Boobs With a Side of Soy

Dear Ms. Hogan,

Your vegan vaj-jay-jay article rocked my world. Ladies, License to hooch.

Sincerely,

Ms. Beanie

Snakeskin heels, murder victims?

Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!!!

This guy sounds great. I think I'll have to throw on my leather jacket, grab a Slim-Jim and go check this place out.

Vegan nudie bar. Only in Portland. LOL!!!

I think the key thing here is that it's Non-Smoking. For those of us who don't want to have to come out stinking like tobacco and hacking our lungs out this is a nice addition to the Portland landscape.

The thing I have to take exception with is the quote "Pirates Tavern went out of business in December 2007, Diablo says, because most vegans live at the poverty level or below." This statement is just wrong. If you got up to Nutshell in N Portland you'll see a thriving high end business with plenty of vegans living quite well thank you.

Each year the Vegan Festivals in town are packed and vegan friendly businesses do some serious business in this town because it is so very veg friendly and the vegan community is represented by a wide range of people from all walks of life and socioeconomic status.

Diablo(w), needs to get off his high horse! I have to hope that the vegan strip club does well solely based on the fact that I can appreciate diversity in vegan businesses. However, I wish this fool would stop making excuses for his bad business practices and stop making statements that could be perceived as discouraging to other possible vegan businesses. If we are all poor-ass dumpster-diving vegans, then why would we be stopping by the new SweetPea bakery for a donut, latte and Boston Cream Pie for dessert after said diving takes place? Doesn't make sense. But, maybe this will though: I tried going to Pirate's Tavern 3 or 4 times... I really had to push myself to return after every visit. Every-time I felt like the staff were nervous, the owner was sleazy, rude (certainly acting like an self-conscious secret society overlord) and the food was priced at about twice what it should be. Not to mention the crappy atmosphere. Why would any vegan in their right mind spend $12 on a plate of soggy pasta with a micro-waved boca burger and frozen veggies on top when you can go to Nutshell and pay the same for something original, fresh and in an interesting atmosphere where the staff isn't given 10-lashes and forced to walk the plank.

Maybe he found his new calling in the world of sleeze. It sounds more fitting and I hope so. But I hope more-so that he stops blaming his failings on the very community that he wants to gain the support of. There is a lot of money in this town being spent by the vegan hoards (and their buddies) and proof of it with all of the other successful businesses. I know I take my hard earned (well above poverty line) income to Blossoming Lotus alone at least 3 times a week.... that is after I have a little appetizer of fried dumpster tofu with green sauce.

I would have to agree with everything said in this comment! evry time I went into Pirates tavern (4 total) I left feeling seriously disturb and ripped off! the food was hit or miss(if they even had what you wanted?) the staff was poor in customer service! and the prices! WOW! $$$$ serious cash for a meal I only could stand 2 bites from, and if not that I always left still feeling hungry! I cold never take anyone there due to how it would make Vegans look with boring food and poor display!...I love the Vegan community here in Portland! I moved here from London and found this place a mecka for Vegans! we have a full on vegan Grocery thats super affordible! a vegan bakery! vegan tattoo shop! yeah Portlands good!

If being smoke free is the only thing keeping this place in business, I estimate it has about 10 months and 3 weeks to live.

Veganism in it's self refuses to exploit animals for our pleasure. So, the contrast between this type of pornography and said lifestyle choice is readily black and white. While I'm not in opposition to the sex indrusty, this hypocrisy of vehemently refusing to use animals as object yet viewing women as then is offensive.

What I see is a direct correlation between the consumption of meat and patriarchy. Think of a butcher shop in comparison to the way males in our society picture women, and how our language is used to objectify them. We also live in a society that institutionalizes animals i.e. markets, zoos, laboratories and circuses. Can anyone see the comparison?

I believe veganism to be an important choice in the goal of disassembling patriarchy. So I ask: isn't this taking us back a step?

Brian Perkel

NE Portland

Women don't need men telling them what they can and can't do with their own bodies. case closed.

