We Interviewed the Guy in the Swingers Club Promo Video

Three years ago, Quinn Allan became the quizzical-turned-satisfied face of the Velvet Rope, the swingers club at Southeast César E. Chávez and Powell boulevards.

He wasn't setting out to star in a swingers club promo.

The budding Portland actor had thought he was done working for free, but he decided to take a small role in a friend's vampire series, to return a favor. The gig ended up actually being a promo video for the club, which is now up to almost 47,000 views on YouTube.

Related: The Swingers Club Next to the the Safeway Made a Promo Video and It's Amazing

He contacted WW yesterday, after we posted the Velvet Rope promo. Allan played the boyfriend who was nervous about entering the club, pleading with his girlfriend to stay for only five minutes. They stayed a lot longer. And after being pulled into a room by a hairy-armed man, he came out with a big grin on his face. It's a grin that has come and gone in the three years since the experience.

WW: How did this whole thing go down?

Quinn Allan: The first thing you need to know is the kind of person Westley Cornwell is, the director of the video. If he has a spirit animal, it's that party god from Adventure Time. How the heck Wes was able to get this video up there with Michael Jackson's music with Daft Punk's music—I have no idea. It's totally representative of him. You see clearly a man's arm reaching in and pulling me into the room and that's him. And it is so completely representative of my relationship with him.

He worked on my movie for no pay, which came with strings, as we would all find out later. You can give him a million great reasons for why not to do something but he convinces you to be part of it.

I'd been acting in Portland, had an agent, did a bunch of national commercials, was on Grimm…I wasn't interested in doing the type of work Wes was doing. He was working on a web series based on vampires called Vampire Sex Club or something. I had agreed to have some small noncommittal role. About two days before the shoot, I'm hanging out with a friend and he was like, "You're doing the promo for the swingers club?" and I was like,"You mean the vampire thing?" and he was like, "No, you might want to check that out…" I called Wes and he says, "Well, we're using the club as a location for the vampire thing, so if we want to use it, we have to pay them by making a promotional video."

"I was like, "I don't know if I want to be the face of this thing, I have no idea," and he was like, "I'll pay you," so I said fine. I was a struggling actor at the time—you can't turn down paid work.

Did you ever think anyone would see it?

It was supposed to just exist on their website. I didn't think anyone would ever see it. I occasionally have someone be like, "Hey Quinn, is this you?"

What was it like in there?

They filled it with a bunch of extras—people who would probably not ever actually be there, and it came off as creepy and unnerving even as we were doing that. We do the whole shoot, and it's relatively uneventful, just awkward at times, and then they invite us to stay there when the club opens after the shoot. I was there more as an observer. I do recall some older woman trying to get me to dance with her. The girl who was playing the front desk lady was actually the front desk lady, and so to escape it all, I just wound up there at the front talking to her.

What was it like to see the video for the first time?

I was creeped out, I think…the first-person perspective and some of the choices. There wasn't a script or anything….and the magic purple-haired girl who manages to be in every scene. I do believe the purple-haired girl was a bartender there. The woman is leading me is one of the people who owns or manages the club; she was kind of calling the shots.

Do you consider this to be a skeleton in your closet?

A little bit. I would never say I was ashamed I was in something like this. I think it's more the execution where it's a little like…huh, OK, but I think there's actually worse stuff of me on the internet out there.

So there are two hot tubs?

There is one giant hot tub, huge, like really really big, like 20 people in there. There must be a more private, smaller one, too. It's kind of a weird maze. I guess it's supposed to have a theme.

I was the most surprised at the wide selection of snacks.

I'm fairly certain that that is part of this club, and you just stick your fingers in it. I think there was shrimp there. I remember there being some hot items too, some soup or something. There's the Jacuzzi room, the dance floor and then smaller rooms, and an upstairs with billiards, more rooms and maybe another Jacuzzi. Everyone was really sweet to us. It was an experience—of some kind.

Did you ever go back?

No, no I did not. I was single—but not ready to mingle.

Has it caused you to reconsider doing favors for your friends?

"Just learn to say no" is my new motto. You should look up the Jupiter Hotel promo.

Can I ask how much you were paid?

Fifty dollars, maybe $100. It was a weird experience.

Willamette Week