Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Strip club’s new owner actually prefers to be out of spotlight

Club Para

John Katsilometes

Club Paradise, on Paradise Road across from the Hard Rock Hotel, reopened under new owner Steve Paik of Philadelphia.

Updated Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015 | 4:24 p.m.

Steve Paik isn’t trying to make a name for himself. He’s not trying to be the face of something, and he won’t be seen as the figurehead of anything.

The new owner of Club Paradise would rather you not know who he is. When asked to pose for a photo to help promote the club’s official reopening, the head of the operation politely declined.

“No, I really don’t want to be known in this industry,” said the slender man born in Seoul, South Korea, whose family moved to Philadelphia just two days before the U.S. bicentennial. “I try not to be so out front. I am in this business to make a living, not to socialize.”

He carries this philosophy in an industry where self-promotion is seen as both an art form and a necessary evil.

But one can understand why Paik comes off as so demure. His father was an educator and minister. His cousin David Oh is the first Korean member of the Philadelphia City Council. His family founded the first Korean-American church in Philadelphia. He’s a member of a swanky country club whose members might not applaud one of their friends operating a strip club in Las Vegas.

Quietly, Paik has become a successful businessman, an American success story, though he made his money in an industry that characteristically is naughty, dirty and — especially in Vegas — cutthroat. He operates adult clubs near Atlantic City and Philadelphia, making a good enough living to have traveled around the world. He took his wife and children, who attend private school, to the World Cup in Brazil last year and to the London Olympics in 2012.

Paik bought Club Paradise from Sam Cecola, who on a recent day happened to be in the club and appeared to have the run of the place, though he no longer has money invested in his old business. Cecola flew in from Chicago for the opening and was working in an undefined capacity writing a news release about all the celebrities and sports stars who visited the club over the years.

Cecola points proudly to that star-studded history, when he was the kingpin meeting stars of stage, screen and the sports world. But as we enter 2015, Paik and his club officials are quick to point out that the club's former owner is not working in any official capacity at Club Paradise. Under Cecola's tenure, Club Paradise shut down in June after a raid by Metro detectives and IRS agents acting on reports of credit card fraud and other violations.

That word — fraud — is key to Paik’s purchase of Club Paradise. He’d asked Cecola 4 1/2 years ago about buying the place, and Cecola put up a number that made Paik wince. But years later, Paik found coverage online of Cecola’s trouble at the club and sent an email that read, “Sam, seems like your circumstances have changed. Maybe I can be of help to you.”

Today, Paik promises to operate Club Paradise with class and integrity, and hopes to fill the 197-capacity venue with people who can spend moderately.

“I don’t need the few customers who are going to spend a lot of money,” Paik said. “I’d rather see a lot of people enjoying themselves with a small amount of money.”

Paik plans to track credit card receipts painstakingly, since that was a factor in the club’s closure last summer.

And he needs to enter the knife fight with limo and taxicab companies who bring customers to strip clubs but charge high per-customer fees. Limo companies can demand as much as $90 per head, even though the average club customer spends only about $60 per visit.

Paik is learning, fast, how to operate in that culture.

“If everybody else is doing it, paying limo and taxi guys, I have to do it,” Paik said. “It’s unavoidable.”

When asked what his imprint will be at Club Paradise, Paik speaks with the precision of a CEO: “I intend to provide a good service and a fun environment where customers can come in and enjoy without spending a fortune.”

For Paik, that’s as close to brazen as you’ll get.

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