The Lucky Devil Lounge and Devil’s Point in Portland, Oregon — both co-owned by Shon Boulden — have had quite a past 12 months. Their innovative “Boober Eats” (later renamed “Lucky Devil Eats” after a cease-and-desist from Uber) received international coverage, made some of their entertainers famous (we’re looking at you, Brodie Grody) and put Shon and Lucky Devil on Rolling Stone‘s list of “33 Moments That Made Us Smile in 2020.”

Shon Boulden
Shon Boulden

In his exclusive interview with ED Publications last year, Boulden stated, “The first publication to pick up on it was (Portland paper) the Willamette Week, then a local news station came down, then the major daily (newspaper), the Oregonian, did a story on it, then a video about what we were doing went on YouTube which got three million views. From there I just started getting all these hits from radio stations, talk radio in Florida, Montreal, Canada, New York, and then my email just started blowing up. As I was going through my email I stumbled on this one from Rolling Stone. I thought holy shit, Rolling Stone! A few hours later we were published in Rolling Stone, then the Huffington Post, New York Post, and then it got even crazier after that. There was a bunch of international stuff; a reporter from Spain, a German reporter came out for three days and did a 20-minute documentary. And MTV just hit us up; they sent us (audio/video equipment) to record our day. People keep sending podcast requests and we get mentions by people like David Spade and Shaquille O’Neal. It’s been a wild ride.”

Shon, Brodie and the rest can now add yet another publication to that impressive list of those celebrating their innovation: Psychology Today.

“Because of the way many people view sex workers, a strip club is not a place we usually expect to find innovation. But regardless of your views on strip clubs, this is true creativity! Creativity, even the everyday kind, knows no bounds, and can just as easily be found on a dimly lit stage as in the halls of the ivory tower.” – Jennifer V. Fayard, Ph.D.

That’s right, the venerable Psychology Today — “the world’s largest mental health and behavioral science destination online” — recently published an article titled, “Finding Creativity at the Strip Club,” where author Jennifer V. Fayard Ph.D., states, “If we were to make a list of the most creative people to emerge from the pandemic, in my estimation, one group of strippers in Oregon is right at the top.”

Fayard goes on to write, “If creativity is problem-solving, the pandemic certainly has provided us with fertile ground for innovation!  One of the biggest challenges small businesses faced in the last year was how to keep their doors open and their employees making a living when it was unsafe to be indoors unmasked.  Quickly after shutdowns began, the owner of a Portland, Oregon strip club [Shon Boulden] came up with an unorthodox solution that was perfect for the times.”

Fayard goes on to explain what the club and its entertainers did with “Boober Eats” (aka Lucky Devil Eats), though she did not mention their “drive-thru strip club” which also garnered national attention and showed even more innovation from Boulden and those Portland entertainers.

Fayard concludes her article this way: “Because of the way many people view sex workers, a strip club is not a place we usually expect to find innovation. But regardless of your views on strip clubs, this is true creativity! Did this business give us a magnificent work of art?  Design an architectural masterpiece? No; but that does not and should not undermine the creativity of their idea. Creativity, even the everyday kind, knows no bounds, and can just as easily be found on a dimly lit stage as in the halls of the ivory tower.”

You can hear more about Shon Boulden’s approach to his 2020 innovations at EXPO 2021, when he appears on our “The Comeback!” panel session (Wednesday, May 26, 11 am to noon) alongside such industry heavyweights as Rick’s Cabaret’s Eric Langan, Deja Vu’s Jason Mohney and The Pony Clubs’ Jerry Westlund.

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