The slick clientele at this upscale Melrose nightclub suggests that we as a city have evolved past Howard Stern–inspired sleaze.

At Forty Deuce, the most famous creation of clubmeister Ivan Kane, nouvelle-urban Rockettes, backed by a jazz combo, perform mid-century bump-and-grind striptease numbers. The club is a throwback to the days of old-style burlesque: The dancers put the "tease" in "striptease" as they coyly work the stage and sunken bar, which doubles as a runway. When the girls aren't performing, Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce feels like a speakeasy or classic Vegas lounge, and the DJs spin classic hip-hop, funk to rock songs from the '60s to the '90s.