august 2 U 199B »
Ban Misfits Assuage the Page?
W ith a new owner and a new name, Portland’s embattled underage queer nightclub
endeavors to walk the fine line between patrons’ expectations
and community-imposed standards
by I nga
U A
É k ind if I smoke?” asks Pete Ryan, a
| n J H dead ringer for Matthew Broderick
■ (circa his May 1997 marriage to
I ▼ W Sarah Jessica Parker).
At 33, Ryan is still quite boyish, very polite
and practically preppy. O n this day, he sports a
Big Dog polo shirt, shorts, socks and sneakers.
His hair is short and dark, his eyes a creamy
brown.
We re sitting inside Misfits Café &
Discotheque, an all-ages dance club aimed at
queer youth, situated at 333 S.W. Park Ave. in
downtown Portland.
Not long ago, this building housed the
Rage, another all-ages club catering to queer
kids. Its owner, Lanny Swerdlow, established
the Rage not long after the shutdown of his
City Nightclub, a lively dance spot popular
with many queer youth—but far less so with
Portland city officials, social service providers
and law enforcement.
Critics slammed both the City and Rage as
seedy, drug- and predator-infested holes that
could only bring harm to youth.
The City Nightclub, which was ensconced
in the cement jungle of the Pearl District near
S orensen •
photos by
Powell’s City of Books, closed in January 1997
after some serious pressure from the powers
that be. With saucy resilience, Swerdlow
skipped across Burnside Street, down a few
blocks, and opened what was then called the
Evolution, later renamed the Rage.
Nearly four months ago, on April 30, feder
al, state and local law enforcement officials
raided the Rage, as well as Swerdlow’s house
boat. While no arrests were made, they confis
cated videos, videocassette recorders, various
computer equipment, a small television and
boxes of folders.
As we told you in our May 15 issue,
“[According to the Oregonian] child pornogra
phy was at the heart of the raid, and...the
Interagency Sexual Exploitation Pro-active
Enforcement Team is investigating.” The probe
is ongoing.
Which circles us back to Mr. Ryan.
“How do I feel about taking over the most
controversial club in Portland?” he quips. “I
don’t mind the controversy, or getting rid of
the bad reputation.”
On July 1, Ryan and his brother, Jerry, took
over ownership of the Rage. They changed the
L inda K liewer
name to Misfits, transformed Hollyrock—the
Gothic room—into an office, and banished
alcohol from the premises. Pete has personally
hit the floor to scrub, swept out a rat carcass or
two, and splashed new paint here and there.
“I’m trying to make the space more open, to
give some positive energy to it,” he says.
“Before, it was so gloomy.”
Additionally, Ryan wants to meet with the
mayor as well as Portland police in order to
start things on the right foot. In Ryan’s world,
the police are not the enemy, nor is the so-
called mainstream.
“It’s really important for these kids to have a
place where they can go and really be them
selves,” says Ryan, who grew up in Oregon
City. “God knows, we didn’t have that when I
was younger, and I really beat myself up about
being gay.... But you’ve got to live the way the
Man says how to live.... We are nothing less
than straight people, but we do live in their
world. We need to educate them.”
It is a philosophy that clearly veers ffom
that of his predecessor.
Swerdlow has long argued the establish
ment was out to get him. To bolster the claim,
he points to the years-long friction between
him and law enforcement, which in part took
the form of the Rage raid and a series of City
Nightclub sweeps.
“After the last raid, I knew it was time to
move on," says Swerdlow.
Moving on manifested itself via Swerdlow’s
decision to sell his club to Ryan.
Their agreement includes a noncompete
clause that, says Ryan, prohibits Swerdlow from
opening a competing business any time soon,
anywhere close.
Swerdlow, who has spawned clubs for queer
youth for two decades, says that after 20 years,
change—however forced— makes sense.
“New blood may be a good thing," he says.
“And I knew after the last raid that, until I’m
out of the picture, [law enforcement] wouldn’t
leave the club alone."
Swerdlow won’t comment about the Rage
raid, the subsequent investigation, or some
nasty rumors floating around concerning the
contents of a supposed videotape.
“I would love to be able to talk about it but
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