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 the video at the end of the post and so the narrative isn’t clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution # at the end of the post. #1)
In Part I of this series, I listed my favorite dive bars in Oregon – Portland, along the Oregon Coast and throughout the rest of the state. My original intent for the blog was to limit my exploration of bars and breweries to the Portland area.
After retiring in 2011, however, my wife, Janet, and I began traveling – not only throughout our wonderful state, but all over the US and one trip to Europe. It was natural for the range of my Beerchasing visits to expand.
Consistent with my dive bar theme, I now offer you my favorites – first in the Montana and Colorado – two ideal states for these establishments – followed by the rest of the US.
Janet and Ernie Bob – one of our favorite bar servers at the Second Street Brewery in Sante Fe.
Beerchasing in the Big Sky State
Two road trips in Montana – one in 2016 and a more extended one in 2019, endeared us to Big Sky watering holes. The latter was part of a fourteen-day road trip – 3,700-miles across the Western US to North and South Dakota.
Through a long story that began with my wish to take a 350-mile side trip to visit the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak, Montana – only 60 miles from the Canadian border, my wife and I negotiated.
So while she visited our two granddaughters in Seattle, I embarked on a six-day solo trip through the Big Sky Country hitting twenty-nine watering holes. Janet then flew into Billings and we completed the final eight days of this unforgettable journey.
3,900 miles in fourteen days.In South Dakota’s Badlands National Park
These were supplemented by a phone conversation with the author, herself, who was very helpful and encouraging. As she states in the first book:
“I probably stopped in an eighth of the 1,600 bars in the state. I’ve written about less than half of those: the bad bars and the sad bars, gay bars and play bars; the stage stop bars, migrant bars, tourist bars and bars for single cowboys; the mean bars and clean bars; the new bars, the rendition saloons, the old boot-legging bars.”
The bars were wonderful – both the people in them and the trappings – and that last term could be taken literally because virtually every bar and many of the breweries (also a lot of the hotels) had mounted (deceased!) wildlife as part of the bar’s décor.
I’m not a hunter and some people have visceral reactions to these displays, but it accurately reflects the culture of the state:
These excerpts from his introduction give you a good idea on his enthusiasm for the topic:
“Colorado is often too hot or too cold. This helps explain why some of us patronize saloons for temperature, as well as altitude and attitude, adjustment…
Pursuing higher education as long as I could, I completed a dissertation in history at the University of Colorado at Boulder. For that research, The City and the Saloon: Denver 1858-1916 , I systematically visited every licensed and unlicensed after-hours club, bar, lounge, nightclub and tavern in Denver – some six-hundred establishments.” (#2)
Pinkie Master’s in Savannah, Georgia is a legendary dive where Jimmy Carter, while standing on the bar, was supposed to have announced his candidacy for the Presidency in 1978. It closed in controversy in 2016, but was resurrected as The Original Pinkie Master’s.
This historic bar (established in 1850) labeled “Boston’s Friendliest Dive Bar” capped a wonderful eleven-day road trip in 2018 through Maine and ending in Boston.
Olympic Diving?
I’ll finish with the silver medal of US dives, if you will. And this analogy made me think of the Olympic Games and some “questionable” Olympic sports in past and future Games.
These include flag football (2028), live pigeon shooting (1900), tug-of-war (1900 – 1926), croquet (1900) and rope climbing (1896 -1932. (#3)
Rope climbing event in 1896 Games
Perhaps they should supplement future Olympic Diving with a “dive bar component” with bartenders lifting or rolling kegs, a mug-sliding competition to the end of the bar (distance and time), etc. Sorry, I couldn’t resist…..
Silver Medal – Rod-N-Gun Saloon – Stanley, Idaho
In 2004, I first visited the unforgettable Rod-N-Gun on Ace of Diamonds Street in downtown Stanley. It’s at the foot of the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains and I was on a 2,600-mile solo road trip during a law firm sabbatical. The history and character of this bar are remarkable.
I returned with Janet in 2016 and we had an engrossing conversation with Johnny Ray Kirsch – also known as “Idaho’s Singing Bartender” – brother of the legendary owner and musician, Casanova Jack. (#4)
“Congrats to Tripp Costas for purchasing the Rod-N-Gun Saloon in Stanley and to Johnny Ray Kirch and Eve Kirch for selling. During the winter of 1995, when I was 20 years old, I waited tables for Johnny Ray and Eve on the cafe side of the Rod-N-Gun. We became lifelong friends. That summer I turned 21 at the Rod-N-Gun. It was June 5th, and it was snowing.
The Rod-N-Gun is a Stanley institution. The original owner built it in 1931 and then gambled it away in a cribbage game. It has burned down twice (once due to an exploding propane tank). The current building was built in the mid-fifties. Johnny Ray’s mom bought it in 1971.
Johnny Ray’s brother, Casanova Jack, ran it until his death in 1990, when Johnny and Eve took over. Casanova Jack was a Nashville recording artist who toured with many
entertainers, including Marty Robbins.
Tripp has been in and out of Stanley for the last decade. He hails from Nashville and has a hospitality background. He’s a bush pilot, a mountain man, and an all-around great guy. Tripp, Johnny Ray, Eve, and I have been working on this deal for the past four years, and it has finally come to fruition.”
Stay Tuned for my Final Post in this Series
Besides revealing Thebeerchaser’s Gold Medal winner, I’ll also discuss the matchless description of a dive bar and a brewery by Harlan Coban in his novelWin. And if an actual New York City bar is that portrayed in his book.
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During the summer months, I’ve decided to address some random items – some having to do with bars and breweries and some captured while sipping a gin martini at the beach (up with olives). As in the first post in this series, I’ll end with three jokes from my files.
Bullshit Will Never be the Same!
It’s psychologically challenging when one knows that a sad event is on the horizon, but the timing is unknown – kind of an ominous foreshadowing, if you will. Now perhaps that’s an exaggeration in this case, but I was saddened when I received an e-mail from former Beerchasing Regular, “West Coast Dave Hicks.”
When I started this blog in late 2011, I decided that besides reviewing bars and breweries, I would feature an interesting individual or group each quarter. My Beerchasers-of-the-Quarter might not have anything to do with beer or bars, but in my opinion they’ve made a meaningful contribution to society and their story should be told.
In almost every case, I’ve known the individual or group and they’ve ranged from athletes, authors, media personalities, military heroes and even academicians (including my graduate school professor in Public Finance).
One of the few I did not know, but felt compelled to “honor” in 2012 after reading his brilliant essay, was Dr. Frankfurt. As a lark, I looked up his contact info at Princeton and sent him an e-mail describing Thebeerchaser blog and his designation as B-O-Q.
I thought it would get caught in Princeton’s spam filter or that a person with this distinguished Ph.D.’s schedule would just ignore it..
So I was surprised and thrilled to receive the e-mail below several days later. His cryptic reference in the last sentence also indicated that he read my very long blog post in its entirety.
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 7:36 AM To: Williams, Donald Subject: RE: Hello Dr. Frankfurt
Dear Mr. Williams,
First of all, thank you for the honor of naming me the January 12, 2012 Beerchaser of the Quarter.
I have looked at the blog in which you announced my receipt of this distinction, and I was impressed by its wit, its charm, and its erudition. Also, I enjoyed the pictures.
I intend to follow your blog regularly. I am especially interested in keeping up with the debate over whether to remove the letter M from the alphabet. I believe that, with regard to this issue, my mind is still completely open.
*+* BULLSHIT rubber stamp on the desk of a Street Photographer
I will mourn the passing of Harry Frankfurt, in part, because he won’t be around to comment on the 2024 Presidential Elections.
And as we listen to the forthcoming debates and interviews we can’t say the Professor did not warn us:
“The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept.”
As an admonition when a candidate steps over the line, perhaps the moderator of each debate should whip out the poster below: (#5)
Farewell to Another Icon
The world was saddened with the death of Tony Bennett last week at the age of 96. He won twenty Grammy Awards and sold over fifty million records during his career.
The crooner captivated audiences for seven decades with his wonderful tunes and his charismatic personality, philosophy of life and support of humanitarian causes. He was a model for all generations.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, like Thebeerchaser, was born in Long Island, New York. He struggled with significant personal issues during his life, but overcame them and continued to be a “masterful stylist of American musical standards.”
“(He had) an easy, courtly manner and an uncommonly rich and durable tenor that made him a master of caressing a ballad or brightening an up-tempo number.” (APNews.com)
And who has not whistled or hummed, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”in the shower….? (#6)
Tony Bennett and wife, Susan
I wrote about him in a 2020 blog post – one not about entertainers but lawyers. My post was intended to make some observations about my almost forty years working with attorneys.
The opportunity to interact with these professionals during my entire career almost all of whom were ethical, smart, dedicated advocates with amazing work ethics and elevated senses of humor was a real benefit.
I tried to identify some general traits of lawyers that kept me on my toes in communicating. The last one I mentioned and the relevance to the preceding narrative is described below in this excerpt from the August 2020 post of Thebeerchaser:
Need to Have the LAST Word
Over my forty years working with lawyers, I learned that one way to garner their respect was to respond emphatically and with confidence in any (or every) kind of debate whether it was in conversation or electronically.
I learned, however, that even if I prevailed in substance, I should expect, and to some extent, encourage the lawyer to have the last word. It was a good method to save further time deliberating and allow a win–win result.
My favorite example of the lawyer insisting on the last word, occurred with one of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt’s very good lawyers from our Vancouver Office who was on a sabbatical in Italy with his wife.
This counselor was very active in professional and civic activities and served on the Washington State Bar Board of Governors.
They were walking up to the entrance of an exclusive restaurant in Rome and out comes a group of several people led by a distinguished looking gentleman in an impeccably-tailored suit.
Obviously, I wasn’t a witness, but I was told that the conversation went essentially like this as the lawyer and his wife approached the group and he addressed the guy in the lead:
Lawyer: Hi. I know I’ve seen you before. Are you from the Pacific Northwest?
Stranger: No.
