, Kati decided to leave Nagykőrösi Road and continued at Rózsaszín Cica, which had become a real den of vice a few years after opening. Laci Pém, a former Hungarian champion and European bronze medalist boxer, was the bouncer, and the owner replaced all the hostesses and dancers every two months so that the gangsters relaxing at Cica could always meet fresh faces when they wanted to spend their money there.

Kati worked as a waitress here for a year, then left and moved to Pigalle, a place that entertained its audience with a distinguished variety of shows at the time, hence the gangsters looking for nudity tended to avoid it. On stage were Kati Rácz and Lajos Turi singing, and the owner—partly at his wife's request—maintained that there would be no stripping here. Kati first tasted what it was like to manage a nightlife venue when the owner went up to the Castle to set up Old Firenze, and she, along with a few colleagues, took over running Pigalle. They transformed and renamed it Love Chance, but this entertainment venue did not last long.

This is where the story of Marilyn truly begins. In 1993, Kati, along with two silent partners, rented the premises at 4 Baross Street, which had previously operated as a bean soup restaurant and was left in a terribly rundown state by the previous tenants. She renovated and refurnished it, then the sign “Blue Angel” was put up on the facade, and thus began the great journey. The young woman, newly a business owner, had a simple goal:

to run a successful nightclub that was not built on ripping off customers and catering to underworld figures.

A noble idea, a bit easier to conceive than to achieve.

Rocky Beginnings

The Budapest nightlife of the nineties had many shocking elements. The somewhat romantic figure of the sneaky criminal was replaced by Serbian, Turkish, and Albanian gangsters, with the local bad boys quickly catching up. As Kati puts it, “These guys weren’t kidding. They’d stand in front of you and stab you if it came to that.” The police, paralyzed in the control vacuum after the socialist order, were almost helpless against the bubbling underworld. There was a shooting almost every week in the capital, and the conflicts and showdowns between gangs were increasingly frequent headlines.

Thus, Kati had to deal not only with the tough guys trying to extend their influence but also with overcompensating authorities who were a constant thorn in her side. “They couldn’t put a stop to the shootings, so one captain came up with the idea to raid the busiest Budapest entertainment venues every day,” she recounts. “Sometimes the Szeged SWAT team would show up, turn the place upside down, then leave, only for another team to arrive a few minutes later, doing the same checks on everyone.”

Navigating this turbulent period was tough from the get-go, and the conditions only made things more challenging. Although, within the walls of Blue Angel, relative calmness prevailed aside from the authorities' annoyances, occasionally, the over-heated criminal world did intrude. “Many tried to intimidate us, demanding protection money, but I never gave in to extortion. I always had someone to refer to, so they left us alone,” Kati shares. “Of course, there were times they broke a few things, and one night a paving stone was thrown through one of the club's windows, hitting me directly. A few years later, an old Turkish acquaintance of mine came to the club with a friend, who drunkenly admitted that he was the one who threw the stone back then. He also revealed who hired him, but by then, it didn’t matter at all.”

Kati gradually learned the ropes of the business, aided greatly by her trips abroad. She visited many Western strip clubs, photographing and questioning the girls, which often led to her almost being thrown out. She admits she learned the most in Vegas, where entertainment is on a different level than in Europe, but she brought table dancing from London 25 years ago. “My silent partners didn’t believe in my innovations. Previously, in Budapest, there were only regular nightclubs, meaning the girls danced on stage and then mingled with the guests. I came up with the table dance idea, had these heavy tables made, and literally brought striptease to the guests. It was a huge success.”

Another great advantage of the Blue Angel was Kati’s insistence against the prevailing mentality of the nineties, that guests should not be deceived.

Nightclubs at the time paid cab drivers to bring in party-seeking foreigners. “At first, I paid for this too, but then I realized it was pointless because the cab drivers even dropped off people who just wanted to go for pizza, plus they ripped them off, so they often left annoyed and disappointed. I realized this wasn’t good business. ATM operators frequently approached us to install a machine in a back room, but I consistently refused.”

Kati also moderates tips and ensures that the girls don’t ask for more than agreed upon. Equally important is, that Marilyn doesn’t push anything on guests. They welcome even those who just want to have a beer and look around.

“I didn’t want to deceive my guests. I wanted to break the bad habits of nightlife.”

Stars in the House

The key to a successful business is satisfied, motivated employees, and Kati pays close attention to this.

I’ve been running the business with the same core team for 31 years. The newest employee is the bartender, who has been with me for 15 years. The DJ booth has been handled by the same person since the opening, and my initial help, Árpi—now a co-owner—remains unchanged. This is a cohesive, intimate, almost family-like community, which might surprise many, given the nature of this environment.

The girls change more frequently, and the decor is constantly evolving. When I ask Kati what motivates her after all these years, she doesn’t hesitate: “I’ve been coming here for over thirty years. I must always do something new and better, or I’d get bored. Even now, I have many plans because we’ll need some changes. We need a new shower cabin, and a bigger stage for our pole dancer girls.

Marilyn's success has reached far and wide over the past three decades. Notably, it is the only nightclub that the American Embassy confidently recommends to American citizens, not to mention the foreign film stars and celebrities who regularly visit. Although I was curious about the specifics, Kati remained tight-lipped.

“It would be incredible publicity if I revealed the names, but I can't. Discretion is very important to us,” she says, adding that many Hollywood stars have visited, with some even mentioning that their friends recommended they not miss Marilyn when traveling to Budapest.

