Jocular July

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Thebeerchaser

(Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title above to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.)

Farewell Mayor Bud

You might wonder how the passing of an icon is consistent with the title of this blog post, but remembering Bud Clark brings smiles – if not laughs – to the people who knew this jovial bar owner.

In 1984, he made national headlines running against the City of Portland political establishment and capturing an upset win in the Mayor’s Race. He passed away in February. (External photo attribution at the end of this post.)

His “Expose Yourself to Art” poster which now hangs in the Smithsonian was originally going to be part of a campaign against venereal disease called “Zap the Clap.” Whether it was seeing him ride to work at City Hall on his bicycle, his legendary exclamation “Whoop Whoop! “or just running into him at the Goose Hollow Inn that he opened in 1967 his charisma prevailed. And Bud was a very effective elected official during his two terms.

One of the best memories of my now eleven years of Beerchasing was visiting the Goose Hollow in 2012 with friend Jim Westwood (former Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter) and the late Oregonian history columnist, John Terry.

I had called the Goose and asked if Bud still came to the bar and he agreed to meet us. He gave me an interview and spent 90 minutes with us, bought our beer and gave us each an historical tract about the Goose Hollow Neighborhood. The bar is now managed by his daughter Rachel.

Bud’s charisma, efforts to help the downtrodden and civic and entrepreneurial spirit will long be remembered.

Back to the “Fusion”

One of my pet peeve is blogs or columns where the author goes into excruciating detail about his or her personal health and well-being. Well, without trying to be hypocritical and realizing I may lose some followers, I offer the following chronicle – rationalizing that the narrative has some beer-related content and also explains why the last Beerchaser post was almost one month ago.

The story began last November where I ended up in the Emergency Room of our local hospital with severe back pain – enough so that I received some narcotics to mitigate the pain while they did an MRI.

My only prior back problems were a short-term “pulled vertebrae” issue during high school basketball and with Navy ROTC drills in college. The ER doc referred me to a spine surgeon.

After getting two opinions, both docs opined that they would avoid just a discectomy or decompression, but undergo a fusion – the more radical procedure where your body becomes host to screws and other fasteners that one normally procures at Ace Hardware.

That way, I wouldn’t be coming back again in three or four years for another trip to the OR. Some advised me to avoid a fusion, but I wanted to play golf, hike and hold my grandchildren again, so I had the operation on June 13th in a four-hour procedure. (By the way, the pictures below are not of me…..)

Well, three weeks out, I’m a relatively pain-free and a happy camper – now off narcotics so I can drink beer again….. So how does this story relate to beer:

My surgeon is a brilliant and personable young guy with impeccable credentials and outstanding communication skills. After a couple appointments and the decision, Janet and I met with him for the pre-op consultation two week prior to surgery, and part of our conversation went like this:

Doc: Don, how’s your pain level?

Beerchaser: Pretty good except when I sit for a period. For example, I had to drive to Mount Angel (almost an hour drive) last week and I had to stop three times to get out and walk because of the pain.

Doc: Why did you have to go to Mount Angel?

Beerchaser: I had a meeting of the Abbey Foundation Board.

Doc: Have you been to the brewery down there? My wife and I both love their beer.

Beerchaser: I could go on for an hour why I love the Benedictine Brewery and how I became involved.

*6 One of only four owned and operated by monks in the US

Fast forward to the day after the surgery when he was doing his hospital rounds and after talking with me for ten minutes, he concluded:

“Don, the fact that you had such rapid mitigation of pain is very positive. In six weeks we’ll be virtually high-fiving and toasting with Monk beer…”

This part of the story ends with my first post-op appointment – two weeks after the surgery and with his Physician’s Assistant. Knowing the surgeon likes Benedictine Beer, I put two bottles in a small bag with tissue paper and included a page long treatise about the Brewery story including two links to posts on Thebeerchaser where I told the story.

I gave the bag to the receptionist and about fifteen minutes into the appointment with the PA, there was a knock on the exam room door and he walked in with a big smile on his face:

Doc: As soon as I saw the contents in the bag, I knew where this came from. Thanks.

Beerchaser: As soon as I found out that you liked Benedictine Beer, I knew I picked the right surgeon!

(And for those who doubt the benefits of visiting the Benedictine Brewery and Taproom, check out this 2022 article “A Drink From This Benedictine Brewery Will Have You Thanking God for Beer!”) in the international publication Religion Unplugged.)