Lawyer:Wow! I know I’ve seen you before… Are you involved with the Vancouver, Washington Chamber of Commerce?
Stranger: No.
Lawyer:This is just puzzling to me because I’m positive I’ve seen you before. Did you have any dealings with the Washington State Bar Association?
Stranger: No……. I’m Tony Bennett
Lawyer: Oh my God. You’re right!!(emphasis added) (#7–#8)
No! I’m Tony Bennett!
(And “I didn’t leave my heart in Vancouver, Washington!”)
In Closing…
I mentioned in my most recent blog post Summer Simmers – Part 1, that since we will be moving later this year, I’ve been mandated by my wife, Janet, to go through the stacks of files scattered at various places in our house including my office and the garage.
In my diligent efforts to help Oregon’s recycling efforts, I’ve found that I’m most inclined to keep files entitled “Bar Jokes,” “Lawyer Jokes” and “Quotations.”
So, unless I hear vehement objections from Beerchaser followers, I will periodically continue to include an example from each of these categories:
Lawyer Joke
A trial lawyer known for his aggressive personality sat in his car in the immense courthouse parking lot during a lunch recess. He saw an old guy who obviously could not remember where he parked. So every time the guy held the remote in the air, the lawyer honked his horn.
Bar Joke
A skeleton walks into a bar and the bartender says,“What’ll it be?” The skeleton replies, “I’ll have a beer and a mop.” (#9-#10)
(Next time, why don’t you try a dry martini?)
Quotation
“When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather – not terrified like all the passengers in his car.” (Anonymous)
#9. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human-Skeleton.jpg) The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Author: Skimsta – March 2010.
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Nostalgia…
When I started Thebeerchaser blog in 2011, the goal was to visit and review bars and breweries just in the Portland metropolitan area. I figured with hundreds to choose, I would have new options for years. However, we started traveling in retirement…
Janet and I could not resist the allure of watering holes throughout the State of Oregon and then when we took some road trips – across the country. We even hit a few, as you can see from the photos below, in our 2013 Rick Steve’s Best of Europe Tour where we visited six countries in twenty-one days.
We can’t forget the Miscellanea Pub in Rome and one of our favorites – Hell’s Tavern (Zur Höll) in Rautenberg, Germany – as one reviewer stated, “I didn’t think Hell would be so awesome!”
Others included the Publican Pub in Beaune, France and in Vernazza, Italy (The Cinque’ Terra) – the Blue Marlin Bar..
So I abandoned the logo that Teresa Lovegren, my former assistant, so generously provided when I started Beerchasing and prevailed upon my fraternity brother and friend of almost sixty years, Jud Blakely, to design a new logo.
Jud’s great effort has stood the test of time although my hair color has changed slightly.
But in reminiscing recently, I realized that although I’ve visited and reviewed over 400 watering holes, throughout the USA, only a handful of those have been in my neighboring state – Washington.
Perhaps one reason is my older daughter, Lisa and her husband, Jamie, who live in Lake Forest Park have two beautiful granddaughters and although Beerchasing is an avid pursuit, it would never replace time we can spend seeing these two little angels.
On one of our trips in 2012, before the granddaughters came along, we visited The Pour House in Port Townsend and then not another pub in the Evergreen State until 2016 when we stopped at the Ice Harbor Brewery in Kennewick on the way to a wedding in Coeur d’Alene.
Then a three-year lapse until a visit to the Loowit Brewery in downtown Vancouver – right across the Columbia River from Portland.
I was with my retired colleague “General” Larry Paulson, who I first met as a lawyer when we both worked in the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt firm. He then served with distinction as the Executive Director of the Port of Vancouver when we
We affectionally called him “General”because he also had a career and retired as a Brigadier General in the Oregon Air National Guard. (#4 – #5)
Assuming you’re still with me on this Beerchase down Memory Lane, fast forward to a trip in the fall of 2019 when we visited Lisa and her family. Her husband, Jamie, his brother, Rob and dad, Jon and I hit the historic Caroline Tavern and then had dinner at Elliot Bay Brewery’s Lake City Pub. (#6)
I finished that trip the next night with a memorable visit to Daphne’s in Edmonds in which I got to meet the legendary bartender, Desmond van Rensberg.
The bar is a hole-in-wall, but Desmond’s personality radiates and seems to expand the structure! (#7 – #9)
Coming out of COVID
Jump ahead four years and the full-scale resumption of Beerchasing after the pandemic waned. Another Seattle trip provided an opportunity to visit two new establishments.
The granddaughters were both in school, so it didn’t interfere with my time to visit them and see a swim meet, a piano recital and marvel at their wonderful personalities.
As happens on a number of occasions, the enjoyment of spending time with my Beerchasing companions heightened the discovery of a new bar or brewery – in this case Salish Sea Brewing Pub in Edmonds and Stack 571 Burger and Whiskey Bar in Bothell.
Salish Sea Brewing
Salish Sea Brewing is owned by a husband and wife team – Jeff and Erika Barnett who started their enterprise in 2013 and were foresighted when they purchased American Brewery.
They acquired a competitor brewery and taproom including brewing equipment – a short distance away in Edmonds – in 2021 American struggled during the pandemic.
“The purchase of American was made possible by Salish Sea’s ability to navigate the pandemic. The brewery’s downtown location resulted in regular walk-up business and, despite having a limited distribution network, Salish Sea made use of 32-ounce mason jars to sell beer-to-go.”
The brewing equipment was moved down the street to what is now the Salish Sea Boathouse near Edmond’s picturesque waterfront. (#10 – #11)
The brewpub was very pleasant and it’s obvious from the reviews and just observing, that they have built a loyal community in and around Edmonds. Dawn, our friendly server, told us about a running club which uses the pub as a base and it is definitely family oriented.
I was there with my colleague on the Board of the Abbey Foundation of Oregon, Rex Wardlaw who lives in Edmonds although he and his wife migrate to Kona for most of the bad weather months in Washington – a good portion of the year.
I didn’t eat but Rex had a great looking green salad and we split a gigantic soft pretzel ($11). Salish has a good varied menu of moderately priced pub food ranging from soups, salads, burgers, flatbreads and standbys such as Fish & Chips and Mac & Cheese in addition to a nice kid’s menu.
I didn’t bother to write down the specific beers either of us had, but we were able to choose from eleven of Salish’s own beers and both of us enjoyed our drafts.
As was the case with my Beerchasing companion the next day at lunch, I always learn a lot from just listening to Rex who had a remarkable career in investment banking and wealth management – one reason he is now Chair of the Abbey’s Investment Committee which manages its endowment fund.
He ran his own investment research and consulting company for ten years after retiring as managing director/portfolio manager at Wells, US Trust and then First Republic.
Rex attended NW Nazarene Collège and then earned his MBA at the University of Oregon. (#12 – #16)
And Rex’s self demands are not modest. For example, in 2015, he successfully completed the Swiss Jura Challenge on a 1 Trek 720 bicycle. That’s 30,000 + feet of vertical over 425 + miles from Geneva to Basel and back through French Comte to Geneva in 10 days (9 days of riding) with 4000 feet of daily climbing.
Rex is a man of faith – he also completed two pilgrimages – hiking the Portuguese Caminho from Lisbon to Santiago, Spain in 2018.
He followed with the Via Francigena Pilgrimage from Canterbury, UK to Roma, Italia in 2022 – solo hiking the first 560 miles of the VF, a pilgrimage route incorporating parts of the ancient Roman Road across France and Switzerland.
As we were leaving the brewpub, Rex asked me if I wanted to go for a twenty-mile jog to work off our beer and pretzel. I politely demurred…
Stack 571 Burger and Whiskey Bar
When Jon Magnusson asked me if I wanted to go to lunch at Stack 571 in Bothell, I was curious about the derivation of the name. A bit of internet searching revealed that it’s named after the ASARCO smokestack – once the world’s largest which had an interesting demise according to Historylink.org.
“At 12:40 p.m. on January 17, 1993, demolition experts collapse the landmark American Smelter and Refining Company (ASARCO) smokestack as part of a Superfund toxic cleanup of the old copper smelter in Ruston.
As many as 100,000 people gather to witness the detonation that, with one push of a plunger, sets off charges that in eight seconds reduces the structure to rubble and dust.” (#17)
I wondered why the bar’s President and Operating Partner, Attila Szabo, chose that symbol for the name of his new venture in 2016.
(Further searching revealed that it is because their burgers are “stacked” or tall). They have five locations including Vancouver, WA and emphasize organic, free-range and locally sourced ingredients.
Just as Rex Wardlaw’s intellect and experience is worth noting, my older daughter’s father-in-law always makes a very stimulating dining companion.
While Jon ate one of the Stack’s good cheeseburgers (single patty…) I had a chicken sandwich with what I assume was a diminutive chicken. The French fries and onion rings were delicious, although I don’t know under what conditions they were grown.
Jon Magnusson is now a Senior Principal with the Magnusson Klemencic Associates structural engineering firm which he joined in 1976 and:
“….advanced to CEO, and ultimately Chairman of the Board, a role he held for 18 years. Now a Senior Principal, Jon has been structural engineer-in-charge for over $2.5 billion of construction in the last 10 years alone.
He has worked on projects in 47 states and 49 countries, including major sports stadiums, healthcare facilities, signature convention centers, and high-rise buildings.
Over the course of his career, Jon has been an invited speaker for over 240 presentations and participated in more than 100 media interviews.”
Jon also donates a lot of time and travels extensively for professional associations. He’s a second generation Washington Husky (both his son and my daughter share the same alma mater) and we always enjoy talking about the Pac12.
The one football game I attended with him in Seattle (in the renovated and expanded Husky Stadium that his firm managed as they did when it expanded in 1982), the Huskies clobbered my Beavers.
This was also the case when son, Jamie, and I attended the same rivalry in 2019 in Reser Stadium in Corvallis. (Jon’s firm also did the work on the expansion and improvement of Reser at OSU last year.) (#18 – #21)
These include Safeco Field and Lumen Field in Seattle as well as Hayward Stadium in Eugene, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara (Home of the 49’ers and Guangzhou International Arena in China to name a few.
