Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also creep) a lowdown dancing club.

1930		J.P. McEvoy Hollywood Girl 18: The Fuzzy-Wuzzy... a creep joint in Harlem.
1944		C.S. Montanye ‘Shoulder Straps’ in Thrilling Detective Feb. 🌐 The Mirado [...] was the creep where he had seen the Hooker the night before. By daylight the place was pretty sad. Shabby and tarnished around the edges.

2. a brothel or unwholesome apartment house, esp. one where patrons are robbed.

1921		H.B. Woolston Prostitution in the US 111: Negro ‘panel houses’ and ‘creep joints’ where systematic robbery was carried out were reported but not investigated.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 56: Creep Joint. – A house or apartment especially prepared to make the robbery of amorous males more simple. Enticed to the ‘joint’ by a woman, the unwary victim places his clothes on a chair, clothes-hook or rack near a wall, cupboard or chest of drawers. In due time a panel in the wall or chest of drawers is quietly opened and the woman’s ‘pimp’ or associate searches the clothing for money or valuables. The name comes into use since the thief quietly sneaks or creeps behind the wall or panel so as not to awaken or warn the victim.
1941		A. Lomax Mister Jelly Roll (1952) 50: Creep joints where they’d put the feelers on a guy’s clothes.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 139: What kinda creep joint you running here?
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 102: Such a creeper often is a prostitute who supplements her income by creeping out from beneath a bed and stealing a customer’s money. An establishment in which this sort of thing occurs frequently is a creep joint.

3. (also creeper) a ‘floating’ gambling game, operating in a different location each night.

1933		J. Spenser Limey 163: It’s a ‘creep joint’ over at Long Beach, an’ it’s a dandy little spot for what we want.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 30: creeper, creep joint. A gambling joint which, to avoid police raids, changes its location often.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 52/2: Creep-joint. [...] 2. A floating craps, card, or roulette game.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

4. anywhere run by unpleasant or unpopular people [creep n. (3)].

1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 159: This creepjoint gets me.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 116: I want to make out [...] this creep joint feels like it’s a million miles away.