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"Yeah, Sure." Even in cities where no exclusively teen-age clubs have yet appeared, proprietors are becoming aware of the huge clientele that awaits those who create a suitable atmosphere for teenagers. In New York, where the drinking age (18) is low enough to gain teen-agers entrance to many nightclubs, the Cafe Bizarre, a Greenwich Village coffeehouse that serves soft drinks, sawdust and beat poets at reasonable prices, aims for "armies and armies of young people," but refuses to label itself a teen-age club "because the phrase has a smell to it." Chicago's Fickle Pickle, a dark, clean rathskeller-type cafe, is a favorite of the 18-21 set, features nightclub-type entertainment for the price of one or two nonalcoholic drinks per person.
Parents and police are thoroughly aware of the important role the teen-age club plays in keeping the youngsters off the streets and out of mischief. "If I wasn't here," said one ducktailed Boston club patron last week, "I'd be out stealing hubcaps." For the ordinary teen-agers with less tendency to delinquency, the clubs' value is more positive: like San Francisco's Claudia French, teen-agers across the U.S. are finding food, fun and, most important, friends under one companionable roof, designed especially for them.
"Some places," said an L.A. teenager, "you ask a girl to dance and she really freezes you. But here at the Stick, you say 'Wanna dance?' and she jumps right up and says 'Yeah, sure.' "
* Exceptions: Hawaii, 20, and Xew York, 18; Mississippi is the last dry state.