Bunny Birthday - Part 8 of 9

But in the past few years, the Clubs have started expanding again and seem on the verge of yet another boom. Bunnies now hop in Japan (Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka, Nagoya), Manila and San Jose, Costa Rica ¹, as well as in London, Portsmouth and Manchester, England. Mainland Clubs are located in Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Dallas and St. Louis, as well as at the two resort properties. Playboy operates a casino in Nassau, and a multimillion-dollar hotel and proposed casino is due to open shortly in Atlantic City. One of the first totally new casinos on the famed Boardwalk, it's a joint project of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. and the Elsinore Corporation, an affiliate of the Hyatt hotel chain. View our Frequently Asked Questions page for a list of every Playboy Club.

Relaxing in the London Club are Victor Lownes, now President of Playboy Clubs International, Inc., and actress Joanna Pettet, one of many celebrities who have frequented the hutch.

And the Clubs, both established and projected, are getting a new look: In the cabaret rooms, the Cabaret Bunny (herself an important part of the show) is appearing in a new, more feminine, ruffled outfit. When it was introduced at the Los Angeles Club in July of this year, the new garb, predictably, produced oceans of ink around the world. "Sexy," "more alluring," "can't stop looking," proclaimed the press. A. James Lisak of the Van Nuys, California, "Valley News," wrote: "Miss Kitty might have worn it to impress Matt Dillon in a setting considerably more amorous than the Long Branch Saloon."

That doesn't mean the standard costume is being discontinued, even though Britain's Prince Charles, among others, has called it old-fashioned. Counters Victor Lownes: "Nobody ever says Mickey Mouse's costume is out of date, and our Bunny is as much our symbol as Mickey is Disney's."

Princess Margaret gets her first glimpse of Bunnies at 1967's Dockland Settlements Ball in London's Hotel Savoy.

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1. When this article was written, the Costa Rica Playboy Club was in the very early development stage. The plan was abandoned. Playboy had planned, at various times, to open clubs in most major cities in the world, including Paris and Rome. Back to the article.

Photography by Pompeo Posar, M. Frank Wolfe. Text and images copyright of Playboy.com.