Stack 571 had about fifteen beers on tap including three of their own although they say nothing about their brewing capabilities on their website.
But what intrigued Jon and me is the claim that their selection of whiskeys exceeds 100 although the sign at Bothell indicated 179! The availability of a “Whiskey Passport “ may merit a return trip(s). (#22 – #23)
Since there was still time before the granddaughters got home from school, Jon asked if I wanted to come over and review the engineering stress equation (σ =F/A0). I politely demurred….
In closing…
I started this long post with some nostalgia including three historic images of Seattle breweries that were a mainstay during my college years – Rainer and Olympia.
I realized that my Beerchasing adventures in Washington and more specifically, Seattle, have lacked energy and will do my best in the future to stay “Stride-for-Stride with Seattle Brew.” (#24)
#12. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jura_Mountains#/media/File:Juragebirge.JPG) This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted”. Author: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC 22 October 2002.
(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. External photo attribution is at the end of the post. #1)
Well Beerchasers, I’ve hit the jackpot with my recent visits to bars The Basement Public House (eastside) and the Jolly Roger at John’s Landing (westside) – both independent neighborhood establishments owned and operated by Portlanders. And now I’ll tell you about another outstanding neighborhood tavern.
And as will be the case with the other two establishments, I’ll return again notwithstanding the internal pressure which is my constant companion — knowing how many watering holes I haven’t visited and still await Thebeerchaser with anticipation.
In researching the Tabor and it’s opening in 2012 by Ken “Zig” Naffziger, I was not surprised by its longevity and success. And the welcoming ambiance radiates when one walks in the door.
The problem with some of the newer hospitality venues which were short-lived – especially with the impact of the pandemic – the owners and management often didn’t“learn the ropes” before they ventured out on their own. The COVID related issues challenged even the most experienced manager.
Two good examples of how long-time successful bar owners worked their way up and were fully aware of the commitment and grit required are the Jackson family – owners of the Sports Page in Beaverton and the Jolly Roger bars – the most recent reviews on this blog.
The other is Zig Naffziger – owner of the Tabor Tavern.
“In 2012, after 25 years in the industry — including stints with Portland pub icons McMenamins, Lompoc Brewing and the Horse Brass Pub — Ken “Zig” Naffziger decided to set out on his own.
Inspired by Zig’s travels and love of pub culture, his goal was to create the kind of place fellow tavern fans could congregate to enjoy high-quality food and drink in a warm, welcoming and unpretentious environment.” (Tabor Tavern website) (#2)
Zig learned the industry before he opened the Tabor Tavern
Let’s look at what has made the Tabor Tavern a favorite eatery and bar on the northwest edge of the Tabor Neighborhood.
And based on the reception it got from the time it opened until the present, his first establishment allowed Zig and his wife, Kristen Siefkin, to open a second neighborhood tavern and restaurant – Swift and Union in 2015 – less than ten miles away.
It had been his life-long dream of Naffziger to open a neighborhood pub. He was smart about how he went about it – getting advice from experts including his wife:
“‘I am an avid fan of pub culture and hope to create the kind of place fellow fans would like to congregate.’ Naffziger brought in restaurant consultant, Sean Herron of Big Idea Group as advisor on this project (and) food and beverage PR executive, Kristen Siefkin.” (https://brewpublic.com/oregon-beer/tabor-tavern-to-open-this-spring/)
Now the outside of Tabor Tavern does not portend what awaits you inside. It’s a plain wooden one-story building with a red roof in a semi-commercial residential area on a busy street.
There are a number of small picnic tables that share the sidewalk for Portland’s months when outside seating is an option.
Not to be forgotten – also not available at many watering holes these days is plenty of off-street parking with more available in the Tavern’s lot. (#3)
But one walks into a quaint one-room interior which is a wonderful throwback to the diners of the 60’s or 70’s. In fact, along with historic Portland photos and an attractive chalkboard display showing beers on taps, there’s a large wood poster entitled “Back in 1972.”
It has 1972 statistics such as the cost of a house ($27,550), the average annual income ($9,697), cost of a gallon of gas (36 cents) and cultural items like popular songs (American Pie), movies (The Godfather) and TV shows (All in the Family).
Also – famous people born that year including Gwyneth Paltrow – who didn’t know then that in the future she should stay away from both ski slopes and courtrooms…….
The welcoming, rich interior has wood tables of various sizes located throughout with dark-colored wooden booths with padded seats by the windows along the front.
And one of the most iconic features is a long-reclaimed wood bar with twelve old drugstore counter-type stools. All give an impression of high quality and care. The floor is refinished cement and there are antique rugs providing a nice contrast.
The Food, the Beverages and the Service
Tabor Tavern gets an A grade on these three categories. Each time I visited or followed up with a call, the staff was friendly and helpful – including offering to take pictures of us for the blog and even posing in one of them.
Besides eight varied Northwest beers and one cider on tap, one can also get cans and bottles including a non-alcoholic beer. Of course, I was pleased to see the old standby – $3.50 Rainer Tallboys.
Wine is also available, and they get good reviews on their seven cocktails which go for $12. I was intrigued by the Drunken Botanist – “Wild Roots raspberry vodka, muddled arugula, honey, lime juice, served up” – but didn’t have the courage to ask what “muddled arugula” is. (#4)
But it’s the excellent upscale pub food which beckons me to make a return visit. I was surprised that the annual Willamette Week Best Bar Guides, I’ve collected for the last ten years didn’t have Tabor Tavern in any of its editions.
Take a look at these two reviews from the weekly newspaper, however, and you’ll get a flavor for the quality of the cuisine:
“This casual, bustling neighborhood joint always miraculously has at least one table available whenever we roll up. Its adult menu is exceptional pub grub: a perfect beet salad (with quinoa and pepitas) and a fried chicken sando that my partner orders every time and will not shut up about.
It also has a small kids’ menu, which includes the coveted grilled cheese and fries for $7. Hell yes! Tabor Tavern is perfect for cool families, although a passerby would hardly even know it, which is the ideal aesthetic.” Willamette Week 8/18/21
And I can personally attest to the accuracy of the effusive review of the fried chicken sandwich ($16) – I had it and my friend, John Mansfield relished the Spinach and Warm Bacon Salad. ($14)
Perhaps that’s why we looked so happy in this photo – taken after we finished lunch – although some people assert that I’m always happy when I have a meal with a lawyer……..!
However, when I return, given the description in the review below and seeing it first-hand when my Beerchasing companion, John Limb tried it in 2022, I will, without hesitation, order the Tabor Burger as described in the 2017 article “The 16 Best Bar Burgers in Portland.”
“The Tabor Burger ($16.50 with fries, soup or salad) is precisely what would happen if a hamburger got attacked by an episode of Frasier: arugula, brioche bun, blue cheese and bacon jam.
But it comes together better than expected—a balance of fat against salt and bitterness, rather than acidity. But is it weird I sometimes feel I’m eating a Cobb salad?”
Our friendly server agreed to have his picture taken with John.
The OCP is a non-profit national leader in Catholic and faith-based music publishing and worship resources. During his tenure, OCP became the nation’s leading publisher of Catholic worship material. He continues to serve as Publisher Emeritus.
And it was a remarkable coincidence that as we ate our lunches and drank our beers on a nice April afternoon at the outside tables in front of the bar, that John looked at two guys inside – sitting adjacent to us – with just a window separating us. John and both of the guys started smiling and waving simultaneously as they recognized each other.
In the photo below, the guy on the left is Rudy Lopez who works at OCP and is a very talented musician and composer as is Bro. Rufino Zaragoza – a Franciscan friar (monk) from California.
He collaborates with OCP including efforts to serve the Vietnamese community both here in the U.S. and in Vietnam. (Click on the above links on these individuals and you will be impressed with their work and dedication.)
John had not seen Bro. Rufino since 2001 when both traveled to Viet Nam and facilitated the development and publication of a Vietnamese National Hymnal which is now available internationally.
And Because it Bears Mentioning
After looking at the photos again, I commented to John in a recent phone call, “John, you have an amazing resemblance to comedian Stephen Colbert.” His reply was:
“Yes, I’ve been told many times that I look like him — more so in the past, when he still wore wire-rimmed glasses like my own. There have been times when people were actually convinced that I was him, and I was just trying to avoid them by saying that I wasn’t. My fifteen minutes of fame, so to speak.”
Well, you judge for yourself! (#5 – #6)
Well, that’s John Limb on the _______??!!
I laughed and reflected that John should feel pretty good about the comparison. The only famous person friends have said that I resemble is former Senate Majority Leader – Republican Trent Lott from Mississippi. (2001) And no, I’m not going to show you the picture! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Lott
In Closing
You should make a point to try Zig’s ” dream that became a reality,” and he created a place that is “warm, welcoming and an unpretentious environment.” I plan to visit Swift and Union as well. But I’ll leave you with this brief 4/15/23 Yelp Review. It sums up most of comments very well:
“I’d never been to Tabor Tavern before. Wow! The food is excellent!! Everything delicious. I split the beet salad and burger with blue cheese, bacon jam & arugula . SOOOO delicious!
A table mate had the fish and chips and another had the Tabor burger. All outstanding – as are the fries. Highly recommend this eatery!!”
And if you want to see the breadth of the food and cocktails Zig Naffziger offers and the outstanding presentation, just check out the photos on the Tabor Tavern Facebook Page. (#7)
In the twelve years I’ve pursued the perfect watering hole on Thebeerchaser Blog, I only remember five of the approximately 425 I’ve visited and reviewed, that were “subterranean” venues in which to raise a mug.
That is, until I recently unearthed The Basement Public House – close-in on the SE side of Portland. I was so captivated by this pub after my first trip in mid-January, that I followed up two weeks later with a second visit. Usually my return trip takes longer. The bar is shown above with my former Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt law firm colleague Mark Long at the entrance.
