Portland Attorney, Jim Westwood Beerchaser of the Quarter for January – March, 2013

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Thebeerchaser

Attorney and Model Citizen, Jim Westwood

It is fitting and proper to recognize those who distinguish themselves, not only in their trade or profession, but also for their contributions to the overall community. Portland lawyer, Jim Westwood, is the epitome of civic virtue and an accomplished appellate lawyer. Besides, he and Thebeerchaser are alums of both Oregon City High School and Portland State University.

He therefore joins such luminaries as Princeton Professor Emeritus, Dr. Harry Frankfurt, author of “On Bullshit,” crime novelist, James Crumley, former Oregon State Beaver and NFL football player and mountaineer, Craig Hanneman, and even the crew of the historic USS Constitution as a Beerchaser honoree.

We spent a recent evening drinking beer at The Tanker and Beer, two more establishments on Thebeerchaser Tour of Portland Taverns, Pubs and Bars. Reviews of both venues will be posted on this blog in the next ten days.

Westwood at Beer drinking beer….(stay tuned for the forthcoming review of Beer)

Those of you old enough to remember black and white TV sets, will probably also remember the “GE College Bowl” quiz show. It pitted a four-person college team of erudite students against another school for a half-hour showdown each Sunday evening during the 1960’s and ’70’s.

Westwood, Coach Padrow and the PSU College Bowl Team

Westwood (Center – left) , Coach Padrow and the PSU College Bowl Team (Portland State University Magazine May 2, 2005)

Westwood was the captain and is the only surviving first-team member of the legendary Portland State College team coached by legendary speech professor, Ben Padrow.

The PSC team played the same upset role Florida Gulf Coast University has so far in 2013 March Madness, by defeating their opponents for five straight weeks before they retired as champions with the sum of $15,275 in scholarships.

The legacy of the PSU scholars is evident:

“The 415 points scored in their final match ties them for fifth-highest single-game total achieved, and their 1725 points total set a new record at the time, and is fourth highest overall. The March 26, 1965 issue of Time has an article on how the College Bowl victories helped change Portland State’s image as “the flunk-out school” for University of Oregon and Oregon State drop-outs…” (Portland State Alumni Association News article by Kathryn Kirkland, May 2, 2005)

: Portland State University Campus – now rivals the U of O and OSU

Rod Hill

Jack Cappell

Bruce Sussman

Jim Westwood .

An IBM meteorologist console in 1965 (From Wikipedia – a work of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. – public domain)

What do all these gents have in common? Well, all are current or past meteorologists for Portland Network TV stations. Jim helped pay his college tuition by predicting low pressure fronts and daily temperatures for KGW in the ’60’s.

Last year, he again used his experience in front of the camera to play a nutty professor in a video published by the Multnomah Bar Foundation to teach students about the US Constitution.

Nutty Professor or a former Jason Bourne??

—————

He changed from physics to history as a major “because of the math….”. After graduation from Portland State, Westwood served in the military as a Naval Intelligence Officer for several years. Because of his superior language skills, he spent a year learning Thai – an extremely difficult language to master.

While he still cannot talk about what he did in the military, Jim’s tenure as a “spook” may have led him to subscribe to the following premise: “When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.”

After the military, he spent three years and graduated from Columbia Law School in New York City, which in 2012 was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the top law school in the US for future employment of law grads. After serving for two years as the Assistant to the President of PSU, he’s practiced law in Portland since 1978 at both the Miller Nash firm and Stoel Rives, where he is now a senior counsel.

He is considered a constitutional scholar, and has been designated from 1998 to 2013 in Best Lawyers in America and as an Oregon Super Lawyer. Jim has volunteered for 11 years as a coach for “We the People” high school constitutional law teams for Grant High and De la Salle North Catholic High School. Marilyn Cover, Executive Director of the Classroom Law Project (CLP), stated, “He’s a great teacher, a great coach and a great model citizen.” He was honored last year as the 2012 Legal Citizen of the Year by the CLP.

Ok – the answer is “Nutty Professor!”

His other civic and professional contributions are too numerous to mention but include a term as President of the City Club of Portland (1991-2) and the Board of the Multnomah Bar Foundation.

