It’s The End Of An Era In Portland

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I just found out two Landmark Strip Clubs I used to go to 40 some years ago are gone.

One was Club 205 on Stark Street by Mall 205.

It was at 99th and Stark and at one time I lived on 84th about a half a block North of Stark so it was literally just down the street.

I’ve written about some of the escapades I had back in the day in that joint before. Including when before it was even called Club 205 and when it was a neighborhood Biker Bar with Strippers when I first found it.

For a Strip Club, they actually had some pretty killer deals on Steak lunches and the steaks were excellent after they remodeled it into Club 205. It was a High End joint for quite a while, almost a Gentleman’s Club.

A buddy I worked with knew the guy who bought their beef and he was the Head Chef of a rather ritzy restaurant in NE Portland at the time.

According to this, it’s been torn down except for one wall so they can call it a “remodel” and Chik-Fil-A is going to build a new fast Food joint.

The other one was actually pretty famous regionally and was a bit South of Portland on the East Side.

The Acropolis Steak House and Strip Club has been listed for sale.

The last time I was in that joint was when my cousin’s boy turned 21 and I think he’s either 36 or 37 now.

I couldn’t tell you how their steaks were because I was always blitzed by the time we got there from Bar Hopping all night back in the 80’s.

Times are a changing.

I don’t know if it’s still true but at one time Portland had more Stripper Bars Per Capita than any other city in the United States.

I do know that now it is full of Homelss Druggies and Commies which are two very good reasons I stay the fuck out of that shithole and two good reasons why I hadn’t been in either one of those bars for years.

That and I got married and quit drinking well over a decade ago.

24 thoughts on “It’s The End Of An Era In Portland”

  1. Damn – we probably met once at the 205. I used to ride into Porkland just for that destination. Acropolis? Only went once.

  2. I had to do some thinking to picture Mall 205. I lived, for a little while, near 155th & Stark. I wasn’t quite old enough to go the clubs at that time, so I didn’t hit that one. I don’t recall the Acropolis either. But for a couple years, a buddy and I used to go to strip joints quite a lot. One in particular was, IIRC, on McLoughin Blvd. Thinking back, I don’t how I could afford to do that. Somehow, there was always money for bars and cigarettes.

  4. Was at the Mall 205 Home Depot 3 days ago. It’s out of the way but that store usually has more inventory than the rest. Existing traffic in that area is already dreadful. Noticed the under-construction Chik-Fil-A. Every Chik-Fil-A we’ve seen has HUGE traffic problems. This restaurant will NOT have enough parking. Streets will not be able to handle the increase in traffic. Time to find a different Home Depot.

  5. I was never at the Club 205, just drove by when I went down Stark street, but the Acropolis! I went there a few times. I was 16 my first time, brother was home for leave and he decided I needed to pop my cherry with strip clubs. Glad I looked like an older dude and was not carded. I remember they had good Gyros sandwiches. The other strip club(can’t remember the name) up in Milwaukie, right off Mcloughlin as it made those weird curves by the train tracks was another place I went to a few times as a young stud muffin. That brought back some memories…

    • We must be talking about the same place. Now if you can honestly tell me you’ve been to the Horse Brass Pub, I’ll shit my pants.

      • I can’t say that I have, I wasn’t a pub crawler but did enjoy a occasional boys night out with my brother or buddies. Do you know of the titty bar I described? It was a mile or so North of the Acropolis a little off of McLoughlin. Do you remember or know of that titty bar?

        I tried to find the Acropolis and that titty bar on googled maps and could not find either one.

        • https://maps.app.goo.gl/1UdvwLFyEvNjLUEm6 – Acropolis

          I’m pretty uncertain about the other place. Hell, maybe I’m thinking of the Acropolis, but IIRC, there was parking out front. A mile N of the Acropolis puts it closer the Ross Island Bridge, but nothing looks familiar to me there. Google maps is making my browser go wonky, so trying to virtually drive McLoughlin is getting difficult.

        • I remember the one your talking about.
          That was a good one
          This whole thread brings back memories.
          That place was on the corner of 99, 10th and Insley.
          I could be wrong, it could have been 18th and 99.
          Remember Dillingers…down by the Bomber?
          My friends and I must have been to at least 75% of the clubs in the 96-93 time frame.
          But I always remember the ‘Crop, one of my early childhood memories, such a gaudy building.
          We used to pick up that monthly flyer with the map, and try to hit as many as we could in a night.
          There were 2 up near the intersection of NE Cully and Prescott when I live in the NE.
          OMG the Jug is still there
          I moved away back in ’99.
          Visited friends for several years, I could beleive what they allowed last time I was in one

  6. I remember being on a service call in Portland. I didn’t know the area, so I asked the guys in the shop where I could get lunch. They went on and on about the food at the Acropolis. It wasn’t until 5 minutes into this conversation that it was revealed that it was a strip club. I thought if the first thing they are raving about is the food there, the women must be homely as hell. I avoided that place.

  7. The 70’s and strip clubs. What a great time that was. A cold beer and titties bouncing in your face !

  8. Dang! Most strippers per capita is saying something if it beat out Houston!
    There seemed to be strip club on every corner when I moved here back in the 80’s.

  9. We used to go to a strip club called Dauphine Steak House in a strip mall in Springfield, VA for lunch, they had good food.
    It was just south of DC so a lot of tourists would stay near there and take the metro to DC.
    Just about every lunch a family would bop in for a steak lunch.
    Everybody’s jaw would drop, mom would cover the kid’s eyes and drag them out the door, then come back in and grab dad.
    It was hilarious.

    • If its the place I remember, the strippers wore pasties. Had a burger there. Never tried the steak.

  10. Dated too damn many strippers back in the 80s. Most, but not all, had some severely fucked up heads.
    A couple were very smart and just working their way through school to avoid student loans and building up good down payments on a house, or just bought a house straight up.

  11. “We stopped at the tittie bar because they have great steaks,”……….Yeah, right. You probably read Playboy for the great articles, too.

  13. I can confirm that the steaks at the Acropolis were fantastic! My buddy Gene took me there back in the 90’s. Several times!

  14. I hit the Acropolis a few times in the 80’s and its all a bit hazy but I do remember a dancer named Libby…..

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