Now there are certainly additional basement bars I haven’t discovered, but for historical context, the five other “sunken” establishments in which I’ve Beerchased – all in Portland, include:
Joe’s Cellarin NW Portland – One month after I commenced this journey in 2011, https://thebeerchaser.com/2011/09/17/step-up-to-joes-cellar/ I discovered this Portland dive. As I pointed out in the post, Joe’s is actually at street level, but the entrance looks like one is entering a cavern and both the ambiance and the name fit.
I quoted Davy Jones, lead singer for the Monkees, when he observed decades earlier, “You can (have me sing) in the basement or the penthouse; it doesn’t matter to me.” I would suggest the same can be asserted about drinking beer.
The Yard Housein downtown Portland’s Central Business District, before it closed permanently, was located in the basement of a high-rise office building. The title of my post asks, “The Yard House – Does it Measure Up?”It definitely did not!
One enters through a sterile, corporate-looking lobby to be greeted by a young, smiling hostess. She walks you down steps to the bar area. The establishment – part of a national chain – is owned by the same corporation as the Oliver Garden Restaurants.
Although it did not have shrimp alfredo, ravioli or garlic bread on the menu, it did have100 beers on tap. And one could buy “a yard of beer” (32 ounces) in an incredible glass. (Beerchaser of the Quarter, Jim Westwood is trying to polish one off below and then asked if they also had “meters of beer.”
The ambiance was that of an Applebee’s or a suburban branch of Citibank” although at the latter you’d have to get a time certificate of deposit instead of a pint of IPA….
Mummy’s – Closed permanently during the pandemic, this venerable subterranean bar and grill I described in my title as “A (Buried) Portland Treasure.”It was only two blocks from my Portland law office downtown. A Portland Mercury article aptly described it:
“(We) descended to a ‘mysterious and venerable place.’ True to its name, Mummy’s is filled with Egyptian artifacts much like you’d find in an actual crypt. (It’s) weird, tomb-like, but lovable space.”
He is also a former inmate of the Oregon State Prison.
After spending 30 months in prison – six of it in the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland – he had to rebuild his life from scratch. He performed his community service at the Washington Park Zoo, shoveling elephant manure.
In 1994, the Grand Café held a karaoke contest judged by the Honorable Steven Gallagher – the same judge who sentenced Peters to prison.
The original incarnation of The Grand was known as The Union Avenue Social Club (UASC). It dates back to 1926 when “The Club” was at the corner of Union Ave and SE Russell St. and was probably a speakeasy. After Prohibition, it moved from Union Ave to the site on Grand Avenue in a building which is over 100 years old.
You should read Thebeerchaser post which has the details of Peter’s amazing and, at times, unbelievable history, including some excerpts from the book he wrote while in prison.
Thanks to a request from his long-term friend and former Beerchaser-of-the- Quarter Jack Faust, shown in the photo above, he opened early one afternoon in 2013.
The book includes the account of his formation of The Götterdämmerung Society for the purpose of having the inmate members watch Richard Wagner’s Opera, “Ring of the Nibelung.” He promoted the event in the prison newsletter.
It also relates why Frank asserted that he went to prison on a “softball scholarship”:
“An immense Black inmate said, ‘Hey Peters, remember me, you kicked me out of your club. You sure are white.’ ‘Well,’ I say, ‘I’ve been kicked out of my own club so don’t feel bad.’
‘Frank, I would like to ask you to do something for us, but I don’t know how to ask. …O.K., O.K. – Frank, will you play softball for us? We are in third place, and our goal is to make the playoffs. We are the Marauders, sponsored by the Lifers….’
I…..made my decision on the spot. I played for the Marauders. We won the second half and made the playoffs”
Frank gave us an exclusive tour of both expansive floors of The Grand explaining the scads of photos and memorabilia from his past athletic and professional exploits.
The basement was devoted to one of its traditions – Salsa Dancing and Andrea’s Cha Cha Club Wednesday through Saturday nights. Our tour concluded with a salsa dance lesson. “We sell Fun,” Peters informed us, “And salsa dancing is not defined by age.”
Life of Riley Tavern – This bar in the Pearl District of Portland has two floors. I went with six lawyers in the Schwabe Tax and Estate Planning Group and one of their secretaries. They’re some of the smartest people I know. All the lawyers – besides their law degrees – have Masters in Taxation.
We had a delicious lunch on the first floor and a lot of fun while we ate, although to many people, the terms “Tax lawyer” and “Fun” might seem like a contradiction in terms.
The basement, however, really defines the bar. As I stated in my 2016 blog post:
“One walks down the battered steps into an intriguing, dark basement space with just a few small windows – it reminded me of the fallout shelters the government promoted when I was a kid. (They also told us with sincerity during drills that we should assume a position under our desks in order to avoid the impact of a nuclear warhead…..)
It’s full of dark wood furniture, pool tables, and the bartender serves a cucumber gin and tonic that will really make you think about ordering quite a few gin and tonics. The billiards, shuffleboard, and darts in the basement are free.”
And before I close with a teaser about The Basement Pub, I think it appropriate to talk about my one Beerchasing experience that was the total converse of cellar bars. That was the Schilthorn Taverne at the 9,700 foot level of the Schilthorn in Switzerland.
We ascended the Schilthorn, by two separate tramways that took us to the top of the 9,744 foot mountain. It is one of the highest peaks in the Bernese Alps. The James Bond movie, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, was filmed at the top. And the tavern is just below the summit.
Stay Tuned for More on The Basement Public House
While a number of my favorite dives or breweries have closed, I’m constantly coming across low-profile but fascinating bars that propel me onward. Such was the case with the Basement Pub, which I happened to see out of the corner of my eye while driving a new route in SE Portland.
It was described in a Google search as:
“Dimly lit lounge & hangout featuring a card-game league, board games, trivia & a low-key vibe.”
My first thought was, “How could I have missed what seems like a great dive bar?” But although the title and the outward appearance lead one to think that this place is a “classic dive” (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) it’s actually a quaint and delightful neighborhood pub with a friendly staff and some nice features that drew me back.
You’ll read the details of my two visits and why you should try this bar in my next post.
Besides Wayfinder Brewing, which I reviewed in my last Beerchaser post, I’ve been back on the trail the last two months and had first-time visits to a number of breweries and bars that I’ll be sharing with you in future posts.
These include Binary, Von Ebert, and Pono breweries, the Wildwood Saloon and the Basement Pub – the latter a wonderful neighborhood bar on Portland’s SE side. Stay tuned and here’s a preview with some photos below:
That said and without trying to be maudlin at the start of a new year, I feel compelled to recognize three great Portland establishments – two that recently closed and one that will in the next few months. No glitzy brewery with shiny taps and sleek modern furniture can replace them.
“Admittedly, civic preservationists may have reason to worry about the Jolly’s truly irreplaceable feature.
Jackson admits there’s no clear plan on what will become of the bar’s justly treasured signage—a majestic freestanding pylon sign shaped like a ship’s mast at a height no longer sanctioned—but it’s evaded the wrecking ball before.”
For twenty years, an eastside landmark!
“….the property was bought by developers whose plans are for a five-story, 100-plus-unit residential complex……’We got destroyed during all the conflicts,’ (Portland protests and riots) Jackson tells WW.
‘No matter how much we tried to fix the building, people kept hurting it, and the police were unavailable to help.’ “(emphasis added)
(Another sad commentary on the City of Portland’s disastrous inability to protect its streets and businesses during the pandemic.)
Portland’s permitting process is notoriously slow – a blessing for regulars at the JR because the original closing was supposed to be on Super Bowl Sunday. A bartender told me in a phone call today, however, that it has been extended to April or until the developers get the final go-ahead for their project.
I hit the Jolly Roger with my friend and Beerchasing Regular, Hillary Barbour, whose other Beerchasing exploits have included The Verne and Mad Hanna – a Reed College alum who appreciates dive bars….
And the Jolly Roger certainly fits the definition of a classic dive as you can see from the photos below – the cheap beer, video machines, dark and windowless rooms, historic beer signs and the restrooms which are consistent with dive bar standards. It is memorable and Portlanders will be sorry to see it set sail.
While the SE location will be missed, fortunately the Jackson’s have two other locations – the Jolly Roger at John’s Landing and the Sports Page in Beaverton.
Perhaps the historic ship’s mast should be placed at the top of Portland City Hall. Then all the City would need is a rudder……..!
A Buried Treasure Disappears
One of the establishments I reviewed in 2016, was one I visited for lunch many times while I was working at the law firm before retirement in 2011. The Schwabe firm was only two short blocks away from Mummy’s – an iconic Egyptian Lounge and Restaurant in the basement of another building.
It was owned by two unforgettable Egyptian brothers, Ghobvial and Phillip Mounir. They bartended, cooked and served the food – they were the only “employees.” They opened Mummy’s in about 1986.
I used to take some of our Summer Associates (law school clerks) there for lunch. Since we were competing with other law firms to recruit them, these top students were typically wined and dined at Portland’s finest restaurants – Higgins, the Heathman Grille, Jake’s, etc.
To our Recruiting Director’s initial horror, I would usually take them to Mummy’s – that is until without exception, they would tell her that they loved the “tomb experience,”– the ambiance, Pyramid Beer, the brothers’ hospitality and the good Egyptian cuisine:
And the Schwabe managers and my family surprised me after hosting my 2011 retirement dinner at nearby Nel Centro, with an after-dinner reception at Mummy’s – it was memorable – in fact, there is a video someplace in the Ethernet of me reluctantly sharing the floor with a belly dancer, who was performing that night.
The last time I was there was for late afternoon drinks with two of my favorite Schwabe lawyers, Brian (Brain) King and Margaret Hoffman – both skilled litigators who have since retired. We met at the firm at 5:00 and headed on our two-block journey – like a reverse exodus of the Children of Israel.
Even though it had been five years since I had been to their establishment, when I walked in, Ghobvial immediately exclaimed, “Schwabe!”and pointed towards what had been my favorite booth.
Whether it was the pandemic or the brothers deciding to forsake the daily grind, Mummy’s closed permanently in 2022.
