Portland’s Fame As The Strip Club Capital Of America Highlighted In The Documentary “Cheers!”

With an unusually large number of strip clubs, Portland’s “Keep Portland Weird” slogan is getting competition with a documentary produced by filmmaker Megan Ashley Alan’s new documentary film, “Cheers! Portland, The Strip Club Capital of America” which will be screened in a Portland cinema this week.

“Cheers! Portland, The Strip Club Capital of America” Screening

On-screen at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, September 12, at Cinema 21 in Portland. A portion of the documentary’s ticket sales will benefit the Oregon Sex Workers Committee- an Oregon-based non-profit advocating for sex workers through education events, decriminalization efforts, and policy change.

Alan is exploring the possibility of another screening space to do an encore screening and hopes to get into the Portland Film Festival in October.

Portland, The Strip Club Capital Of America

While some may see strip clubs as a further indication of Portland’s Urban Decay, Alan’s documentary is an insightful look into the strip club industry, the real people who work in the industry, and their clients. Dancers at strip clubs, patrons, and others were interviewed to explore what makes Portland strip culture stand out.

A 2015 Priceonomics analysis indicated that Portland tops a list of “America’s Strippiest Cities.” For the documentary, the 34-year-old Alan- who grew up in Longview, Washington, and who earned a degree in media arts and film studies at Occidental College, in Los Angeles, tried to go in as a blank slate, to learn, and attempt to dispel her preconceived ideas or judgments.

See also: Portland Oregon Named as One of the Wildest Party Cities in the U.S.

Alan- who identifies as a lesbian, had very limited experience with strip clubs starting out and only attended strip clubs initially as part of her own coming out experience. The documentary project was pitched to her by Ken Griggs, a strip club regular and a friend of a friend.

Griggs has been a Portland-area strip club regular since the 1990s and found strip clubs were unique in Portland. Alan was immediately hooked when she sat down to discuss the project with Griggs, who acted as executive producer and financier.

Alan has worked on the project and now feels pretty strongly that “strip clubs can be amazing places for women to progress, and improve their lives.”

See also: Wondering What to Do in Portland? Here Are 16 Fun Things to Do!

Documentary Explores Portland Strip Clubs

The boom in Portland, strip clubs- according to Oregon Encyclopedia,  can be traced to ‘The State vs. Henry,’ a landmark 1987 Oregon Supreme Court decision that protects all-nude stripping under the First Amendment.

The Rose City’s reputation as a strip club hub got further attention when Liv Osthus, known under the stage name, Viva Las Vegas, announced she was running for Portland mayor. This was greeted with skepticism in some quarters, particularly after a Toronto Star headline read, “Stripper running for mayor of beleaguered Portland.”

The filmmaking process was one Alan found rewarding, as she was mostly interviewing her peers- women in their late 20s or early 30s, who had just chosen a different life path. Some of these women had backgrounds in dance but made more money stripping than they ever could as professional dancers.

Alan also explored the idea that a lot of Americans have of people who go to strip clubs being perverts, going to strip clubs with gross intentions. In contrast, she found that in Portland, many people go to meet their friends, socialize, and be entertained. She found the quality of entertainment in a Portland strip club to be unmatched.

The quality of human connection transpiring in strip club spaces surprised Alan who feels people just want to be seen, whether it’s onstage dancing, or getting the attention a customer is happy to pay for.

While many dancers chose to perform in strip clubs as a path to financial independence, with freedom and control over their own schedules, some women are exploited, but this is seldom the case.

Strippers have also made efforts to unionize and protest, but the film is not a social activism piece. Alan hopes that viewers will see the community and camaraderie in the industry and said, ” My hope is that the industry is humanized for people, and less stigmatized.”