I'm glad you pointed out the correlation. However, with massive organizations like PETA advocating that we redirect our consumption of animal parts to the objectification of female parts, establishments such as these don't come as much of a jolt.

Spoken like a man.

And if that seems to be a reductionist statement, it is meant to be. I'm only responding in kind.

Let women decide for themselves how they want to get/feel empowered. As if this needs to actually be said: the main difference between objectification of women and animals is that animals don't have a whisper of a choice. Women sometimes don't get much choice, but female empowerment can only come from choice. You getting hot and bothered about female objectification isn't much different from the men getting hot and bothered by the women you reckon are being objectified. The only difference I see is that they are getting off on lust, and you are getting off on righteousness. Thanks Brian. Let's hope your kleenex was organic cotton and re-usable.

Hear! Hear! While the responses to your comment aren't surprising, they are hypocritical at best. For years now we've told men that to objectify us is a bad thing, and yet since the 90s at least our society glorifies our objectification more and more. I agree completely though that it's a stripper's choice to be objectified, but what about all the women who don't make that choice, but are still viewed in the same light because of the actions of strippers? Should we have to just stand by and let other women degrade our gender without speaking up. What about our rights to be heard and taken seriously? It almost seems like in this day in age, if I want to be noticed, I have to flash my crotch, or make a homemade porno. Is that what we want to be teaching out daughters?

Brian is right, the man has every right to open an adult business, but to take the moral high ground on meat eating and yet encourage and support the degradation of women is hypocritical and disgusting!

Part of being a vegan is usually respect and compassion for animals. Women of course are animals, so i see some nice irony in having a vegan strip club where the non human animals would be treated better than the strippers.

of course many women have no problem with strip clubs, but it seems we have inculturated women to think its ok to abuse themselves.

So please, explain to me, how making a healthy income for minimal work (compared to those of us with forty hour a week, "respectable" jobs) is "abuse?" These girls dance because they choose to and most of them actually enjoy their jobs. Yes, you do find the occasional drug addiction and girl with issues, but what career don't you find that? Do you honestly think you've never had your groceries bagged by an addict who's making seven dollars an hour to support their habit? To me that is more exploitative and abusive than a girl who is earning big bucks and enjoying doing it, all at her own pace.

This whole "Stripping is exploitative and objectifies women" bullshit always makes me eyes roll. I can only believe that it comes from self conscious, ashamed-of-their-own-bodies pseudo-intellectuals who are simply happy to have a target for their holier than thou arrogance. Give it a rest, please, and let people live their lives as they see fit. After all, isn't "tolerance" supposed to be the social Panacea of modern times?

It requires a less superficial investigation of the issues to see the full impact of the sex industry, stripping, and the objectification of women on society. If you reveiw the statistics, you will find that women are raped, beaten, and murdered by their male partners at staggering numbers. The chronic and omnipresent objectification of women's bodies in our culture sanctions this. It makes it nearly impossible for men and women both to see the extent to which women's humanity is stripped away by these acts. We could all stand to reflect on Harriet Tubman's quote (which I am paraphrasing here): " I could have freed thousands more, if only I could have convinced them that they were slaves". For some thought provoking feminist reads, try here: www.bitchmagazine.org or pick up some bell hooks to read, or take a (good) women's studies class.

Bridge,

Crime stats are difficult things, what with under-reporting, over-reporting and mis-reporting. The only crime stat that is really any good is murder victims. There, men are murdered more than three times more often than women. Sure voilence against women is a problem, but a minor problem compared to violence against men. I'd love to cut my chances of being murdered by to a third.

Reminds me of porn done in the era where the definition of obscenity was "lacking all redeamable social value" - you'd have some chick do the whole 7th fleet and then give a monologue stating that while she'd do Tom, Dick and Harry, she wouldn't do Borris because he was a worthless communist, ruining the minds of our youth. Just another twist on self serving sanctimony.

"Johnny Diablo"? lol. This joker is trying way too hard.

vegan strip club... I get it, so the strippers finally don't feel like a piece of meat! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Did you see the picture of this guy? I don't know that vegans have a certain look about'em, but if they do, he wouldn't be a good poster-child. If people believe you are what you eat, it could be a serious marketing problem. He looks like he just slaughtered a bunch of pigs and drank their blood.

