I picked up this book at Powell’s yesterday. It’s a signed copy of History by the Glass: Portland’s Past and Present Saloons, Bars, & Taverns by Paul Pintarich. It looks pretty good. There’s about 33 chapters and each is devoted to a drinking spot in Portland’s history. There’s a chapter on Horse Brass, The Alibi, Goose Hollow Inn, Produce Row, and others. The foreword was written by Bud Clark, one of Portland’s past mayors and owner of Goose Hollow, and he talks a little about the creativeness of pub owners since Prohibition. Whether the book will be a fun read or not I have yet to experience, but you may see evidence of the reading here in this blog. I am excited to read it.

I did want to say that it seems like it may be time for someone to do an updated version of this book. There is no mention, outside of Produce Row, of anything the McMenamins brothers have done, which makes me think that this book must have been published before the opening of the Barley Mill Pub. But even the Bagdad Theater and Kennedy School have some great history (before and after it was McMenamins) that could be shared. Afterall, the McMenamin’s fought Oregon legislation and opened Oregon’s first legal brewpub. Also, there’s nothing about Belmont Station, Moon and Sixpence, My Father’s Place, The Basement Pub, Eastburn, the loved/hated Henry’s Tavern and loads of other places. I don’t want to see just a basic overview of what the tavern feels like though, I want a nice history lesson! You know what else I want to know about – The Candlelight on the PSU campus. That place is bumping at night, and not with PSU students…turns out it’s quite the old jazz club and people occasionally show up in zoot suits. So, it sounds to me like a more comprehensive book is in order, although I appreciate this for what it is and when it was made. Maybe there’s one I don’t know about. If someone knows, please tell me.