From smutty to sacred: Spokane Valley strip club is being reborn

Stripper bar Deja Vu Showgirls has been sold and will soon operate as a religious organization that helps victims of human trafficking.

Helping Captives, a Spokane Valley Christian group that works to help victims of human trafficking, closed a deal to purchase the property Wednesday, according to Caleb Altmeyer, CEO and founder of the organization.

“This project isn’t just about redeeming an old building,” Altmeyer said in a statement. “It is a symbol and opportunity to redeem lives.”

Altmeyer declined to comment further or disclose the selling price. According to a press release from the group, leaders plan to turn the property at 8722 E. Sprague Ave. into the future headquarters of their “unashamedly Christian ministry.”

Built in 1938, the location opened as the Dishman Theater, according to former stories and historical background.

The theater held more than 500 customers, with the tower spelling “Dishman” instead of the current name. It operated as a theater until Interstate 90 absorbed much of the traffic that fed it with customers. In 1978, the business transitioned to showing pornographic films.

It then became Deja Vu in 1989 as part of Deja Vu Services Inc., one of the largest strip club operators in the world.

At first, leaders of Helping Captives were unsure about the building due to its history. But the more they prayed about it, it became apparent that the building met practical needs, according to the news release.

The location is recognizable and easily accessible by a bus stop across the street. It has enough space for current and future office employees such as counselors, case managers and outpatient staff, the group said in the release.

“We ultimately felt that we could honor God by turning this building from a place of exploitation into a place of healing,” the organization said.

Helping Captives provides medical, spiritual and emotional care to victims, as well as 24-hour housing and food. In the last two years, the organization has seen an uptick in needs from women in the Spokane area seeking care, according to the release.

Much of the money to buy the property came from private donations. A sum from a private partner will support the organization for the next six months amid plans to launch a capital campaign to further fund the project, according to the release.

Helping Captives currently operates its office and thrift store at 14415 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley.

Though the sale closed Wednesday, work has been ongoing to renovate the interior of the organization’s new building. That will continue through this weekend, when a group of men will pray over the property and destroy its main stage during a “men’s revival” event.

Jason McQuinn, owner and director of Bear Paw Camp, a Christian camp along the Pend Oreille River near Usk, Washington, will be in attendance.

McQuinn said the event will feature songs and orations from preachers locally and around the country, after which donations will be accepted. The group will present Helping Captives with their first cross that will be fitted to cover up a stripper pole, he said.

Rather than just tearing down the building, McQuinn found it fitting to revamp the space.

“That building represents me and so many others who should have been destroyed,” he said. “It took Jesus coming into my life to redeem me and give me a new calling.

“Jesus’s light is going to shine extra bright in that dark place.”

The project will add to the rich, odd and bawdy history of the property.

In 2019, Deja Vu became the target of a legal effort when Republican State Sen. Mike Padden introduced a measure that would have banned dwarf tossing after such a contest at the bar in October 2018. A Seattle club had hosted a similar event about two months earlier.

Padden said during an announcement of the bill that “it ridicules and demeans people.”

Reporter Thomas Clouse contributed to this report.