Deja Vu Showgirls sign removed Thursday in Spokane Valley as part of transition to human-trafficking refuge

When Dionne Varney heard that the Deja Vu Showgirls sign was being taken down, she was sick to her stomach. Having worked in the strip club for 14 years, she remembers becoming an adult within its black painted walls.

“This was a huge part of my life. I remodeled this place – I did the first remodel, that was when I was manager,” she said Thursday morning, scanning the gutted interior of the old club. She pointed out spots that she had memories of, good and bad. A remodeled shower here, the first place she did meth there.

Outside, in the wind and rain, workers took down the Showgirls sign Thursday. Weather conditions prevented the removal of the Deja Vu letters, which will stay up until after the Fourth of July holiday.

The historic Spokane Valley building has a long history in the area, according to previous Spokesman-Review stories and Jayne Singleton, director of the Spokane Valley Museum. Built in 1938 by A.T. Dishman as the family-friendly Dishman Theater, the building was sold in the ’70s and the new owners began showing X-rated films. In the late ’80s, the building turned into the first Deja Vu Showgirls strip club. Deja Vu was shut down in 2023.

Varney walked out of Deja Vu in 2008, joining the Union Gospel Mission’s drug rehabilitation program. She describes this time as when she “went over to the light.” After the initial emotion, she now draws connections between her life and the new purpose of the building – as a refuge for human-trafficking survivors.

“I loved this place. I loved it, and I am going to love it even more for what it is going to become,” Varney said.

Christian organization Helping Captives has made headlines multiple times since purchasing the building due to the shift from an adult entertainment hub to a refuge for survivors of human trafficking.

While staff at Helping Captives sees the removal of the signs as an exciting step forward, not everybody feels the same.

Previous dancer Ashe Ryder said that the building was like a home to her and some of her colleagues.

“Flat out, it sucks. Not like the idea of it (being a human trafficking refuge), but you know, I have a lot of memories of that place and that was where I started dancing,” Ryder said.

Caleb Altmeyer, chief executive of Helping Captives, said the decision to take down the sign has prompted many reactions.

“We’ve had just a lot of different people have a lot of different feelings about it, but I think at this point it’s just time to move forward,” Altmeyer said.

The signs are slated to be taken to a landfill by Mountain Dog Sign Co., the firm that removed them, despite several interested buyers in the community.

“These signs aren’t trophies. They aren’t anything to be glorified,” said Shelly Engle, the executive administrator of Helping Captives.

Altmeyer also didn’t believe selling the signs was appropriate.

“Where are they going to go? Another strip club? Another place that’s going to make money off of exploiting women? That’s exactly the opposite of our mission,” Altmeyer said.

Altmeyer clarified that though he believes strip clubs exploit women, he is aware that not all women in them are forced to be there.

Helping Captives decided to donate one small neon “D” that is still on the building – which has been a part of it since it was still the Dishman Theater – to the Spokane Valley Museum as a historical artifact.

The building will be painted and have new signs put up once Helping Captives can raise $650,000 to pay off the mortgage. In the meantime, the building will be used for prayer and worship nights, Altmeyer said in a follow-up text.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Semi Bird plans to be at the former Spokane Valley strip club on Sunday to discuss human trafficking.

Varney said the work has brought up mixed emotions.

“I still have that part of me that’s like, ‘Well they’re tearing down my life,’ ” Varney said. “But I’m like, ‘No, it’s catching up to where I am.’ ”