So join Thebeerchaser in hoisting a mug to Jim Westwood. Your toast might be more appropriate if you convey it in Thai as a tribute to his military service. If you need a tutorial, the following excerpt from Wikipedia may help. While drinking, keep in mind the last sentence below:

“From the perspective of linguistic typology, Thai can be considered to be an analytic language. The word order is subject – verb- object, although the subject is often omitted. Verbs do not inflect. Duplication conveys the idea of doing the verb intensively.” (Some of the Thai vowels are illustrated below)


	unrounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/i/ -ิ	/iː/ -ี	/ɯ/ -ึ	/ɯː/ -ื-	/u/ -ุ	/uː/ -ู
Close-mid	/e/ เ-ะ	/eː/ เ-	/ɤ/ เ-อะ	/ɤː/ เ-อ	/o/ โ-ะ	/oː/ โ-
Open-mid	/ɛ/ แ-ะ	/ɛː/ แ-			/ɔ/ เ-าะ	/ɔː/ -อ

Beerchaser Miscellany II

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Thebeerchaser

One Year of Touring Taverns, Pubs and Bars and Still Going Strong

Thebeerchaser Tour – One Year Anniversary

It has been one year since Thebeerchaser’s Tour of Portland Bars commenced. During that year I have reviewed 23 bars, pubs and taverns and the original premise for taking this journey has been confirmed — each bar has had its own personality, ambiance, flaws and character. From the first stop – Brooklyn Park Pub (August 2011) to Lutz Tavern (July 2012) and even the one in Washington (Pourhouse – August, 2012) – all have been worth the visit.

As a result, I strongly disagree with the quote from a review of one of the bars I visited:

“I’m beginning to understand the formula for what constitutes a popular bar in Portland….Make it dark, create some reason for the service to suck and make PBR cheaper than soda….”

Good – But Doesn’t Make the Bar Necessarily Great

Because of the sheer number of Portland bars, my original guidelines were to visit a bar from each letter of the alphabet and then restart the cycle; however, I have thrown that practice out. I go where you suggest or where I happen to see bartenders, bar stools, PBR or microbrews sold, etc. ……The guideline of reviewing only Portland bars also fell by the wayside when I reviewed Pour House – a Port Townsend establishment. It was too good not to share and I will occasionally do future non-Portland venues.

Beerchasers-of-the-Month

During the last year, seven Beerchasers-of-the-Month (or Quarter when I get lazy) have been designated – an “honor” for which the person may or may not have a direct or indirect with beer or bars – I just wanted to tell you about them. They include:

Craig Hanneman – Former OSU and Pittsburgh Steeler Football Player and Business Executive

The Crew of the USS Constitution

PSU Economics Professor, Dr. John Walker

Retired Oregonian columnist, John Terry

Author Dr. Frankfurt – Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Princeto

Dr. Harry Frankfurt, Author of On Bullshit

Crime Novelist James Crumley *

Four Portland Bartenders

Retired Chemical Engineer, Harold Schlumberg

* Crumley, a now deceased Montana writer, had an affinity for bars and beer (and gin) and was credited by some reviewers with the best opening line of any crime novel. From his book, The Last Good Kiss:

“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts, in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.”

Drinking Buddy — Fireball Roberts

After reading another of his novels – The Mexican Tree Duck – one gets a taste for Crumley’s perspective:

“I went through so much help that I actually hired a woman so drunk that she had forgotten that I had fired her the week before.”

Noted Crime Novelist

———————-

Bar Joke Update

Occasionally, I have posted a few bar jokes from my collection. This month’s selection is timeless – so to speak….:

“The past, present and future walk into a bar —

It was really tense…..”

It’s All Relative….

Becomes “light” headed when he drinks too much!

% * @ + !

————

What Distinguishes Portland Besides Its Beers and Bars?

Voodoo Donuts, of course –

Brewer’s Inspiration

and as The Week, a national magazine in its August 17th issue reported on the new Rogue Brewery Voodoo Donut Bacon Maple Ale. “This brew combines the flavors of wood-smoked malts and real maple syrup and bacon to create a ‘smoky, porky, nutty’ taste.”

Do you want pancakes or hasbrowns and eggs with that beer?

Makes Thebeerchaser wonder if he should stick to Keystone Light….!

Phoenix Sign

This sign from our visit to a bar named “The Speakeasy” in Phoenix last spring was worth sharing:

John Mansfield Update

A good friend and one of my favorite lawyers and former colleague, Schwabe Williamson and Wyatt’s, John Mansfield, accompanied me on my visit to Mock Crest Tavern last May. John is a patent lawyer and one, like many lawyers, who is extremely literal as contrasted to literate. For example, after reading the phrase in the Mock Crest menu, “Breakfast Served – Any Time,” he tried to order “French Toast from the Renaissance Era.”

