A WORD TO ASPIRING business owners: Do not get on the wrong side of a neighborhood association chair with a Ph.D. Convinced that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) was doing a shoddy job vetting the owners of strip club planned for NE 33rd and Sandy, Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association Chair (and Portland State University Economics Professor) Eric Fruits went digging on his own.
Though applicant Tracy Doss listed managing a bar in Ohio on the OLCC’s required personal history form, Fruits discovered that Doss actually owned or managed four Columbus, Ohio bars. One of those bars, a joint named B.K. Flyers, had its liquor license renewal application denied after a bizarre 1993 event got it in hot water with local politicians and animal rights activists: drunken human versus bear wrestling.
According to articles in the Columbus Dispatch, Doss’ bar scheduled multiple nights in which dozens of “drunken college students” would pay $10 each to wrestle a 900-pound, 7’6“ bear named Ceasar “who had his teeth and claws and was not muzzled.” Three people succeeded in pinning Ceasar, winning $1,000 each.
In response to complaints over the bar’s bar-bearic event, Columbus City Council moved to ban not only bear wrestling, but also kangaroo boxing and “donkey diving.”
Fruits presented this information to the OLCC board last Thursday, December 17, during a vote on whether to approve the license for Doss’ new Sandy venture, Mynt Gentlemen’s Club. The Portland Police Bureau and Laurelhurst neighbors officially recommended denying the strip club’s license earlier this year, saying the location (the previous home of La Fortuna Mexican Restaurant) had a bad history and so did Doss [“Fat Chance,” News, Nov 26]. But leading up to the board’s decision, OLCC staff recommended approving the license despite complaints. The staff report reads that although La Fortuna had four violent incidents in 24 months, including a homicide, “the problems do not appear to rise to the level of problems that the commission has determined are serious and persistent.”
Given the omissions from Doss’ liquor license application, the OLCC decided last Thursday to postpone a vote on the strip club until February.
“This is the best I could have expected,” says Fruits.
Doss declined comment on his OLCC application and former bar’s bear-wrestling event.
Wait – “dozens of students paid $10 each” and three of them won $1,000 each? Even if we assume a dozen dozen, that’s only $1,440 from the door against $3,000 paid out for prizes! So the guy’s dumb enough to let drunk people wrestle a live, unmuzzled bear in his bar AND dumb enough to LOSE money doing it? So awesome.
My biggest ethical concern is for the bear. When the bear beats a student, what does the bear win? $1000 worth of fish chum? A pic-a-nic basket made of gold?
Aha, ahahahahaha! What happened to the students who *didn’t* pin the bear? I notice they’re not mentioned here…Oh god. How drunk would you have to be? Wrestling a bear is never, ever a good idea.
I can see that building from my bedroom window and I can also hear the music that comes out of it. I’m really not too enthused about drunk, slobbering, horny douchebags parking in front of my house to go support this idiot’s business.
this douchebag has some serious bad karma
You may call me dubious. I can’t see a (probably) drunk person pinning a 700 pound bear. And with his teeth and claws, and not muzzled. I couldn’t get that drunk, and I used to do some crazy shit when I used to drink. I sometimes wonder why I’m still alive.
And what the hell is “donkey diving”?
Bears and strippers? Excellent combo. The only thing better is Russian bears playing ice hockey.
@TimH – What about all the strippers who’ll be lining up on that sidewalk in their stage outfits to sneak a cigarette, now that you can’t smoke inside?
$10 for bear wrestling? how much do i have to pay for twink wrestling?
at last and about time! some real night-life for PDX!
well-fed bears and chastened drunks – who could ask for more?
the taxes this business pays should just about cover the expenses for the building inspection, don’t you think?
. . . and that’s what you get for living there in the first place
eric fruits is a hero- definitley not a busy body… he lead the crusade to stop the renaiming of 39th and has banned bears and other wildlife..sounds like a real leader that portland can sink its teath into! we should keep our eyes on dr. fun here
Eric Fruits has a Ph.D. in economics, but is actually a professor in the Urban Studies & Planning department at PSU.