A strip-mall happy-ending spot in Phoenix, Arizona, one of nearly 5, Asian erotic massage parlors across America. Photo by Todd Huffman via Flickr. We know you're busy. You probably didn't have time to read every article we published on VICE. So we've compiled a list of some of our favorites and will be re-featuring them on the homepage through the end of This one originally published on March 20th.
From the outside, Oasis Spa looks like any drab Brooklyn bodega. To an untrained eye not accustomed to seeking out storefront massage parlors, the grimy red awning is virtually invisible among the artisanal coffee shops and Duane Reades in Park Slope.
But to an online community of hand-job connoisseurs, the spa is a destination, one of thousands of neighborhood "rub-'n'-tugs" that have swarmed into suburban strip malls and commercial thoroughfares across the United States, opening up a brave new frontier in the Middle American sex industry. Of course, "happy-ending" massages have long been the worst-kept secret of the sex trade. Operating as legitimate businesses, Asian erotic massage parlorsโmost of which are run by Chinese or Korean operatorsโcharge a house fee for a massage, and customers then pay an extra tip for whatever sex acts are performed.
Intercourse isn't usually on the menu, although some of the seedier establishments do offer "full-service" options and blow jobs. Asian erotic massage parlors, or AMPs, have proliferated across the US in recent years and now make up a significant share of the sex industry in several major American cities, according to a massive government-sponsored study on the underground sex economy released last week by the Urban Institute.
The landmark report, which examined the size and structure of the commercial sex trade in eight metro areas, found that the number of parlors in the US jumped to 4, in , up from 4, in Once concentrated in coastal cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, the report also found that massage parlors are rapidly expanding into the Midwest and the South, facilitated by highly organized networks that transport Asian womenโmany of them brought to the US illegallyโthrough a "circuit" of massage parlors around the US.
