Déjà Vu (company)

Deja Vu Services, Inc.

Formerly	Deja Vu Consulting, Inc. / Deja Vu, Inc.
Company type	Private Corporation
Industry	Adult Entertainment
Founded	1968
Founder	Harry Mohney
Headquarters	Las Vegas, Nevada , USA
Number of locations	200+
Area served	International
Revenue	$400M+ Annually
Number of employees	8,000+
Website	www.dejavu.com

Deja Vu Services, Inc., is an American company that operates nearly 200 strip clubs in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Canada, and Mexico.^[1]

It also operates a large chain of adult retail stores, adult websites, adult production studios, gay bars, nightclubs, sports bars, karaoke bars, restaurants, and has substantial real estate holdings.

As the largest strip club operator in the world, it is also one of the largest adult businesses in history.^[2]^[3] Its flagship locations in Las Vegas and Tijuana are the largest adult nightclubs in the World.^[4]^[5]

The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Harry Mohney, who opened his first Deja Vu Showgirls club in Lake City, WA, in 1985 with partners Larry Flynt and Roger Forbes. Deja Vu had a humble beginning when Mohney secured employment in the early 1960s as a projectionist at a drive-in movie theater in Durand, Michigan, later converting the failing enterprise into the infamous "Durand Dirties" drive-in porn theater.^[6] The company quickly grew to over 300 adult theaters and stores nationally. Mohney pioneered the concept of the modern strip club in 1971, opening various "go-go" bars in the Midwest.^[7] An elusive man often referred to as the "Howard Hughes of Porn," Mohney was the largest distributor of pornography from the late '60s to the mid '90s,^[8] grossing nearly $1 billion in the distribution business between 1970 and 1998. That business largely concluded with Mohney serving three years in federal prison for tax-related crimes.^[9] While he was indicted over 100 times, this was the only charge that ever resulted in a conviction.

While Deja Vu's clubs operate under nearly 30 brand names, many are called Deja Vu Showgirls, Little Darlings, Dream Girls, Larry Flynt's HUSTLER Club, or HUSTLER's Barely Legal Club. Mohney's long-time friend, Larry Flynt, licensed Deja Vu the brand names for the HUSTLER Clubs and HUSTLER Hollywood stores, but was not involved in their operations. Deja Vu has monopolies or near-monopolies in many areas, including San Francisco, Washington State, and Tijuana, Mexico.^[10]^[11] The clubs typically aim for a clean and upscale atmosphere and offer fully nude or topless stage dancing as well as lap dances.

Deja Vu clubs are widely known for hosting industry-wide contests, including Showgirl of the Year, Pole Princess, and Showgirl Spectacular.^[12] Its publicity stunts and charity events at various clubs often garner international media attention.^[13]

Legal filings have indicated that Deja Vu’s affiliated entities have “ownership or controlling interest” in the real estate of more than 60% of the licensed adult entertainment clubs and stores in California.^[14]^[15]^[16] Its other noteworthy real estate holdings include most of Bourbon Street in New Orleans and a large portion of the real estate zoned for adult entertainment in many major cities in Minnesota, Florida, and Ohio.^[17]^[18]^[19]

Deja Vu's operation also includes a large chain of adult retail stores with nearly 60 locations. Those businesses also operate under a variety of trade names, including HUSTLER Hollywood, The Love Boutique, Adult Emporium, and Pleasure Emporium. They sell adult merchandise such as sex toys, lingerie, DVDs, etc., with most also featuring adult theaters and arcades.

Deja Vu's Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas is a non-profit educational museum that features the world's largest collection of historical erotica, sexual artifacts, antique sexual devices, and one-of-a-kind exhibits, with nearly 30,000 feet of exhibition and education space. Its grand patron is Harry Mohney, with many items borrowed from his expansive personal collection.

While Deja Vu does not publicize all of its assets, various newspaper articles and legal filings have disclosed investment in an array of companies, including various adult video production studios and websites, popular gay bars like The Gay 90's, renowned nightclubs like The World-Famous Cat's Meow, and even national restaurant chains like Dick's Last Resort.^[20]^[21]

The company is also known for having operated various businesses that set various landmark First Amendment Supreme Court decisions, including Miller v. California, Marks v. United States, City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Inc., and Barnes v. Glen Theater, Inc.

