(Saul Fried with unknown performer 1970. Walmbolt-Waterfield Collection, Dalhousie University Archives)
The Fabulous lobster trap cabaret
The Lobster Trap Cabaret was opened by Halifax entrepreneur and businessman Saul Fried in the early to mid-1960s. It first operated as a restaurant on Inglis Street, offering a steak & seafood menu and amusements like pinball machines, but no live entertainment at the start.
Before long, Fried expanded the venue into a live music club, booking big-name acts like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Chubby Checker, and Rich Little. Although the concerts initially drew enthusiastic crowds, the cost of bringing in major performers and keeping the venue busy throughout the week became difficult to sustain. In response, Fried shifted into the more consistently profitable world of exotic entertainment.
Within a few years, the Lobster Trap relocated to a larger space in the Trade Mart building. Fried began booking top-tier burlesque and variety acts, exotic performers, and female impersonators (now recognized as drag queens) through agencies in New York and Montreal. The new venue had a distinctive nautical theme. One newspaper described it as looking like an "undersea pirate cave," complete with powder kegs, hurricane lamps, and rum barrels. The stage curtain was made from fishnet and clam shells, tying the décor together.
The clientele was a lively mix of sailors, businessmen, the occasional sports team, and, after Halifax's liquor laws changed in the early 1960s, women as well. (Before that, most drinking establishments in Halifax were single-gender.) The Lobster Trap built a reputation as a place where people could slip away from the main drag, have a sense of privacy, and enjoy top-notch entertainment. For a time, waitresses even wore satin uniforms with lobster-tail-shaped shirt tails, keeping the seafood theme front and center.
Although the Trap embraced exotic dance, the atmosphere was described as professional. Dancers performed in pasties and g-strings, though there was also full nudity at times depending on the act. Occasionally, the club hosted "camera club" nights where photographers were invited to take staged photographs of the dancers. Despite the risqué performances, there was reportedly little to no interaction beyond the stage. Performers were there to work, travel, and earn a living on the road.
Known affectionately as The Trap by locals and regulars, the venue thrived throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In its later years, ownership passed to Bill Bellefontaine, while Saul Fried shifted his focus to another of his ventures, Fort Scenic, a cabaret located in Lake Fletcher which also featured occasional exotic dance. The Lobster Trap eventually closed in the early 1980s. Not long after, Fried passed away unexpectedly in Florida in his mid-50s. The Trade Mart space was later reopened under new ownership as a live music venue called The Odeon, but the original spirit of the Trap was never revived.
Before long, Fried expanded the venue into a live music club, booking big-name acts like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Chubby Checker, and Rich Little. Although the concerts initially drew enthusiastic crowds, the cost of bringing in major performers and keeping the venue busy throughout the week became difficult to sustain. In response, Fried shifted into the more consistently profitable world of exotic entertainment.
Within a few years, the Lobster Trap relocated to a larger space in the Trade Mart building. Fried began booking top-tier burlesque and variety acts, exotic performers, and female impersonators (now recognized as drag queens) through agencies in New York and Montreal. The new venue had a distinctive nautical theme. One newspaper described it as looking like an "undersea pirate cave," complete with powder kegs, hurricane lamps, and rum barrels. The stage curtain was made from fishnet and clam shells, tying the décor together.
The clientele was a lively mix of sailors, businessmen, the occasional sports team, and, after Halifax's liquor laws changed in the early 1960s, women as well. (Before that, most drinking establishments in Halifax were single-gender.) The Lobster Trap built a reputation as a place where people could slip away from the main drag, have a sense of privacy, and enjoy top-notch entertainment. For a time, waitresses even wore satin uniforms with lobster-tail-shaped shirt tails, keeping the seafood theme front and center.
Although the Trap embraced exotic dance, the atmosphere was described as professional. Dancers performed in pasties and g-strings, though there was also full nudity at times depending on the act. Occasionally, the club hosted "camera club" nights where photographers were invited to take staged photographs of the dancers. Despite the risqué performances, there was reportedly little to no interaction beyond the stage. Performers were there to work, travel, and earn a living on the road.
Known affectionately as The Trap by locals and regulars, the venue thrived throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In its later years, ownership passed to Bill Bellefontaine, while Saul Fried shifted his focus to another of his ventures, Fort Scenic, a cabaret located in Lake Fletcher which also featured occasional exotic dance. The Lobster Trap eventually closed in the early 1980s. Not long after, Fried passed away unexpectedly in Florida in his mid-50s. The Trade Mart space was later reopened under new ownership as a live music venue called The Odeon, but the original spirit of the Trap was never revived.
Just a few of the many fabulous performers who came to the Lobster Trap Cabaret in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From left to right: Cynthia Yee, Judith Stein, Marinka, Camille 2000, Satan's Angel, and Floyd Vivino.