The Tender Trap operated on Sunday nights, in the theatre-restaurant room of the legendary Les Girls building in Sydney's infamous Kings Cross, New South Wales.
The Les Girls building carried some intense history; it was owned by Sydney identity Abe Saffron; Kings Cross activist Juanita Nielsen was last seen here; various ghosts were rumoured to call it home.
The essential mix was live cabaret entertainment, together with DJs playing their cherished vinyl LP collections featuring lounge music, jazz, Latin, funk, soul, and the incredibly strange.
The original fixtures of the room were embraced and enhanced, including red cloth-covered tables, candles, chandeliers, velvet flock wallpaper, and the central focus – the cabaret stage.
Fellow filmmaker Dr. Robert Herbert was the art director, graphic designer, and "late night" DJ; renowned film editor Nick Meyers was the lighting designer, and in later years architect Rory Toomey the lighting operator; filmmakers Catherine Lowing and Sophie Jackson (aka "Schatzi") were the glamorous door girls; and other regular DJs included musician Andy Travers, Senor Bambu Brent Clough, Trevor “El Chino” Parkee, and jetsetters "King" Dom Harding and Mark Wells.
Ali Higson, a leading light in the Sydney belly dance scene, discovered and managed the cabaret acts, the “international artistes”, as well as appearing herself as the Mysterious Zena and the ever popular Ms Claus at the Tender Trap Christmas parties.
Some of the most popular acts that performed at the club were drawn from Sydney's diverse ethnic community, and included Chinese plate spinner Miss Jerry Liu, Yao Zu Fu – the Monkey Man!, the Pearls of Polynesia, Voodoo Queen Desiree, and of course an array of exotic belly dancers.
Celebrities had to pay to get in – they included Leonardo DiCaprio, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, Russell Crow, Geoffrey Rush, numerous touring rockers such as Urge Overkill and Donovan Leitch.