A few additional thoughts

If you find out that your surgeon favors Coors Light, you might want to get another opinion.

The Physical Therapist who initially met with me in the hospital said that they have two maxims:

“Motion is the lotion…….” (i.e. “Get your butt out of bed or your chair every twenty minutes.”)
“Remember this rule for the next six weeks: ‘No BLT.”

At first I was shocked because I thought the “B” was for “Beer,” but was relieved to find out that the acronym stood for “Bending, Lifting and Twisting” – something I could live with although challenging to practice.

I rationalized that shaving required me to bend so I used this opportunity to grow a beard for the first time since we dated in 1979. Given the results after 2.5 weeks and at Janet’s urging, I figured out how to shave without bending on July 4th.

One final reflection. I have never been worried about my balance, but falling after back surgery can be disastrous, so we were fortunate to get a walker on loan from our church.

I told Janet that it’s a reflection on how things have changed in our lives when getting a walker is viewed as a really positive development….

I’m pleased to report that I have now graduated to a cane to walk up and down stairs. And I’ll use the cane for the next few weeks outside, because where we live most of the sidewalks have ups and downs.

I’ve tried to view this positively imagining the neighbors envision the F. Scott Fitzgarald figure, – a much older, Jay Gatsby, and his iconic walking stick ambling through our neighborhood. (9-11)

Being confined to my house for the last 2.5 weeks has enhanced my reading and also internet diving. And along the theme of “Jocular July” I offer these two which made me laugh.

Rain Forest in North America?

Eddie Burback is an actor and producer. He and his buddy took a three-week 2022 road trip to eat at every remaining Rain Forest Cafe in the US and Canada – eighteen in all.

At first I thought, “This guy is nuts,” but then realized that it would be hypocritical for me – a guy who has made a hobby of visiting bars and breweries throughout the US for the last eleven years to question this goal.

I had eaten at two RFCs – one in Phoenix and one in downtown Chicago (permanently closed as of April this year) on business trips trying to skimp on my expense reimbursement.

After checking out the start of his 2022 You Tube, I have to admit that I listened to the entire thirty-six minute bit and it was entertaining.

Zoom Your Room….

We have watched an incredible number of ZOOM interviews on Cable News – primarily on political topics and Janet and I often commented about how stylish the living quarters of the interviewees usually are.

Having participated in a number of ZOOM sessions ourselves, we also have wondered how our background looks.

I then discovered a book published last month: How to Zoom Your Room: Room Rater’s Ultimate Style Guide.

“Packed with beautiful how-to illustrations that demonstrate visually stunning set-ups and tips from celebrity zoom rooms, Room Rater packs an amusing punch while offering advice on how to up your game and not be embarrassed by your surroundings.”

In Conclusion

So at least temporarily, block out the dispiriting and find some crazy or innovative items that will make you laugh or even lead you on an adventure.

This claim is perfectly stated in this excerpt from what became my favorite song during the pandemic by John Michael Montgomery – Life’s a Dance” – great melody and lyrics.

When I was fourteen I was fallin’ fast
For a blue eyed girl in my homeroom class
Tryin’ to find the courage to ask her out
Was like tryin’ to get oil from a waterspout

What she would have said I can’t say
I never did ask and she moved away

But I learned somethin’ from my blue eyed girl
Sink or swim you gotta give it a whirl

Life’s a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don’t worry about what you don’t know
Life’s a dance you learn as you go

Cheers!

External Photo Attribution

*1 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sharing_a_laugh_(15484499520).jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Oregon Department of Transportation – 16 October 2014.

*2 Wikimedia Commons Bud Clark (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bud_Clark_1988.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Steve Morgan 18 March 1988.

*3 Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ER_logo.svg) This logo image consists only of simple geometric shapes or text. It does not meet the threshold of originality needed for copyright protection, and is therefore in the public domain.

*4 Public Domain – Wikimeidan Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1851539) Mjorter at Dutch Wikipedia – Transferred from nl.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain.

*5 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roe_LWS_Spondylodese_L5-S1_seitlich.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author:PumpingRudi 16 November 2009.

*6 -7 Benedictine Brewery Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/BenedictineBrewery)

*8 Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walker._frame.jpg) This work has been released into the public domain by its author, High Plains Drifter. This applies worldwide. 27 January 2006.

*9 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Une_canne_de_marchand_.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Fonquebure 21 March 2009.

*10 Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F._Scott_Fitzgerald_(1929_photo_.jpg) This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1927 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed.

