[1][2] Portland shipyard foreman Roy Keller bought the club in 1954 for about $25,000 from Mary Duerst Hemming,[3][1][4][5] who was awarded the piano bar (which was popular with sailors) in a divorce settlement and operated the business "for more than 20 years" beginning in the 1930s.

[3][6] That year, two city-council members advised Keller not to install pinball machines at the club[4] since Portland then had an anti-pinball ordinance which was being contested in court.

[9] In 1965, an Oregonian article featured topless dancer Bambi Darling, who performed at Mary's Club; she reportedly excelled in discothèque, "shaking and undulating" to the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, the Shotgun, and other dances popular at the time.

[10] By March 1966, Darling's "16 torrid acts" shared the bill with reptile-wrestler Bobby Vale and Gigi La France, promoted as the club's answer to James Bond.

A lawsuit over pasties and G-strings was brought after Portland annexed land formerly regulated by Multnomah County, which allowed tavern dancers to perform without clothing.

[3] According to a 2013 Portland Monthly profile, Mary's Club has a full cocktail bar, more than two dozen varieties of beer and wine, and a menu featuring Mexican cuisine.

[19] In 2014, a Willamette Week contributor said about the signage: "The marquee, blue and star-spangled and coyly advertising an evening of 'Dine and Dance', is as iconic as the neon on the 'Made in Oregon' sign and the line outside Voodoo".

[22] After Keller's death, Willamette Week said that the club "has cemented its place in history far beyond the city limits" for featuring Love and Jorgensen and offering nudity to a loyal customer base.

"[21] That year, Willamette Week called the club "the undisputed grande dame of West Coast strips" and "a stubbornly degenerate landmark".

[12] According to the newspaper's Matthew Korfhage, its entertainment came in the form of "girls/ladies, friendly also brassy, oddly classy, with sterling taste on the juke, who let you see all of their piercings and tattoos.

[23] Men's Fitness included Mary's on its list of the "Top 10 Best Strip Clubs in America", calling it a "neon landmark" with blacklight murals and a "relaxed, hole-in-the-wall vibe".

[24] Thomas Lauderdale, known for his work with the Portland-based band Pink Martini, has shared his fondness for the club and considers it one of his favorite places in the city.

[25] Mary's Club was the last stop on the 2013 "Seedy, Seamy and Sinful Portland" history tour, which took adult visitors to Old Town Chinatown sites to examine the city's "darker elements".