John and Hanna

Since our visit, he turned 50 and had a wonderful birthday party planned by his wife, Hanna (“John Mansfield Goes to L”) – As pointed out previously, John is a Renaissance Man having majored in music at the U of O before getting his law degree Magna Cum Laude at Cornell. Highlight of the evening was John dazzling the crowd with classical (Dvorak) and then some more contemporary George Gershwin selections on the piano.

The Piano Man Will Also Prosecute Your Patent

He revealed to me another example of an attorney’s tendency to be literal causing a problem. “A lawyer walking to the courthouse is waiting at a corner for a “Walk” signal next to a German Shepherd and a teenage boy walks up. The boy asks the lawyer if his dog bites and the lawyer says “no,” so the kid leans down and pets the dog, who promptly sinks his teeth into the kid’s arm. The boy says to the lawyer, “I thought you said your dog didn’t bite.” The lawyer responds, “I did. That’s not my dog….”

Not the Lawyer’s Dog…..

I was glad that John related this tale rather than that of the lawyer he knows whose last case was Budweiser.

————–

Phoenix Sun – Not! And Speaking of Keystone Light….

Most basketball fans know that former Phoenix Suns guard, Steve Nash, was traded to the Lakers recently.

I loved the story from his first trip to SmogTown. Some fans, saw him driving down the freeway.

Rates a Keystone Light Before Even Playing……

They recognized him in the back seat of his chauffeur-driven vehicle and shouted to him when they pulled up beside him – both vehicles still traveling at full speed. As the story goes, they proceeded to hand him a Key Stone Light, which he said he appreciated.

Perhaps when he has his first good game, he’ll rate a Stella.

Beerchaser Miscellany

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Thebeerchaser

Thebeerchaser’s tour of Portland pubs, taverns and bars and this blog commenced in August 2011. My education on blog software is continuing and I hope to make it easier in the future to find items on the site; however, it may be helpful until that time to recap the venues reviewed in categories during the last ten months.

The next review will be posted this week and recaps our visit to Interurban, which will be followed by a visit to the historical Mock Crest Tavern.

Neighborhood Bars

Brooklyn Park Pub
Gladstone Street Pub
Hawthorne Hideaway
Laurelthirst Public House
Muddy Rudder Public House

“Taking the Plunge…”

Dive Bars (Not a negative connotation – see post entitled “Analyzing Dive Bars – Head First” from September)

Ash Street Saloon
Dixie Tavern
Joe’s Cellar
Yukon Tavern

Brew Pubs

Amnesia Brew Pub
Coalition Brew Pub
Migration Brew Pub

Miscellaneous Bars and Pubs – In a Class of Their Own

The Buffalo Gap Saloon
Proust
The Twilight Room (Could be considered somewhat of a neighborhood pub but also a traditional “hang-out” for watering hole for University of Portland students)

Followers of the blog have asked if I have identified a favorite establishment to this point. While every visit has been positive, probably two tie as favorites for different reasons: The Laurelthirst and The Twilight Room.

Beerchasers of the Month

This label above is a misnomer because only five of the ten months have named an “honoree” as follows:

Princeton University professor and author of On Bullshit, Dr. Harry Frankfurt
Crime novelist, James Crumley
Retired chemical engineer and drinker, Harold Schlumburg
The bartenders of the Brooklyn Park Pub, the Gladstone Street Pub, Prost and the Twilight Room

Efforts will be made to bestow that honor more frequently, however, my favorite to this point is the esteemed Dr. Frankfurt, who responded to thebeerchaser’s e-mail informing him of the distinction and he became a follower of the blog.

BS Expert – Dr. Harry Frankfurt

Beer-related Lawsuits

Having worked in a law firm for twenty-five years and at the Oregon State Bar prior to that time, I collected a lot of law-related articles and memorabilia. In reviewing old files, I came across my favorite law suit – reported in The Oregonian in 1976. It documents a $53,000 suit filed against the Mount Angel Oktoberfest in Marion County.

The plaintiff, Robert Rispler, claimed the portable toilet he entered at the annual Oktoberfest was pushed over by unruly patrons and he was “violently thrown about inside said portable toilet, became intimately mixed (emphasis supplied) with the contents thereof and sustained a fracture of his right wrist and other contusions and abrasions.”

A Lawsuit Dr. Frankfurt Might Appreciate

Unfortunately additional research on the results of this suit are beyond the resources of thebeerchaser although a quick search of the internet found two Robert Risplers – one, a 1974 graduate of Reynolds High School in Portland (he would have been too young to drink legally….) and one who is now Director of Accounting at Fannie Mae in Washington DC. Thebeerchaser avoids political commentary (at times) and will omit any direct or indirect implications related to federal agencies.