Another possible theory was one I came across today in the Morning Brew newsletter – the ubiquitous arbiters of political correctness conceptually assigned the establishment to the same fate as one of Egypt’s most famous mummies Ramesses the Great, who was evidently ready to depart at the age of 90 after reigning for almost sixty years:
“Because of the many battles he fought, Ramesses’ body showed evidence of healed injuries and arthritis; his arteries were hardened; and he had a large dental infection that might have killed him.” (Photo attribution #1)
You see, the word “mummy”itself has now been banished or exiled to the toxic waste dump of no-longer acceptable terms.
Examples include “manhole” – now “maintenance hole” ; “unemployed” – now “involuntarily leisured”;“master bedroom” – now “primary suite”; or “wrong” – now “differentially logical”; etc. etc. etc.
“Some museums want you to remember that mummies were once—a really long time ago—people, too. A trio of British museum organizations said they will avoid using the word “mummy” whenever possible, and swap it out with “mummified remains of” or “mummified person.”
Well Mummy’s may be gone, but it will not be forgotten – neither the name, the brothers, the food nor the ambiance and charm.
“(Sloan’s) closed for good Dec. 30 following Sloan’s sale of the property to developers— they plan to build a seven-story apartment building on the land, and (Shirley) Sloan will settle into a well-earned retirement.
Nostalgic well-wishers spent the last few weeks of 2022 coming by for one last visit and often to learn just how little they really knew about the establishment.”
And why do I describe this establishment as “iconic”? Well, just check the photo of the exterior wall on its west side in the photos I took when I reviewed the bar in 2016 – you can also view a younger Beerchaser from that visit….
Co-owner Bob Sloan also owned a body shop (Sloan’s Custom Body and Paint) next door and did skilled body and restorative work on classic autos. His specialty, however, was working on Freightliner Trucks which is evident from the exterior wall and a Freightliner grill built right into the bar.
When a café next door to the body shop run by an elderly lady closed, they bought the property and opened the bar in 1979. (The entire property was originally a creamery that opened in 1926.) Some reviews labeled it a “dive bar,” but it is no such thing.
When I interviewed this charming and classy lady in 2016, Shirley described Sloan’s as “My living room.”
“Notable elements of the décor there at Sloan’s is the ‘frozen in time’ 1970s look inside; the semi-truck cab jutting out from the building; and the Chicago Coin Band-Box jukebox, a rare thing to find anywhere in the U.S. (it’s estimated there are only about 10 of them operating around the country).
Put in a quarter and you’ll see the figurines at the top dancing and playing the musical instruments in their hands, in time to whatever tune you picked (mostly Country music).”
I was joined on my visit to Sloan’s by friends “West Coast” Dave Hicks, a San Francisco consultant with whom I worked in law firm days and John Horvick. People in the NW will recognize< John as an oft-quote political and polling consultant at the respected firm DHM Research and with whom I served on the Board of the City Club of Portland.
The three of us enjoyed the ambiance and the food (essentially home-cooked since it’s Shirley’s living room….). I’m sure they join me and other Portlanders who said farewell to this Albina area neighborhood institution. It’s one of a number of bars that will now exist only in our good memories.
May Shirley Sloan have a wonderful retirement and let’s hope the Oregon Historical Society or some other protector of historical artifacts gains possession of the Chicago Coin Band-Box jukebox.
(This is a long narrative. 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 at the end of the post and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.)
In Part I of this Thebeerchaser post, I mentioned how my wife of almost 43 years has understandably insisted that I significantly reduce the myriad files in our garage, my office and scattered throughout filing cabinets we own. (That means recycle most of them especially if they have not been viewed in the last ten to fifteen years.)
In the last post I gave examples of material from my employment at Clackamas County and one undergrad college paper with a cryptic comment from a professor – one I didn’t use for a reference in my graduate school admission process…
I worked with lawyers in a management capacity for over thirty-five years at the Oregon State Bar and the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt firm based in Portland’s PacWest Center. So in my first 2023 post, I’ll begin by giving you some glimpses of the enjoyment I got from the humor surrounding this work.
Was it a stressful environment?
Yes!
But one where the tension was eased by jocularity and people not taking themselves too seriously.
# External photo attribution at the end of the post. (#1 – #2)
Schwabe had a wonderful culture, shared by attorneys and staff alike and was a major factor why we regularly landed in the top ranks of Oregon’s Best Employers as rated by the employees themselves. There was an organizational sense of humor.
Lawyers are a competitive group and ensconced within the five floors of the thirty-three story PacWest Center in Portland, there was often a friendly rivalry on who could come up with the wittiest electronic missive or response to an e-mail. The same was true in all the offices whether Seattle, Vancouver or Bend.
I have to admit as the COO, I tended to reinforce this trait by recognition of several “Emails of the Year”at our firm’s annual retreat – I’d present bottles of wine to the winners.
The first one I saved from 1996. (Now you know why Janet is on my case!) It was even authored by a tax lawyer – a group often stereotyped as having senses of humor tantamount to the humor buried in the pages of the Internal Revenue Code on depreciation…… (#3)
A comedian’s source book?
I will generally omit the names of the senders in this post (although I don’t think they would mind and their colleagues would recognize the senders).
The one below was authored by a brilliant tax litigator who would periodically send an e-mail to the entire Firm entitled, “Taxes are Your Friend.” These would include an excerpt from the Code accompanied by a picture of a rabbit with a pancake or waffle on its head.
We also had a “junk-mail” address where people could send questions, advertise items for sale or raise other issues not related to client business. This one started with the following inquiry:
Question:Is anyone familiar with how real estate is transferred in Brazil? (#5 – #6)
Response: The entire town stands along the property lines of the property to be conveyed. A representative of the town recorder called the “Schlimph” garrotes a chicken and the children of the village spread the feathers at the corner of the property.
Then the appointed elders (“drelba”) while chanting ancient real estate incantations, pick up dirt clods and rocks and hurl them in the air. Finally, a small child is selected from the crowd and forced to chug large quantities of Eucalyptus Tea and Tabasco while the rest of the villages shout “Go!” “Go!” “Go”.
If the selected child becomes ill, the transaction is considered “closed” and the buyer and seller exchange twigs from the plants growing on the property and go home. If the child is unaffected by the ordeal, the buyer and the seller are sacrificed to the real estate gods in the “Ritual of the Ostrich” and property eschews to the Schlimph. (I hope this is helpful….)
Impermeable?
The one below was the winner at the 2010 Firm Retreat – written by one of my favorite associates in the Environmental and Natural Resources Group. Notwithstanding his feigned disregard for Mother Earth, he’s now a partner.
The Truth – Sometimes Stranger Than Fiction
Of course, e-mails were also sent to lawyers seeking expert witnesses, referrals, case cites, etc. This one emanated from another Environmental Lawyer in 2005.
Employment and Labor Law generated some of the most interesting and often bizarre situations. While the following matter was not one at Schwabe, I added this 1967 case https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/257/468.html) to my files years afterwards as a keeper when I started collecting these treasures.
I was only a freshman in college when it went to trial, but I’ve kept it all these years. Maybe because it portended some of the recent lawsuits involving education and religion – perhaps it’s surprising it’s not on a current docket. (#7)
The Daily Grind…
Maybe there are days when it’s not the stress of legal work, but just daily life that makes one yearn for a highball at the end of the day. This premise was demonstrated in this 2001 e-mail from one of our Seattle lawyers who inquired of his colleagues at 4:06 in the afternoon:
One difference between Schwabe and many other big firms was the lack of a status difference between attorneys and management. They viewed non-attorney managers as professionals – in fact all staff were treated as professionals which helped the cohesiveness and teamwork at the firm.
And Management was often tasked with having to say “no.” We made ongoing decisions on space planning and who received which office, negotiated on annual billable hour goals and, of course, determined compensation. The list goes on…..
Just as the lawyer above, had a toddy with colleagues at the end of the day, one didn’t necessarily need to leave the firm as the daily grind ended. This was the case when I appreciated the chance to have a single-malt beverage with the partner whose office was next to mine after she sent this e-mail. We enjoyed at least one shot of Balvenie Scotch.
I mentioned space planning as one of Management’s ongoing challenges. The same was true anytime there was a major remodel or a build-out when the firm expanded to an additional floor.
Gaining anything close to a favorable reaction on carpet, paint color or even design of nameplates was problematic. (I could devote a book chapter on the Firm’s Art Committee alone……)
I’m going to depart from my stated guideline and name the lawyer who authored the next e-mail because he was well known in both legal and local broadcast circles and also served on the firm’s Board for a number of years and was supportive of Management decisions.
Jack Faust – one of my former Beerchasers-of-the-Quarters – moderated an award-winning Portland civic affairs television program (“Town Hall”) for many years and was also one of the most respected practitioners of appellate law in Oregon.
He also loved engaging in the humorous revelry and we still recount these stories on some of the numerous Beerchasing Events we’ve had at various Portland bars since retirement. (The picture on the right below was not on one of those events, but from Jack’s law school years.)
He offered these words of comfort to the Portland office in the midst of a major build-out on two floors in 2003:
Head Shot?
It’s not only the substantive legal issues that complicate lives in a large regional law firm. As the prohibition against lawyer advertising prohibited by most states’ ethics rule was struck down in a 1977 US Supreme Court decision (Bates v. State Bar of Arizona), the practice of law forever changed.
Interestingly, three justices (Warren Burger, Lewis Powell Jr. and William Rehnquist) predicted dire consequences. As Powell stated “…..will effect profound changes in the practice of law, viewed for centuries as a learned profession.”(#8)
…Will effect profound changes in the practice of law……
When I worked at the Oregon State Bar in the late ’70’s, the Board of Governors spent a good part of every meeting discussing how to discipline lawyers who viloated the Ethical Rules by advertising.
That changed and by the mid ’80’s, most large law firms had Marketing Directors (Schwabe used the euphemism “Director of Client Relations.”) If a lawyer wanted to become a partner, he or she had to be effective at bringing in new clients. Professional photographs for resumes and to spiffy up responses to Requests for Proposals became the norm.