*11 Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby#/media/File:Saturday_Evening cover.jpg) In the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1927. Author: Ellen Bernard Thompson Pyle.

*12 Eddie Burback (https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Eddy_Burback)

*13 Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rainforest-cafe-auburn-hills-michigan.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Joetregembo 11 March 2016.

*14 Wikimedia Commons – Public Domain (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zoom_participants_Bubrikh_2020.png) Released worldwide into the public domain by its author http://AKA MBG.

Happy New Year 2013 – Beerchaser Miscellany IV

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Thebeerchaser

Excellent Draft Beers at the Wet Monkey Café in Astoria

Excellent Draft Beers at Astoria Brewing Company’s Wet Dog Café in Astoria

As we commence 2013, those of you who are intellectually challenged (or bored) may be asking, “What did Thebeerchaser accomplish in 2012, in the second year of his Tour of Portland Bars, Pubs and Taverns? Is said Tour still alive and healthy?”

Although a biased commentator, my answer to the latter question is “Yes!” based on the data shown below, which includes twenty-two watering-holes last year and eight public houses during five months in 2011.

Establishments Visited in 2012 *1

Neighborhood Bars – County Cork, Muddy Rudder Public House, Hawthorne Hideaway, Laurelthirst Pub

Dive Bars – Ship Tavern, Bar of the Gods, Dixie Tavern

Historic or Classic Bars – Claudia’s, White Eagle Saloon, Lutz Tavern, Cheerful Tortoise, Mock Crest Tavern

Bars that Defy Classification – 1856, Gold Dust Meridian, Bottles, Interurban, Ash Street Saloon

Brew Pubs – Migration Brewery Pub

Bars Outside of Portland – Embers Brew House (Joseph), Desdemona and Wet Monkey Café (Astoria), PourHouse (Port Townsend, WA)

*1 The Davis Street Tavern was visited but the review will be posted in 2013.

Former Portland Mayor Bud Clark, Attorney Jim Westwood and Oregonian Columnist John Terry at the Goose Hollow Inn

During my career in legal management, I analyzed many statistics and trends. Figuratively regressing, I would suggest that visiting and reviewing a bar every 16.6 days (15.9 if one counts the Davis Street Tavern) in 2012 was a reasonably ambitious schedule and compares favorably with the partial 2011 year (starting in mid-August) in which the average days between visits was 17.1 – and no visits were made to bars outside Portland.

A Question of Priorities

The Embers Brew House and Pub in Joseph, Oregon added venues outside Portland

—————-

Keeping in mind my former co-managing partner’s favorite quote: “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts – for support rather than for illumination,” further analysis reveals other critical relationships and possible development of an esoteric null hypothesis.

For example, the Historic Bar class representing 26% of the bars was the most frequent type visited followed by Neighborhood Bars and Pubs Outside Portland in second place with 17% and Brew Pubs with only 4% of the visits last year. It’s very interesting to note that the average visits for each category is 16.5% with a standard deviation of 7.6%. Clearly, Brew Pubs need closer scrutiny in the coming year if the deviation from the mean is to be diminished!

: The White Eagle – Historic on the Exterior and the Interior –

To impress my son-in-law who is an engineer, I tried to work in the radius of gyration function into these statistics without success. But let’s momentarily digress to help educate readers on the benefits of beer-related topics and how they relate to the scientific method………..

Boyle’s Law, for example, may be encountered in beer production given that breweries are closed systems with constant temperatures and its worth toasting (with your favorite microbrew) the inverse relationship of pressure and volume in the given mass of confined gas within the vats as fermentation occurs……..

Critical advances in chemistry by Robert Boyle with alcohol experiments….

Another pioneer in chemistry influenced by my favorite brew was Joseph Priestley, an 18th century English clergyman, philosopher and chemist, whose house was next to a brewery. He began to experiment with the gas given off by fermenting beer and discovered a method of impregnating water with the carbon dioxide by placing a bowl of water above a vat of fermenting beer – thus inventing soda water.

Joseph Priestly used this equipment in experiments with beer in the late 18th century.

2012 Beerchasers

We also named a number of individuals or groups as Beerchasers-of-the-Month or Quarter. They included:

Musician and consultant Forrest Green, Coach Mike Riley and the OSU Football Team, Former OSU and NFL football star, Craig “Dude” Hanneman for his Mt. Everest climb in May, the Crew of the USS Constitution.

Also Portland State Professor of Economics, Dr. John Walker, Oregonian history columnist, John Terry and Princeton Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and author of the brilliant book, On Bullshit, Dr. Harry Frankfurt.

If you read one book in 2013, make it Dr. Harry Frankfurt’s “On Bullshit.”

2011 Establishments Visited

Between August 2011 and the end of the year, we visited eight establishments which were a superb commencement of Thebeerchaser Tour of Portland Bars including:

Getting the Boot from Emily the Bartender at Prost in 2011

Neighborhood Bars – Gladstone Street Tavern and Brooklyn Park Pub

Dive Bars – Joe’s Cellar and Yukon Tavern

Historic or Classic Bars – Buffalo Gap Saloon

Bars that Defy Classification – Prost

Brew Pubs – Amnesia Brewery Pub, Coalition Brew Pub

The Yukon Tavern – one of the proverbial Dive Bars visited in the first year of The Tour

2011 Beerchasers

Those honored with this designation last year included:

Crime Novelist James Crumley, retired chemical engineer Harold Schlumberg and four bartenders of the initial bars visited as follows:

Emily – Prost

Dave – The Twilight Room

Natasha – Gladstone Street Tavern

Natasha - A Great Bartender from the Gladstone Stree Tavern

Natasha – A Great Bartender from the Gladstone Street Tavern

Phoebe – The Brooklyn Park Pub

Please continue to give me suggestions on both public houses worthy of a Beerchaser visit and candidates for Beerchaser-of-the-Month.

And if you are really curious and lack meaningful life activity, the radius of gyration is defined as “the name of several related measures of the size of an object, a surface, or an ensemble of points. It is calculated as the root mean square distance of the objects’ parts from either its center of gravity or a given axis.” An explanation and the formulae can be found at the above link in Wikipedia or any good engineering textbook!

Thanks to the 40 “followers” on this blog and we are encouraged with the increasing number of visitors that averaged about 800 per month in the second half of 2012.

Happy New Year!

So many establishments and so little time!!

Expose Yourself to the Goose Hollow Inn

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Thebeerchaser

The 2011 Willamette Week Drink Guide states, “(The Goose Hollow Inn), brainchild of Bud Clark, Portland’s most universally beloved mayor continues into its fifth decade as a kind of principled experiment in the civic virtue of the bull session.”

: A Successful Experiment in Civic Virtue

The assessment of Bud Clark’s term as Mayor has obviously not changed since 2011…..Indeed, if there is a Portland bar (and its owners) that embodies what makes Portlanders never want to leave our City, it’s the Goose Hollow Inn. From the 2012 Willamette Week 105 Favorite Bars, Pubs and Clubs:

History on the Walls!!

“The five-decades old joint is everything you’d expect from a placed owned by Clark since 1967 — that is, a cabin-style pub with wooden benches adorned with old photos and campaign posters of Clark, with wrap-around porch….”

To experience the true flavor of this “institution,” however, you need to talk to the original owner himself. Thebeerchaser, Portland attorney, Jim Westwood and retired Oregonian columnist, John Terry, had this opportunity for a “very short” ninety minutes with Bud on a Tuesday afternoon in July.

With our Mayor from 1984-1992

Bud Clark, after attending Portland’s Lincoln High School, continued his education in 1952 at Vanport Center and then PSU before leaving for the Korean War.

He reminisced about his time as a bartender at the long gone Jerry’s Gables (where the $1.25 special included half of a hamburger, potato salad and garlic bread), his ownership of the Spatenhaus – his first bar which was located at the site of the present Keller Auditorium, and buying the Goose in 1967.

He regaled us with stories about the Expose Yourself to Art poster (originally intended to raise funds for a 1977 public health campaign to “Zap the Clap”). The Portland Art Museum was not interested in the poster and the original photographer, Michael Ryerson, printed them and sold them for $1 at Waterfront Park – 250,000 were sold by 1984 and now it is displayed in the Smithsonian!

Bud Clark – A Proponent of Open Public Greetings

David Kish, the owner of another bar – The Storm Cellar Tavern – who ultimately served as Portland’s Director of General Services and Clark’s Chief of Staff, told me that Bud donated his proceeds from the poster to the NW Examiner (Neighborhood Newspaper). Kish, before he worked for the City, also served as salesperson for the poster and patrons of his bar could buy the poster and a beer for a buck! Kish also related how when Bud told his friends about his plans to buy the bar in Goose Hollow that the reaction was, “You might as well be in Hillsboro…”

A lot more on tap than just Bud….

