John Terry | 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

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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!

% * @ + !

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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.

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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.

A Portland Treasure – Historian John Terry

The intent of this blog is to periodically recognize individuals who facilitate this tour of Portland pubs. It has been too long since one has been recognized and former Oregonian columnist, John Terry is belatedly recognized for the first quarter of 2012

John authored a column for many years on Oregon History in The Oregonian. To the consternation of many, including thebeerchaser, earlier this year, the paper decided to discontinue what had become a weekly Sunday feature. After sending John an e-mail lauding his contribution over the years, he agreed to meet me for lunch where I quizzed him about the history of Portland taverns and pubs. He was a fascinating and comprehensive resource for thebeerchaser tour.

Jim Westwood – Another John Terry and George Washington Admirer

To give one an idea of the consternation of many of Terry’s fans, see the Oregon Live excerpt below from another Portland amateur historian and celebrity, of sorts – Portland lawyer and former Captain of the Portland State GE College Bowl team in 1965.

Jim Westwood, reflecting the eloquence which has made him one of Oregon’s leading appellate lawyers expressed righteous indignation to the publisher:

“When The Sunday Oregonian discontinued John Terry’s weekly articles on Oregon history, I sighed and told myself I’d get used to turning to something else first thing every Sunday morning. How wrong I was. How long has it been now, a couple of months? It’s an eternity. I miss John Terry’s lively, superbly researched articles.

I miss them desperately. I’m frustrated and angry that The Oregonian could have taken them away without considering making them at least a monthly feature. Sunday will never be the same, and it hit me again this morning. In this season of rebirth, I hope The Oregonian will resurrect John Terry and his wonderful works on the history of our state and its people.”

John regaled me with brief stories of many of the taverns with historic roots in Portland that are still operating:

The White Eagle Saloon The Slammer Horse Brass Pub Kells’ Claudias’

Still Open for a Brewski!

He also told me about the once world-famous, Erickson’s Saloon, founded in 1895, which occupied two stories of an entire block between 3rd and 4th on Burnside and was reputed to have the largest bar in the world (400 feet long…). Indeed, evidence of the saloon can still be found as the photo below shows:

: The Stories Behind this Wall….

And Bertie’s Montgomery Crystal Gardens near Portland State, which had nickel beers on Tuesday nights and Jan’s Streets of Paris near Hawthorne and Division on the East Side that had a New Orleans theme and ………..

One can still learn a lot about historic Oregon by doing a search on Oregon Live. For example, John Terry’s column from August 2011, on the Portland Hotel, opened in the 1890’s on what is now Pioneer Courthouse Square:

“The finished product (costing $1 million) boasted 326 sleeping rooms, steam heat, gas and electric lights, restaurant, ballroom, bar, sitting rooms, dining rooms, sewing rooms, reception room, ladies parlors, public restrooms, public telephones, news and cigar stand, Western Union office, elevators, offices and quarters for live-in staff.

Eleven U.S. presidents were among its guests, starting with Benjamin Harrison in 1891. Virtually every luminary – actor, musician, politician, writer, tycoon – who blew through town put up there.”

Demolished in 1951 for a Parking Lot….

So join thebeerchaser in a toast to John Terry…or better yet, echo Jim Westwood’s complaint to the Editor of The Oregonian about the paper’s error in discontinuing John Terry’s excellent column.