For many, being a stripper is not an easy or rewarding job, but the appeal of making 300 to 3,000 dollars a nightis an attractive salary to those trying to make ends meet in an expensive city like Los Angeles. Venus, who asks to be called by her dancer name for this story, began working at downtown L.A.’s Sam’s Hofbrau Gentlemen’s Club eight years ago. Her hopes for a new career seem to match the mood of her club: dark and dim. Her family also has no idea she has been stripping for almost 10 years, which is why no photos of her face could be shown. 

Venus usually arrives to work at 10 a.m. without make-up, dressed in sweatpants and a loose fitted T-shirt. She pushes aside the entrance door's black curtain and walks up three steps to enter the club floor to her small, concrete dressing room. This is where she becomes a new person. This story gives us a behind the lights view of the life of a pole dancer.

See photos of Venus and the strip club: