Hola! It’s been a while since we’ve been on the hunt for the oldest taverns in the 50 states, but we recently spent a long weekend searching for two on the West Coast. Southwest Airlines whisked us the 2500 miles from Maryland to Portland, Oregon, where oldest tavern number 27 is located. Our friends, Chad and Pamela, hosted us and provided stellar tour guide services throughout the weekend. They were very familiar with the oldest bar, Huber’s Cafe, established 1879 in downtown Portland, so that was our first stop. Their feature drink is a flaming Spanish coffee, served both hot and cold. Bartender, Clark, gave us a great presentation making our drinks and answering our many questions. If you find yourself in Portland, you must stop in for a Spanish Coffee and say “Hi” to Clark. The proprietor of Huber’s, James Louie, kindly stopped over to greet us and provide a little history on his fine establishment. The cafe is not accessible from the street and you need to do a little searching to find it, but it’s well worth the look!
Although visiting the state’s oldest tavern is our prime objective, we had loads of other experiences thanks to our wonderful hosts. Those experiences involved both imbibing in cool bars, as well as, soaking up the incredible Oregon scenery. After finishing up at Huber’s we headed over to the Portland City Grill. The grill is on the 30th floor of the U.S. Bancorp building with sweeping panoramic views of the city, and to top it off, we were right on time for their very nice happy hour featuring a wide selection of appetizers and cocktails. After filling up at hit number 2 on our Portland bar tour, we headed over to McMenamins Kennedy School. No, we weren’t planning on boning up on our three R’s, but rather exploring one of the coolest bar concepts we’ve ever experienced. The 1915 Kennedy Elementary School still looks very much like a school, but it’s home to 57 guest rooms, restaurant, multiple small bars, movie theater, soaking pool, gift shop, and brewery. What a cool facility! As a matter of fact, one of the locals looked like he had been in the school’s bar detention room since 1986 . There are 20 McMenamins properties in Oregon and Washington, each one a reclamation project and every one unique. During our weekend we also had the opportunity to check out McMenamins Edgefield. Another great all day adult playground!
Besides the many cool bars we also got to see some awesome Oregon scenery. The 620 foot Multinomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Hood were just three of the sites we had the opportunity to see. Moreover, we learned more about apples and pears in one day than we have in a lifetime. Many thanks to Chad and Pamela for a memorable weekend. Needless to say, we have to come back…there’s 18 more McMenamins to check out!
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