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From stripper poles to rock and roll, big changes are afoot on Southeast Foster Road as the longtime strip club Trophy’s Exotic Lounge (formerly known as Shimmers) is redeveloped into a music venue and arts space.
One of the seedier clubs in Southeast Portland came to a quiet close in May after an impressive 30-year run. It was only shuttered for a short while before Portland musician and booker Josh Malm answered a classified ad placed by landlord Sandra McLeod.
“The universe works in mysterious ways, and apparently I was simply in the right place at the right time by way of an otherwise seemingly tragic turn of events at my previous location,” Malm says of the business opportunity.
Malm, who has performed as the Americana act Redwood Son over the years, was looking for his next big project due to an ongoing legal dispute with the property owner of his former Lake Oswego club Gemini Bar & Grill that resulted in its shutdown. Malm then set his sights on opening something that carried on the Gemini spirit in Portland and soon came across a listing for the freshly closed strip club at 8000 Southeast Foster Road.
McLeod had been making moves with the adjoining lot as she welcomed a commissary kitchen and the newly relocated coffee shop Carnelian in hopes of giving the somewhat shabby stretch that connects the Foster-Powell neighborhood with Lents a bit of revitalization.
“When I bought the property, I saw it could be more and have strived and invested in improvements,” McLeod says. “Song Bar will be a magnet for gathering.”
Malm also saw the potential and quickly made a deal with McLeod to transform it into a music and arts space. “I truly believe that this particular part of town is beginning to boom in a very special, unique way,” Malm says. “Mount Scott, Woodstock, Foster-Powell, Mount Tabor and Happy Valley all seem to want to converge here.”
Calling the new venue Song Bar—an acronym for “same old new Gemini,” a nod to his former Lake Oswego club—Malm plans to open its doors Oct. 1. At its core, it will serve as a community-minded music venue with a capacity of about 150. Malm hopes to book both local and touring acts with an eclectic musical range that will include Americana, country, rock and roll, and folk. He also sees it as a space for all-ages shows, comedy acts, hip-hop, soul and R&B nights, and even podcast tapings and spoken-word poetry.
Besides the music, Malm is working with the commissary kitchen across the parking lot on a menu of artisan pizza, barbecue and desserts. The food portion of the business will be known as the Westicana Cafe. He is also planning an extensive mocktail section of the drinks list to accompany the locally and regionally focused beer, wine and spirits.
At the moment, Malm and his team are working to shift the space from a strip club to a cultural hub. They’ve added multiple patios and are revamping the interior to be welcoming to musicians, functioning sort of like a mix of Laurelthirst, Showdown Saloon and Dante’s with a Nashville-songwriter edge. For now he has kept the original stage, bar and wood paneling from the former club.
Malm is looking forward to replacing the stripper poles with instruments and microphones. He hopes to establish Song Bar as a bustling spot on what has historically been a dark and quiet part of Southeast Foster Road.
“I do believe that this particular footprint lends itself almost perfectly and seamlessly to a live music venue,” Malm says. “We have kept some of the original appeal, mixed with a brand-new business model and layout.”