The aforementioned tax lawyer (see above) often battled with the Internal Revenue Service and offered this tongue-in-cheek response to the following 2007 e-mail from Client Relations. The advice from the Marketing Assistant is also sanctimonious and I’m sure drew some deserved sarcastic responses:
Marketing Assistant: All Attorneys, Paralegals and Managers – our firm photographer will be in the Portland office. Please dress however, you feel comfortable being represented as a professional – some prefer jacket and tie, others in shirt sleeves, still others in sweaters. – whatever represents who you are.
These are color individual Headshots (emphasis added) so take advantage and put a little color in the clothes you wear (a bright tie, a colored blazer or shirt….)
Tax Lawyer: Please do not use the term “Headshot” with those of us who deal with the IRS on a regular basis. It makes us nervous.
The Oregon State Bar
This is a digression from Schwabe matters because the letter below was received by the Oregon State Bar when I worked there as Business Manager. But it’s part of my collection. (#9)
Before getting into the essence of Ethics Opinion (No. 475) issued in 1982, I have to state that I loved working with lawyers from 1974 until my retirement in 2011.
The overwhelming majority of those I met and with whom I worked were not only skilled and dedicated professionals, but people with whom I would not hesitate to have a beer and enjoyed their company.
Now I realize there are lawyer stereotypes – just like those that characterize sales people, undertakers, actuaries and consultants. And while I disagree with the portrayal of J.W. Reid from Costa Mesa, CA who wrote this letter, I had to laugh at his assertion.
It was written after the Bar issued an opinion (It was modified in 2005 with Opinion 2005-140) that stated except under very limited circumstances, a lawyer may not have a consensual sexual relationship with a client.
The opinion made major headlines and Mr. Reid evidently focused on the limited circumstances allowing sex when he wrote the following:
Now the unnamed gentleman below from Independence, Oregon in his 1981 letter indicates anger and revenge for the Oregon State Bar based on a prior act, but the lack of specificity in his notice of claim indicates that he might need the assistance of a lawyer:
Expense Reimbursement and Perks
While working as a lawyer in private practice involves stress and very long hours, it had definite advantages – among them generous compensation and year-end bonuses and good benefits and perks – including travel to conferences and seminars paid by the firm. (#10 – #11)
There were several trends that diminished law firms’ willingness to pay travel and lodging expense at these events. The economics of law grew much tighter with the over-supply of lawyers and increased competition from advertising in the late 1980’s. Clients became more sophisticated and concerned with the escalation of fees and costs.
More importantly, the IRS also modified it rules on the deductibility of meals and entertainment – also spousal travel. Agents also targeted professional service firms because there were often excesses under the guise of marketing. (Maybe taxes aren’t always your friend!”)
Prior to that time, the firm would sometimes pay for senior partners to take their spouses to major events such as the American Bar Association National Convention or other professional association meetings. This included spousal air travel, meals and lodging.
The enhanced IRS enforcement and requirements now meant that among other requirements:
“…… where a taxpayer’s spouse accompanies the taxpayer on a business trip, the travel expenses will not be deductible unless the spouse’s presence on the trip has abona fide business purpose.” (emphasis added) (#12)
Interpretation of “Bona fide business purpose.”
Of course, garnering agreement on the definition of “bona fide business purpose” generated debate – maybe of a lesser scale, but almost as vociferous – as that resulting from Justice Potter Stewart describing his threshold test for obscenity in Jacobellis v. Ohio in 1964.
And since I was involved in the final approval of these expenses, I enjoyed many of the esoteric justifications submitted. Perhaps my favorite was the one below which also shows another trait exhibited by many lawyers. While they may be stereotyped as having inflated egos, I always appreciated the self-deprecating humor shown by many as evidenced below:
While we appreciated his witticism, he either paid for his wife’s expenses out of his own pocket, or she stayed in Seattle while he enjoyed Florida’s sunny climate!
And Finally….
You’ve seen a very small sample of the items I’ve saved from my career in legal management and I’ll leave you with this classic. The development of a robust Intellectual Property Practice at Schwabe (Patent, Trademark, Copyright, IP Litigation, etc.) began in 2002 under the late Al AuYueng – a gifted lawyer and manager. It had some interesting implications.
While Schwabe lawyers making the cut to get hired as new associates were very smart and well-educated, the new IP attorneys possessed both of these qualifications, but their educations surpassed that of their colleagues.
Besides undergrad and law school degrees and passage of the Bar, most of them also had masters’ degrees or doctorates in fields such as Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or Computer Science. They also had to pass the Patent Bar Exam.
Their high-tech clients had technical and esoteric issues requiring expert legal advice. One of my favorites was this one from Al – his inquiry was serious – but his e-mail drew two great responses from lawyers who couldn’t resist the opportunity:
Al Au Yeung:Does anyone have a recommendation for a carbon dating service?
Lawyer No.I: Match.com?
Lawyer No. 2: That’s the response I sent to Al, but I also warned him that they will often bait and switch. They show photos of really attractive minerals and all you end up with are common minerals such as silicon and iron. You never strike gold!
A Final Comment on Enlightened Management
I worked for two co-managing Partners for most of the years I was the COO. Mark Long and Dave Bartz were not only distinguished lawyers in their specialties, but had remarkable management instincts – and they complemented each other.
The length of their tenure belies the respect of their lawyer colleagues and that of all firm personnel. They are both now honored with Emeritus status. (Long on the left and Bartz on the right).
They were also very approachable and collegial which is why one firm paralegal did not feel threatened sending this e-mail to one of them under his own e-mail address: (you’ll have to guess which one received as I don’t want to get fired retroactively! (In fact, I think the only way I got this e-mail was the recipient laughed about it and forwarded it to me.)
#12. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-Eagle%2BIRS.png). This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Many of us Boomers remember hearing the diminutive “Tattoo” played by actor, Herve Villechaize, on the popular television show Fantasy Island (1977-1984) ringing a bell and yelling “De Plane – De Plane” to Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalba’n) as the next group appeared on the horizon.
The series was a Saturday night staple after The Love Boat. The plane always brought “guests” who had either paid or won a chance to live out their fantasies. (# External photo attribution at the end of the post.) #1
Since college graduation (and perhaps a little before that event in 1971) I’ve saved a lot of material – currently stored in numerous file cabinets in our garage, my office, etc. These range from academic papers from undergrad (see end of post) to graduate school, personal mementos – also tax and financial records.
The eclectic collection also includes letters-to-the-editor I’ve written, civic work documents and work stuff from my almost thirty-five year career working with lawyers at Clackamas County, the Oregon State Bar and finally for twenty-five years at the NW Regional Law Firm Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt from which I retired as the Chief Operating Officer in 2011.
But there’s also newspaper clippings and magazine articles on travel and major events. (I have two large boxes of papers and magazines with the front pages or covers ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Moon landing, the turn of the Millennium, etc.). I always thought my grandkids might want to use them in their civic classes…….
My wife of almost 43 years has acquiesced to this idiosyncratic habit because although ubiquitous, they are at least organized and mostly out-of-sight. However, since we will probably be downsizing and in the event of the sudden demise of Thebeerchaser, she has insisted I significantly reduce (that means recycle most of them especially if they have not been viewed in the last ten to fifteen years).
Fortunately, this has been a mission on which we work, in part, together – negotiating and debating the wisdom of a continuing home in my archives for much of the content we review.
She did agree that the news clipping below from the long-gone Oregon City Enterprise Courier in 1980 had merit. (It was not in our wedding album and I uncovered it after a lot of years have gone by).
From the depths of the garage archives…..
However, not willing to encourage me, she asked the following for which I had no satisfactory response and as a result, culled one full file drawer of paper:
“Don, why do you need an outdated newspaper article or map of Sister Bay Wisconsin from 2003 and other places throughout the country when we would get updated information from the internet when we plan a trip?”
Before giving you some examples so you can get a feel for what I value and asking your opinion on their continuing survival, I offer this excerpt from a wonderful tribute my two daughters, Lisa and Laura – now both nurses – presented at my 70th birthday party. It shows that my collection, albeit a family joke, of sorts, also seems to get some tacit approval.
I might add, that one full file drawer is filled with their drawings and academic work from kindergarten through college – I have culled this category twice before deciding to keep the rest and letting them ultimately decide what they want to retain – examples are below:
“The File Guy “
“Dondi loves his files. Just so many files…The garage is full of them. There’s files at the beach house. There’s a file in Seattle. You can always count on him to be reading the newspaper and clipping out articles for us that he thinks we might find important, interesting or relevant.
The lesson here was for us to stay informed and to be engaged in our community, however small or large that meant. If you don’t understand something, ask questions. If you don’t like something, change it….or at least write a Letter-to-the-Editor..”
In the remainder of this post and the next, I’ll give somewhat of a chronology by category to give just a sample of what has survived the most recent purge.
Clackamas County
I worked as the Assistant Supervisor of Elections and then as an Administrative Analyst for the County Commissioners from 1974 through 1979. The last two years, I was one of two staffers for the Commissioners and our boss was the Chief of Staff – a two-martini lunch guy who spent most of his time “lobbying” in Salem. We were the first admin staff hires by the Commission and they named us “The Whiz Kids.”
While the County was pretty dysfunctional, it had great people (especially the lawyers who had sharp intellects and senses of humor) and it was there that I met Bob Elfers, who came in as a consultant and became my future boss for the next eighteen years at both the Oregon State Bar and Schwabe Williamson – a wonderful mentor.
The late Commissioner Robert Schumacher was a superb and sharp elected official and became a good friend who served as an usher in our wedding.
Artwork? – Bob Schumacher graduated from law school and had a better grasp of the Oregon land-use system implemented in 1973 with passage of Senate Bill 100 than almost any elected official in Oregon. Besides that, Schu had a great sense of humor that helped to mitigate the stress of local government work.
When the County decided to have a contest to develop a logo with a $25 savings bond for the winner, Schu submitted the following which I found in my files.
Upper Volta and Oregon? – I discovered another document I hadn’t looked at since 1977, but it evoked the memory of Schu walking into my office and saying, “OK Whiz Kid, you drew the short straw.” The Commissioners had received correspondence from the International Visitor Program associated with the US State Department in Washington D.C.