"Johnny Diablo" went by the name John Zukle before he entered the world of strip club ownership.

John's philosophy (from the CD website):

What is Casa Diablo Gentlemen's Club all about? It's about dispelling the myths and lies that permeates human existence. It's about grabbing God by the balls and saying, "Hey, I'm not taking anymore of your shit, asshole!" There is a new king in town and we are taking over.

--------------------

Gee whiz John, that's real class. Your mother must be so proud. I sure hope you aren't waiting for the Portland veg community to show up in support of your new place. By the way...one of the main reasons Pirates Tavern failed was the shitty location. Did you bother to do any research before you decided to open a restaurant there? Will the result be any different with a strip club? We will know with time.

Dear Mr. Diablo -

For your information, The Pirate's Tavern most certainly did NOT go out of business because most vegans "live at or below the poverty line". The Pirate's Tavern went out of business because:

A) It was out in the middle of nowhere.

B) The food was both crap & massively overpriced ($14 for stroganoff that tastes like it came out of a can or a box? PLEASE!) - if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I'd rather spend it at Nutshell & get something that tastes like it was prepared by an actual chef.

C) The service sucked. It was not unusual for me (at any of the half a dozen times I generously patronized your establishment) to have to wait 30 minutes to even get my order taken. Not to mention getting blatantly ignored by the waitstaff, having my order come completely wrong, or having the waitress simply forget to put my order in with the chef at all!

D) You, yourself walking around the restaurant, obviously intoxicated, being obnoxious & violating everyone else's personal space.

Honestly, you're going to need to find a decent gimmick to suck in the non-vegans to your "Gentlemen's Club", since all you seem to like to do with your target demographic is insult them & tell lies about them to cover your shortcomings, and then walk around & purport yourself to be vegan & make the rest of us look bad. Really bad.

Mr. Diablo has been flailing around in the Portland

scene for years now. The food at Pirates Tavern was awful. Absolutely awful. Apparently he likes to

bad rap other people and businesses quite a lot.

This is a big waste of time and degrades the entire

point of running a vegan business. We are all in this together, people, and all this negativity and bizzare chat about God and The Devil is completely

absurd, childish, and says more about its author than the issue at hand, which is the suffering of our fellow creatures on shrinking planet earth.

He is quoted on KPTV today saying, “We put the meat on the pole, not on the plate.” This guy is such a clown.

All I can say is this guy is one serious idiot. Anyone taking odds on how long he'll be in business. I think six months is very generous!

The reviews of this club in both the PDX dancer and vegan community (both of which I consider myself a part of) are mixed. I have yet to visit the club, but I am curious to see it for myself. As for the owner's claim that it is the only non-smoking club in town...NOT TRUE! Lucky Devil Lounge is non-smoking and also offers vegetarian and vegan fare on their menu.

Since they opened a full week before Lucky Devil, they were the first and only smoke free club for that week.

Which is probably when they made the first and only claims.

Well in January 2009 everything will be smoke-free. This business is a time bomb, mark my words.

Personally for vegan food I like the blossoming lotus. It is so delicious and healthy. The food at CD is disgusting.

I see some roast beef in some of those pictures. Vegan my ass.

I am sitting here shaking my head, amazed at the audacity of someone who is wanting my business. I am a vegan and love the vegan/vegetarian community in Portland, and do my best to support new business that open in this arena. I believe vegans are intelligent, active in society and politice, open minded, compassionate, successful and OH MY professional!!! Yes I own a house and a couple of cars - but I'm vegan so I must live at or near the poverty line. I cannot believe the garbage coming out of this "gentleman's" mouth. Pirates did not fail because of us - it was the lack of cleanliness (food all over the menus? come on!), lack of good food, lack of service....do I really need to go on? What a joke.

Why no wool or silk? Is this because the animals are being exploited and not free to choose their day to day activities? If so, I sure hope there aren't any hypocrites who own pets who work there. Dogs don't like being enslaved either.