And there was his campaign against Frank Ivancie (“Ivancie Terrible” as labeled by former Oregon Journal columnist, Doug Baker) where Ivancie used the poster as an example of Clark’s lack of judgement. Ivancie mistakenly believed that people would vote for Clark only out of morbid curiosity, and the bar owner and political outsider’s campaign was a lark. Both Westwood and Clark remembered their mutual friend, coach (of Westwood’s GE College Bowl Team) and campaign advisor, PSU Professor, Ben Padrow.

The Mayor was known for his favorite greeting, “Whoop Whoop.”” Bud told us (and Kish elaborated) that this exclamation originated in an attempt to imitate the mating call of a pet guinea pig named George Raft…..

And then there was the campaign in 1984…..

The values of the Clark family are evident through the history of the bar. For example, the excellent mono- graph, Portland’s Goose Hollow by Tracy Prince states on page 10:

“By the late 1960’s, Goose Hollow faced the bulldozers of ‘urban renewal’ and the neighborhood name had fallen out of common usage for several decades. Bud Clark’s strategy to rename a tavern he purchased in the hollow as the Goose Hollow Inn to help rekindle civic regard the neighborhood, and prevented the … name from fading away.”

A History worth Preserving

Distinguishing Characteristics

The Food – A great menu including salads, sandwiches (notable roast beef and pizza) – headed, of course, by “The Best Reuben on the Planet” described in one review as: “a deliciously oozing pile of corned beef, sauerkraut and cheese.”

Thebeerchaser confirmed. The turkey dumpling soup is also superb.

The History, Character and Values of the Owners – Clark stated that before the advent of microbrews, the Goose served only three beers and Budweiser was King. Before he took office in 1984, the Goose sold 180 kegs of Budweiser per month and was recognized as selling more Bud per square foot than any bar in the United States. He chuckled relating how when he was away his wife, Sigrid, who was managing the bar, added what is now a wonderful deck, but the additional square footage lost them the Budweiser top ranking.

The Deck — Altered the Square Feet to Budweiser Sold Ratio

Examples of the values include:

Meatless Mondays – Bud instituted this concept in the ’60’s to remind people of the GIs fighting in Viet Nam while all of us lived in comfort back in the States.

Meat – Don’t Even Think About it on Monday at the Goose in the late ’60s

Smokeless Tuesdays – Long before Oregon law forbid it, patrons refrained from coffin nails once each week — and it was enforced.

Environmental Ethics – According to Kish, who is an environmental energy expert and once directed the Oregon Dept. of Energy, Bud implemented some innovative solar energy options in the Goose long before State tax credits and availability in the marketplace. Bud also “kicked out Budweiser” and stopped selling it for a period when Anheuser Busch opposed the Oregon Bottle Bill in 1971.

Family – The Clark family has been instrumental in the Goose Hollow Neighborhood and family values are pervasive in their businesses. Rachael, Bud’s daughter, now is the manager of the Inn. She joined us for the discussion and talked about the emphasis on a customer service ethic. She also refuted the one negative comment in scads of complimentary reviews: “My friend had to pay an extra $1.00 for the Au Jus on a French Dip Sandwich.” Rachael said, “I tried to contact the guy to tell him that we did not have French Dip Sandwiches on the menu at all then, but he never responded.”

Rachael Clark Carries on the Family Tradition – Is there no AuJus??

Fehrenbacher is the family name of Sigrid Fehrenbacher Clark, Oregon Symphony violinist and business partner in the pub. The Clarks also operated an outdoor store and antique shop. The family carries on with the tavern and an excellent little coffee shop – Fahrenbachers Hof immediately adjacent to the Inn – one that got excellent reviews for the coffee, staff and food.

Fehrenbacher’s Hof – No Bud but Great Java!

This Bud’s For US!!!

The Goose Hollow Inn is a wonderful pub in all respects. Thebeerchaser gained a new perspective on what a treasure the Clark Family is to Portland. Stop by and have a draft and then top it off with a cup of coffee at Fehrenbacher’s Hof next door.

It is fitting to conclude with Bud’s motto for the Inn:

“Dedicated to Quality Draft, Fine Food, Pleasant Music and Stimulating Company. We’re also dedicated to extremes of opinion, hoping that a livable marriage will result. If physical violence is your nature, either develop your verbal abilities or leave.”

The Goose Hollow Inn 1927 Jefferson Street

Fahrenbacher’s Hof 1225 SW 19th Avenue