An official named Idrissa Ouedraogo, who was Counselor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ and Director of Protocol for the African Republic of Upper Volta, was touring various governments in the US and he – fluent in French but spoke little English – and his interpreter would be spending most of the day observing aspects of Clackamas County government.
To make a long story short, I took him to visit the County Extension Service, the Data Center, a court hearing, a Commissioner’s meeting and to see the “famous” Oregon City Municipal Elevator.
Mr. Ouedraogo was a distinguished and polite young gentleman – about my age – and the only stressful thing during our interaction was trying to figure out whether I should look at him or his interpreter when I was talking. They left in the early afternoon for their next destination.
I had completely forgotten about it until I unearthed the missive from the State Department in one of the garage files this month. So before I recycled, I decided to see if through the miracle of the internet, I could find out anything about my former visitor from Ouagadougou – then capital of Upper Volta (which I learned is now Burkina_Faso). (#2)
Well, unfortunately, Idrissa, died in 2018 at the age of 64, but not before he gained fame as a screenwriter, director, and producer.
“He is best known for his feature film Tilaï, which won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and Samba Traoré (1993), which was nominated for the Silver Bear award at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.” (Wikipedia)
Urinals, Stools – Average Load and Overlap Time – Perhaps it’s my idiosyncratic sense of humor, but I kept this 1977 letter to then Sheriff John Renfro from the State Workman’s Compensation Board because it seemed bizarrely ludicrous given the language. (My opinion hasn’t changed after 46 years).
It certainly indicates changes in gender roles since that time, for example, the agency is now known as the State Workers’ Compensation Board That said, the ranks of full-time female law enforcement officers nationally is still a low 13.3%.
Ralph Rodia, Assistant Manager of the Occupational Health Section, in this one page correspondence, informed the elected Sheriff in response to his letter about the adequacy of the County’s toilet facilities:
The second paragraph is most notably geeky from a solid waste standpoint and enough to make one flush with chagrin. I loved the letter’s ending sentence where Mr. Rodia admonishes:
“You are advised, however, that you have a marginal situation and if the number of additional men or their overlap time increases, at least one additional facility would be required.”
Linked-in reports only that Ralph Rodia is retired and living in Salem. Unfortunately, the 2021 message below on the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Facebook page indicates that John is no longer with us:
“We’re saddened to announce the Dec. 6 passing of John Renfro, the 27th Sheriff of Clackamas County. He was 85. John Renfro served a four-year term as Clackamas County Sheriff (1977-81). It was one highlight in a lifetime of service.
Renfro served in the U.S. Army for three years, and later joined the Oregon State Police, where he was a trooper from 1960-62. He then joined the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office in 1963, serving as a deputy and detective until 1968. He worked as a Juvenile Court counselor and training officer from 1968-76.” (#3)
A career in public service.
I’ll finish my Clackamas County collection and also this post, by including two pictures – one I found in a clipping from early 1979 – again from the Oregon City Enterprise Courier – and one Janet took of me at home during a COVID shutdown period in 2021.
Admittedly, this is primarily for egotistical purposes to provide evidence that Thebeerchaser at one time could grow a decent beard and mustache even though it also shows that my taste in neckties has not improved.
In closing, I hope you’ll indulge me as I unveil some additional relics from my files in the next post. I know at least one person who enjoys this escapade!
Note
I indicated above that one component of my files is papers from undergrad and grad school. I’ve now been persuaded that those have no value to anyone including me; however, I insisted on saving page 12 from this 1968 course at Oregon State on Latin American Political Systems.
I thought I had waxed eloquently about future policy initiatives to mitigate the spread of Communism. I was therefore taken aback with the professor’s comment highlighted in yellow which states:
“This paper is really a mixed bag, fluctuating widely between superficial and pedestrian description and sophisticated analysis.”
I didn’t go to his office afterwards and ask him to break that down into percentages, but he give me a B on the paper so perhaps the high-level intellectual narrative was able to transcend the shallow and cursory BS I wrote while drinking Budweiser.
Island_1977.JPG) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1927 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. The photo has no copyright markings on it. Author: ABC Television 27 December 1977.
My idiosyncratic pursuit of new bars and breweries – initiated as a retirement hobby in August 2011 – was waylaid by the pandemic in 2020-1 and major back surgery in June, 2022.
It’s resumed, albeit at a slower pace than the rapid stride that saw me at the end of 2019, having visited and reviewed a total of 366 watering holes of all kinds. 119 were in the Portland metro area and the other 247 scattered throughout Oregon, many of the fifty states and even a few in Europe.
In 2020, I only added nine – as establishments temporarily closed or went out of business permanently. While I’ve lost the formal count, going back in my files, I arrived at a new total.
It appears that during temporary breaks in the lockdown in 2021 and after starting the routine again in 2022, I added 25 more – meaning my Beerchasing exploits have taken me to approximately 400 wonderful (at least most of them) watering holes in a little over eleven years.
Aside from seven listed below in 2021-2 – all in Oregon – I have not written complete reviews on the other eighteen. That’s because with the exception of road trip visits, I always try to hit a tavern or brewery at least twice before I write up my reactions.
You can read the reviews of the following by clicking on the links below:
Since a number of the others in Portland merit at least a mention, in one of my next posts, I’ll give a thumbnail sketch of some of these establishments.
Communication From Former Colleagues
That said, I have to relate an e-mail from one of my good friends from working days – Howard Mudrick – now the Executive Director at Winstead – a large national law firm based in Dallas, Texas He worked with Schwabe (my firm) as a legal consultant for almost twenty years on a variety of projects from mergers to strategic planning.
(Mudrick and Peterson below – photos from their respective firms)
Howard and I co-presented at a number of national and regional Association of Legal Administrators’ conferences and, of course, shared many beers and martinis over the year. He is well aware of my Beerchasing hobby.
Pete Peterson is another consultant and CPA at Maxfield Peterson with whom we worked on a number of great law projects and also made presentations practices with his wife, Catherine, in Ridgeway, Colorado. He is also well aware of my Beerchasing exploits and raised a mug on numerous occasions.
Howard sent the following e-mail and link on October 28th with a copy to Pete:
“Don – hope this finds you and Janet doing well and staying healthy. I hope she doesn’t kill me, but this article SCREAMS YOU. Quite an interesting idea. Take Pete with you. I still have to work for a living.”
(Pete replied by e-mail that he had already applied!)
The following article from the October edition of Food and Wine is entitled:
“This Company Will Send You on a Two-Year RV Trip to Visit Breweries:”
(External photo attribution at the end of the narrative #1)
“Harvest Hosts is looking for someone to create the ultimate brewery and distillery road trip across America. For beer and spirits lovers, the idea of spending two years traveling around the country in an RV hitting up hundreds of breweries and distilleries might sound like a dream come true.
Well, the RV campsite company Harvest Hosts is looking for someone to do exactly that — and will cover a lot of the expenses to make it happen.”
Without being presumptuous, I would suggest that Thebeerchaser would be one of the most qualified people in the US to take on this onerous project. Howard’s assertion re. qualifications is correct since the requirements – besides being over 21 and having a driver’s license, are:
“Evidence of your love of breweries and distilleries with ‘images and videos highly recommended.'”
The evidence makes a convincing case for Thebeerchaser!
When I enthusiastically showed the article to wife, Janet, she pointed out the wording about them paying “some of the expenses” and the paragraph:
“As for actual pay, the company says they are only offering a daily stipend of $50, meaning that despite all the free drinks and rent-free RV, the effective salary isn’t much more than $18,000 per year.”
(Janet said she didn’t want to kill Howard as suggested in his e-mail above, but I should just send all his missives to my spam folder.)
She also reminded me that I also got very enthused (albeit naively so) in May this year when I saw the following story in Taste of Home:
“The folks at Oscar Mayer are looking for a new Wienermobile driver, or “Hotdogger,” to escort six giant wieners across the nation. It’s a pretty high honor considering the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile has been going cross-country since 1936.
According to Oscar Mayer, there are more people who have gone to space than people who have held the title of Hotdogger.” (#2)
“The position isn’t just driving, though. The newest Hotdoggers to carry on the legacy will be spokespeople for Oscar Mayer for one year. This means public appearances, some time on the small screen and radio and newspaper interviews .
As a Wienermobile driver, you’ll also receive a competitive salary on top of the sightseeing bonus.”
So even though I reluctantly gave up the idea, my creative juices started to flow thinking about a term I haven’t used (fortunately) since retiring in 2011 – “Synergy.”
I would persuade these two firms that they could combine the two positions based on the dynamic and almost divinely inspired relationship between beer and hot dogs as evidenced by just the examples below:
Dog Beer
We all viewed with morbid fascination the video at Yankee Stadium, as explained in the following excerpt from an 8/22 post on NBC Sports.com
“In a video captured by @NewYorkNico on social media, a Yankees fan at the game was seen turning a hot dog into a straw for their beer.
Yes, you read that correctly. The fan poked holes in both ends of the hot dog before placing it in the beer and taking a sip through the makeshift straw.”
(Unfortunately, all of the images of the guy at the Yankee game are copyrighted, so I’m just alluding to the stunt in the photos below. #3 – #4)
And how many of you – and, of course, broadcast media personalities – tried to replicate this feat of hand/glass coordination yourselves?
Beer Dog
The sacred bond between Brat and beer can be further explored by demonstrating the topic “Hot Dogs Cooked in Beer,” as artfully explained in this mouthwatering article in Bikehike.org:
“Hot dogs simmered in beer are deliciously tender and have a mild flavor that works perfectly with our beer-infused sauerkraut topping. Slow-simmering hot dogs in beer gives them a mellow flavor and tender texture that’s a great alternative to grilling or frying.”
This raises important questions such as how long do you cook the dogs, how much beer do you use and most importantly, what beer is best – a topic which draws diverse views from the experts:
“Miller High Life. Rich Depascale, beverage manager at The Wilson in New York City. Budweiser. Laura Mitchell, bar lead at BEER PARK in Las Vegas. Others: Reissdorf Kolsch. Old Style. Avery White Rascal. Dogfish Head SeaQuench. Coors Light. Dos Equis Lager.”