Are the girls angels?

By the mid-2000s, the gangster era had ended, allowing for better foresight and more predictable growth. The fundamental principles remained unchanged: Marilyn's ethos is that the guest must not be deceived, a standard upheld by the staff not only at the bar but also in the services provided by the girls.

“There has never been sex at Marilyn, but at one time, professional sex workers did frequent the club. I tolerated it for a while but eventually banned them because they caused many problems. Sometimes, a deceived guest would come to us to complain, as if we had anything to do with it.”

Kati acknowledges that, given it is a strip club, setting boundaries at an institutional level can be tricky.

“We only have striptease, but it is the most spectacular. At one point, we considered whether there should be full nudity and what should be allowed during private dances, but this is now fully established. The panties do come off, but touching the dancer's genitals is prohibited. It's in the girls' best interest to maintain these rules. On the one hand, I strive to ensure that the dancers working here do not feel like pieces of meat, and on the other hand, it’s bad for the business if one girl allows more than the others. There was an instance where a line formed for a particular dancer, preventing others from earning money. It turned out she was offering some extra services in the private room, which we quickly put a stop to.”

Guests also need to be educated, as Kati puts it, because from time to time, people order a whiskey and immediately think they’ve become business partners. Anyone who gropes the girls or behaves disrespectfully is politely but firmly told that if they continue in that manner, their evening will end prematurely. The owners know the girls, are aware of their birthdays, give them gifts at Christmas, and try to help with their problems.

“It’s good when the girls are cheerful and happy,” Kati says, emphasizing both the human approach and Marilyn’s well-understood business interests.

Love and things alike

In the 2000s, many people came to Budapest for the women. Hungary was irresistibly exotic in this regard, and perhaps still has a certain romantic charm. Striptease in Europe became popular due to the rise of bachelor parties, which are obviously more about fun and erotica than emotions, but Kati knows better than anyone that even in the world of nudity, seductive winks for the sake of the show, and pink disco lights, love can blossom.

“For instance, once a bachelor party booked a table, and when one of the girls came out to dance, the groom froze, took off his wedding ring, and threw it away. They later got together and were in a relationship for a while.”

When I asked if this happens often, her answer surprised even me. “Romantic relationships between guests and dancers develop almost every two months, and it's even more common for one of our guests to fall head over heels in love.”

Opinions vary on whether a relationship between a civilian and a dancer can last, but there are numerous examples that support this possibility. One such case involved an American guest who found a new wife at Marilyn, for whom he left his previous marriage without hesitation. They now have three children together, even though the woman didn’t speak a word of English when they met.

Kati is not worried about her genre of entertainment fading away, as she believes there will always be a demand for this more risqué form of entertainment, and there will always be girls who want to use their physical attributes to earn money.

“If we need new girls, we usually activate a job advertisement on the website, but this rarely happens because friends of the current employees tend to apply, and sometimes girls even walk in from the street inquiring about job opportunities. Currently, we have about thirty dancers, and while there is higher turnover in this area compared to the core staff, the girls enjoy working here.”

Stripping is not only lucrative—most girls take home a visibly substantial amount each night—but there is another, less obvious advantage. “We regularly have girls who are not on good terms with themselves. Then they start working, and after a while, they discover their own feminine power. It can have an elemental effect on self-esteem when a girl notices that men look at her with desire every night.”

Marilyn's micro-community has its own stars. Some girls have almost fan clubs, and regular patrons are sometimes willing to buy their favorite dancer a drink just to enjoy her undivided attention for a while. “I see that society has become terribly alienated. There are many lonely people who crave attention and appreciate it, even if here it’s, in some sense, just an illusion.”

After the pandemic, according to Kati, there were at least forty people in line at Marilyn’s entrance every night. “Those were tough months when the staff approached each night with the mindset of just surviving that evening.” It was a lot of work, clearly demonstrating to the owners that running an honest, guest-focused entertainment venue is indeed profitable.

What’s next?

This place never had a golden age. It gets better every year, and there’s still room for improvement.

Kati says proudly, showing off the Live service recently launched on the website, allowing anyone to order a private dance online from the comfort of their home. For regular patrons, this service not only offers dances but also the chance to chat with the girls, which might seem strange to some, but experience shows there is a huge demand for this as well.

“I’ve often heard people say that Marilyn is great because guests feel at home here. There’s something in the air, a special vibe, an atmosphere that people love. You don’t feel pressured to do anything, you just relax and start enjoying the good music, the friendly staff, the beautiful girls, the delicious drinks, and it all just carries you away.”

After three decades of exploration, constant development, struggle, and success, this is where Budapest's iconic, adventure-filled nightclub stands. The owner revealed that at the beginning, it was not even certain it would make it into the 2000s.

“Our original plan was to run the club until the World Expo planned for Budapest in 1996. We’d make good money until then and then move on to something else. But then the business started doing very well, and we enjoyed it too much to stop. In 1999, Blue Angel became Marilyn, and last year we found ourselves having done this for thirty years, perhaps enjoying it even more than at the beginning, when we were young.”

The original goal has been exceeded tenfold, witnessed by more than one and a half million satisfied guests over the years. We can confidently say that Marilyn is unparalleled in Hungary, and Hollywood stars regularly travel back home feeling they must share how much they enjoyed their time here. No entertainment venue could ask for a better recommendation.

Check out our website at marilynbar.hu

This article was published on The Player Magazine on 06.12.2024. Read the original article made by Gargő Nagy here.