Favorite Bar Jokes

Although my archives has more lawyer jokes than bar jokes, this blog needs to return to more relevant topics in this post and will finish with a few bar jokes, which will also grace future posts:

A grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Hey, that’s really cool. We have a drink named after you. The grasshopper looks at him skeptically and says, “You have a drink named Murray?”

A piece of toast, a glass of orange juice, some hash browns and a side of eggs walk into a bar and they order four beers. The bartender says, “I’m sorry we don’t serve breakfast here.”

A physician, a nurse, a rabbi and a bulldog walk into a bar and the bartender says, “What is this, some kind of joke?”

Spring Training in Phoenix

Thebeerchaser and spouse were privileged to take in a few games during Spring Training in Phoenix in March. While the tour of pubs is restricted to Portland, we visited and observed a number, which generated these observations:

It seemed like every bar we passed was jammed with people especially from about 4:30 to 7:00 and not necessarily because of Happy Hours. It may be that given urban sprawl in this badly planned metropolis, that people don’t try to drive during rush hour and just hit a bar each day. Rotating designated drivers keep things legal.

It also seemed that many of the venues had multiple levels to accommodate all the patrons (see pictures below). Perhaps it was also the hot weather. It was ironic that it cost $4 for a bottle of water at the baseball games when one could get a PBR for $1.50 at the pub across the street. It brought to mind, beerchaser of the month, Jame’s Crumley’s request from his main character, C.W. Sughrue, “I want a beer as cold as my ex-wife’s heart.”

Of special interest was the Irish Pub, shown below, that also served as a saddelry.

Did you hear the one about the horse that walked into the bar? **

*Bartender says, “Hey! Why the long face?”

The Hawthorne Hideaway – Amiable Alliteration

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Thebeerchaser

This is a delightful, friendly little neighborhood bar, in a nondescript setting around Southeast 21^st and Hawthorne. It was aptly described by one patron as “Nothing spectacular, definitely not flashy – but Hawthorne Hideaway is great!”

Another regular said, “When you can walk in at 5:30 on a sunny weekend and leave to a dark night sky after 8:00 without realizing how many hours you just wasted, that says something about the enjoyable nature of this place.” It also bring to mind some constraints on pub habitation from September 2011 Beerchaser of the Month, crime novelist, James Crumley in his novel, The Mexican Tree Duck:

James Crumley

“Bars can be nice places, comfortable homes away from the loneliness or confusion of home, but nobody – not even the most confirmed degenerate drunk, can spend eighty or ninety hours a week in one.”

There is a good selection of beers: seven beers on tap, seven bottled beers and five beers in cans including my old favorite, Rainer. We tried an excellent Fort George Oatmeal Pale Ale on tap. Happy Hour is every day from 4:00 until 7:00.

People like the decent but cheap food (served until 2 am) and the strong drinks. The only major complaint from several years of reviews – a female visitor from Salt Lake City. Although a non-drinker, she complained for over three paragraphs about the tacos, which rates a one-word response from Thebeerchaser:

“Go Back to Utah!”

Evidently Better in Salt Lake City…

And oh yes, the Hawthorne was a bit dark, however, this elicited one of the more creative views of a dingy, dive-bar setting: “It’s dimly lit with a borderline seedy feeling – the low lighting makes everyone look a little better – no need to even wear makeup with that lighting…..”

Distinguishing Characteristics

We talked to Craig, the owner, who said the two differentiators for the bar are the fresh-squeezed juices in all the mixed drinks and the lemonade, and the distinct layout and interior design – one which a set-designer friend developed six years ago when they opened, after surveying the neighbors on what they wanted in the bar.

The layout is quirky as one Portland Barfly reviewer conveys well:

The entrance is timid. Where’s the circulation? Why is there such dramatic separation between the front and the back – it’s severed? Where’s your central gathering space? I don’t understand the logic – why would I go there??

Because it’s AWESOME!

Original Art??

In the front where there are tables, one can see original (and quirky) art on the walls and old photos of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, the Lone Ranger and Tonto and other icons along with a sign that says, “Come Enlarge Your Brain While Destroying It!” – a marketing slogan for the bar’s trivia night every Monday at 7:30.

Free Pool in the Back Room

The back part of the pub is a large room with several pool tables (patrons love the free pool), big screen TVs video poker and some pinball machines.

The west wall is chock full of old 33 RPM album covers ranging from Count Basie, The Ink Spots and Montovani to Fabian and Elvis’s memorable album “How Great Thou Art!” – they’re really interesting!