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Transcription

Have you experienced déjà vu? It's that shadowy feeling you get when a situation seems familiar. A scene in a restaurant plays out exactly as you remember. The world moves like a ballet you've choreographed, but the sequence can't be based on a past experience because you've never eaten here before. This is the first time you've had clams, so what's going on? Unfortunately there isn't one single explanation for déjà vu. The experience is brief and occurs without notice, making it nearly impossible for scientists to record and study it. Scientists can't simply sit around and wait for it to happen to them -- this could take years. It has no physical manifestations and in studies, it's described by the subject as a sensation or feeling. Because of this lack of hard evidence, there's been a surplus of speculation over the years. Since Emile Boirac introduced déjà vu as a French term meaning already seen, more than 40 theories attempt to explain this phenomenon. Still, recent advancements in neuroimaging and cognitive psychology narrow down the field of prospects. Let's walk through three of today's more prevalent theories, using the same restaurant setting for each. First up is dual processing. We'll need an action. Let's go with a waiter dropping a tray of dishes. As the scene unfolds, your brain's hemispheres process a flurry of information: the waiter's flailing arms, his cry for help, the smell of pasta. Within milliseconds, this information zips through pathways and is processed into a single moment. Most of the time, everything is recorded in-sync. However, this theory asserts that déjà vu occurs when there's a slight delay in information from one of these pathways. The difference in arrival times causes the brain to interpret the late information as a separate event. When it plays over the already-recorded moment, it feels as if it's happened before because, in a sense, it has. Our next theory deals with a confusion of the past rather than a mistake in the present. This is the hologram theory, and we'll use that tablecloth to examine it. As you scan its squares, a distant memory swims up from deep within your brain. According to the theory, this is because memories are stored in the form of holograms, and in holograms, you only need one fragment to see the whole picture. Your brain has identified the tablecloth with one from the past, maybe from your grandmother's house. However, instead of remembering that you've seen this pattern at your grandmother's, your brain has summoned up the old memory without identifying it. This leaves you stuck with familiarity but no recollection. Although you've never been in this restaurant, you've seen that tablecloth but are just failing to identify it. Now, look at this fork. Are you paying attention? Our last theory is divided attention, and it states that déjà vu occurs when our brain subliminally takes in an environment while we're distracted by one particular object. When our attention returns, we feel as if we've been here before. For example, just now you focused on the fork and didn't observe the tablecloth or the falling waiter. Although your brain has been recording everything in your peripheral vision, it's been doing so below conscious awareness. When you finally pull yourself away from the fork, you think you've been here before because you have, you just weren't paying attention. While all three of these theories share the common features of déjà vu, none of them propose to be the conclusive source of the phenomenon. Still, while we wait for researchers and inventers to come up with new ways to capture this fleeting moment, we can study the moment ourselves. After all, most studies of déjà vu are based on first-hand accounts, so why can't one be yours? The next time you get déjà vu, take a moment to think about it. Have you been distracted? Is there a familiar object somewhere? Is your brain just acting slow? Or is it something else?

Awards

1998 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[22]
1999 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Midwest) – Lansing, Michigan^[23]
1999 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Southwest) – Ontario, California^[23]
1999 Exotic Dancer Award – Industry Innovator of the Year – Harry Mohney^[23]
2000 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[24]
2001 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[25]
2001 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Northwest) – Seattle, Washington^[25]
2002 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[26]
2003 Exotic Dancer Hall of Fame – Harry Mohney^[27]
2004 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[28]
2006 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[29]
2008 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[30]
2008 Exotic Dancer Award – General Manager of the Year – Sherry Cooper (Industry, California)^[30]
2008 Exotic Dancer Hall of Fame – Jim St. John^[30]
2008 FSC Legacy Award – Harry Mohney^[31]
2009 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[32]
2010 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[33]
2011 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Southeast) – Nashville, Tennessee^[34]
2012 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[35]
2013 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Midwest) – Lansing, Michigan^[36]
2013 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Northeast) – New York, New York^[37]
2013 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (West) – San Francisco, California^[38]
2013 Exotic Dancer Award – General Manager of the Year – Ken DeGori (San Francisco, California)^[39]
2013 Exotic Dancer Award – DJ of the Year – Jon Harmon (San Francisco, California)^[40]
2014 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (East) – Lexington, Kentucky^[41]
2014 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (West) – San Francisco, California^[41]
2015 Exotic Dancer Hall of Fame – Joe Carouba^[42]
2015 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (East) – Baltimore, Maryland^[42]
2015 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Central) – Washington Park, Illinois^[42]
2015 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Employee of the Year – Ashely Sponsler (San Francisco, California)^[42]
2015 Exotic Dancer Award – DJ of the Year – Jay Crowley (San Francisco, California)^[42]
2016 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (West) – San Francisco, California^[43]
2016 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Southwest) – San Francisco, California^[43]
2017 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Central) – Dallas, Texas^[44]
2017 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (West) – Las Vegas, Nevada^[44]
2018 Exotic Dancer Award – Club Chain of the Year^[45]
2019 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (South) – Nashville, Tennessee^[46]
2019 Exotic Dancer Award – Club of the Year (Central) – Dallas, Texas^[46]