I would add PBR and Sticky Hands IPA (#5).
And in Conclusion….
Should I have been selected for the job, I would have proposed my first trip – driving the vehicle to Toppling Goliath Brewery in Decorah, Iowa. That’s where Clark and Barbara Lewey – former home brewers – founded this enterprise in 2009.
And one of their collaborations with Hop Butcher for the World of Darien, Illinois, was Hot Dog Time Machine Beer. ( A double IPA brewed with Vic Secret, Sabro, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops, this beer clocks in at 7.8% ABV.)
A hot dog fueled time travel adventure.
As Toppling Goliath states in the review by Untapped.com)
“What is a Hot Dog Time Machine? We’re so glad you asked! To begin, we have to explore why it even matters. Our amigos at Hop Butcher for the World shared the same interest as us in exploring the alternate reality of the ‘fluffy’ IPA.
We threw multiple types of wheat into our fluff capacitor, heavily hopped it everywhere except the 88-minute boil, and fermented with yeast primed for trans-temporal travel.
Last year was certainly the wurst of times, but now it’s time to ketchup with us on our journey and relish in this hot dog fueled time travel adventure.
(I called Toppling Goliath to see if they still brewed HDTM Beer. They don’t and the person couldn’t explain why, but it must have been a good “trip.”
Not totally willing to give up, I said to my wonderful wife of 42 years, “Janet I would relish this job and, to be frank, after a year, they would appreciate what I Brat to the table.”
Before she walked away, she asked me how badly I wanted to get to 43 years…..
Pat Green and Jim Westwood at Howell’s on Seventh Street
My family moved to Oregon City from Cincinnati, Ohio when I was twelve – just as I was entering seventh grade. We fell in love with Oregon and Oregon City is a wonderful and historic community of 37,500 (2020) about twelve miles south of Portland.
And when I say “historic”, I don’t use the term lightly. To wit:
Established in 1829 by the Hudson Bay Company on the Willamette River by the historically significant Willamette Falls, it became the first incorporated city west of the Rocky Mountains (1844).
The city’s newspaper, the Oregon Spectator, was the first American newspaper to be published west of the Rocky Mountains.
At the west end of the Oregon Trail, it became the final destination for many early immigrants.
The Methodist Church – the first Protestant church west of the Rocky Mountains – was completed in 1843, the same year that a Provisional Government, under the jurisdiction of the United States, was established. (This beautiful church was right across the street from our first house on Center Street.)
(External Photo Attribution at the End of the Post – Above #1-2)
And then there’s the Oregon City Municipal Elevator with an incredible history and which “continues to operate as one of only four municipal elevators in the world and ‘Elevator Street’ remains the only ‘vertical street’ in North America.”
It was three blocks from our house and I used to take it every day to deliver part of my paper route on the lower level of OC:
“After years of discussion and conflict, the elevator, constructed of steel and wood, was placed into service on November 27, 1915, a day on which almost the entire population of Oregon City (3,869 persons) rode the elevator. The 89-foot ride to the top involved a wheezing, jerking three to five minutes.
Once at the top, it was necessary to cross a 35-foot catwalk that bridged the two sides of the city high above the chasm. When the elevator worked, it generally lowered the water pressure in the surrounding area. When it didn’t work, passengers had to wiggle out of a trap door and down a narrow ladder……(#3-4 on right)
Okay, just a couple more including a picture of our first house – we rented what was the original Captain Phillips House.
Dr. John McLoughlin, known as the “Father of Oregon” built his house on the corner of Center Street and 7th Street – also in the same block as our house – shown on the right below.
Speaking of History – Don’t Forget Howell’s Lounge!
Okay – this is a blog about bars and breweries and the preceding paragraphs are for context because just across 7th Street from the McLoughlin House and only one block from my house was (and is) an historic watering hole – Howells Lounge.:
“In 1929, back in the days of Prohibition, Hannah Howell opened Howell’s Confectionary at 418 7th Street (it’s now at 508 7th). When Prohibition ended, she was issued one of the first Retail Beer Licenses in the State. In 1935, Hannah moved to the present location, boasting of the first electric beer cabinet.
Eventually, her twins, Frank and Charlie, took over the business and operated it until their retirement in 1978…..Frank and Barbara Johnson purchased it in 1981 and Barbara became the sole proprietor in 1994 and it stayed in their family until 2015 when she retired.”
Karen Beach Farthing bought the bar in 2015, after working for the Johnson family for thirty years. We had a great conversation with Karen and I’ll relate the good job she has done maintaining and improving Howell’s ambiance in my next Beerchaser post.
That’s Frank and Charlie in the photo below at the bottom of their original menu. You could get fish and chips for $2.50, a ribeye steak ($3.50), oyster stew (95 cents) and a deluxe hamburger for $1.10.
Current prices are very reasonable, but have obviously risen since the 1940’s. A ribeye is now $18.75, fish and chips $15.75 and the hamburger is $10. Of course, at the time of the original menu shown below, the US Census Bureau reported that “…in 1940, the median home value in the U.S. was just $2,938.”
In the late 1960’s, I would often see either Frank or Charlie standing in front of the bar when I rode by on my bike on my Oregon Journal paper route or when I was buying an oboe reed at Wally’s Music Store which was next door . (Wally’s is still open and thriving, but moved one and on-half blocks away after a fire in its original store.)
Howell’s always appeared kind of dark and mysterious with its idiosyncratic sign and I had never been in it. I decided that I should Beerchase with two of my good friends – also Oregon City High School grads – Jim Westwood (’62) – a former Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter -, Pat Green (’65) and me (’66).
(As an aside – Jim and Pat were both Student Body Presidents at OCHS. I ran for that office and lost and probably out of the empathy vote, was elected Senior Class President.) #7
Pat and Jim are recently retired attorneys (both with distinguished careers) and all of us worked in large downtown law firms – Jim at Stoel Rives, Pat at Davis Wright and I was the COO at Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. Since I spent my career trying to manage lawyers, I assured them that we would be welcome in Howell’s and they could return with their good recollections in tact and scheduled a date.
Pat first practiced in Oregon City at a law office (Hibbard Caldwell) right across from the McLoughlin House on Center Street and a walk across 7th Street to Howell’s. He and some of his colleagues often lunches there and drinks after work because it was so close. The last time he was at Howell’s was in1984 – 38 years prior to our visit. Jim’s first foray into Howell’s was when he was six!
Green “Energy”
The Green Family has a rich history in Oregon City dating back to the early 1900’s.
“One of the more well-known figures in recent Oregon City history, She was a Sunday school teacher for 25 years and was past president of the Oregon City Chapter of Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Mrs. Green was a constant letter writer, a published author and part-time philosopher whos remembrances appeared many times in the Enterprise Courier. She had lived in Oregon City since 1915 and between 1918 and the time of her death, more than 680 letters to the editor had appeared in various area newspapers over her name.”
ThisOregon City legend lived for years in the historic home on the lot in which the Hibbard firm built it’s office (shown in the photo above) – across the street from Howell’s.
Since Rosa was the President of the WCTU and no alcohol was served I would wager that at the conclusion of dinner, a number of these notables walked across the street and had a nightcap at Howell’s and said “hello” to Frank and Charlie! (Left to right – #8 – #12)
During the many years Rosa hosted these dinners, I think we can also conclude that the diners included a wide-eyed young Pat Green at various stages of his life……
#13
Bill Green, Pat’s Dad, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 98, was also well known in Oregon City and like his older son, Pat, was Student Body President at OCHS.
“Bill was one of the last surviving members of the OCHS Class of 1937 and was Student Body President…..After several years delivering mail as a letter carrier, U.S. Senator Maureen Neuberger appointed Bill as the Oregon City Postmaster. Bill chaired several civic organizations and positively influenced the lives of many young people as a Boy Scout leader.” (Oregon Live #14)
I will always owe Bill a debt of gratitude because after I got out of the Navy and moved back to Oregon City and was trying to figure out what to do with my life, he hired me over the Christmas season and I worked in the Oregon City Post Office and drove a mail truck for a few months.
And finally, Forrest Green – a name which oozes with sustainability (known in high school as Frosty,) and Pat’s younger brother, established his reputation as a nationally known musician when he still in high school as reported in a 2012 Thebeerchaser post:
“Until the late ‘60’s Forrest Green was a typical high school student – a class officer in his junior year at Oregon City High School and a talented musician who started his own garage band and a group called The Rising Sons. In 1967, Forrest’s senior year at OCHS, he got a call from Don Grady (who also starred as Robbie in the hit sitcom ‘My Three Sons.’ )
Grady had become aware of Green’s talent on the keyboard and asked him if he wanted to tour with his group, Yellow Balloon. Forrest, with his parents’ blessing, became the envy of his classmates and played with Yellow Balloon which released a song with a title identical to the group moniker. Although “Yellow Balloon” was their only hit, it climbed to # 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. The group disbanded after their tour and release of one album.”
(Below – Forrest’s Promotional Pictures – #15 -#16 – and Forrest, Bill and Pat)
Don’t Forget Westwood…
And Jim Westwood was no shrinking violet. He lived about three blocks from me (and Howell’s) on Jefferson Street. His mom, Catherine, was a beloved teacher of Latin and French at OCHS. Jim’s notable exploits after high school and before his legal career are chronicled in this 2013 post where he was named Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter.
The Portland State GE College Bowl Team #17
Now Back to Howell’s….
We went late on a Thursday afternoon and ordered beers and it was great. Howell’s is the epitome of an old neighborhood dive bar with a long bar with stools (the original cast iron for the stools are still in place) and booths across from them when you walk in.
The bar extends towards the back where there are a few tables and there’s a large room with a step down to the right with a few lottery videos and several tables with the traditional red cushion benches.
Stayed tuned for the next post on this old-time watering hole and a tribute to a retired Oregon City Municipal Judge.
Thebeerchaser 
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