Seedy Portland Strip Club Now a Church

Portland strip club Soobies had such a bad reputation it lost its liquor license and was forced to sell juice. New owners still serve juice... but with communion. It's now a church.

Authorities accused the club owners of being lax about drug use, public urination, prostitution and worse. The club just kept going through the punishments until a gang shooting finally got them closed for good.

Located in between a Burgerville and a funeral home, the building deserved a better tenant and neighbors were literally praying for one.

The right person upstairs must have heard, because a church won the lease. 

Evangelical group Shepherd's Gate Church had broken off from another church a few years ago and had never had its own building. They replaced the stripper pole with a pulpit and barstools with folding chairs and painted off-white over seedy red on the walls.

It's big news when a church becomes a sketchy night club. Only in weird Portland does it go the other way around.