Crystal Hotel

Location: I've been worried about when I was going to visit all the hotels, so I decided to jump into the new year by staying at the Crystal Hotel downtown. It's a place I probably never would have gone otherwise, but I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. Its prime placement in downtown makes it a wonderful place to explore SW and NW. The Crystal Hotel includes the Zeus Café, Al's Den, and Ringlers Annex. It takes up an entire triangular block. Combined with the Crystal Ballroom just one block west, this whole area is a Super Block of McMenamins Fun Times.

Fellow travelers: Michaelmas, Sven & my bike. Michael visited me for dinner the first night, and Sven stopped by the second night to try out the soaking pool.

Favorite light: 

Love the lights in the Zeus Café.

 

Favorite art: The stained glass windows in the Zeus Café always made me happy. Every time I saw them they changed with the light. [Update Jan14: Hey, these stained glass windows are artistic interpretations of the Grateful Dead song "Dark Star"!] 

And I found this both interesting and puzzling: where did it come from? Was this building an old International Order of Odd Fellows location?

Food: I enjoyed everything I ate at the Zeus Café: cinnamon grape soda, spiced cranberry soda, seared salmon, toffee hazelnut pudding, chilaquiles. (Hello, homemade sodas! I WILL be back!) Since the food was going to be the same at Ringlers Annex and Al's Den I didn't bother eating there. But because I was in downtown Portland, I also took the opportunity to explore a couple of other restaurants I had been meaning to go to: The Roxy (old school diner), Chinese Garden Tea Room, Cacao (the hot chocolate pour-over is INCREDIBLE), Boxer Ramen (meh).

Passport stamps: Crystal Hotel, Al's Den, Ringlers Annex, Zeus Café, Soaking Pool

 

This is another location that requires a photo clue to receive a stamp. It turns out they change the clue about once a month.

 

Because I toured the Crystal Ballroom on the second day of my stay, I completed the entire Crystal page in the Passport. It's my first completed page! That meant I was eligible for a "Crystal Surprise": a choice between a leather glass cozy or a plastic tumbler. Instead, I asked for a Crystal Ballroom patch because I wouldn't use the other things.

Also, the soaking pool meant I completed another four experiences, which got me another gift card!

Lodging:

Room 413, right at the intersection of Burnside and SW 12th. My room had a great view of the brewery blocks and the rising moon. Most McMenamins rooms are painted a parchment color, but the walls of the rooms at the Crystal Hotel are a deep rich blue, the color of the sky the moment after twilight finally fades. Each room is named after a song and the lyrics are painted on the walls.

It's a bit noisy as a downtown hotel, but manageable -- much better than I expected near a thoroughfare like Burnside. (And they provide earplugs for sleeping if necessary.)

As usual, the bathrooms are down the hall. In this location the bathrooms also require a key card to enter. So does the soaking pool, a long wavy trench with bamboo-lined walls. The first night I had it all to myself, but Sven & I were not so lucky the second night.

Everything is connected: you can get to the hotel, the cafe, Al's Den and Ringlers Annex without ever leaving the building -- or you can enter each via a separate outside location. 

Other items of note:

• Guests at the Crystal Hotel get free admission to the Mission Theatre about four blocks to the West. It would have been an easy way to get an extra stamp, but it wasn't really showing anything I wanted to see. The Living Room Theater is even closer, but it also wasn't showing anything I wanted to see.
• I never knew Ringlers Annex was three stories. Ringlers should also win an award for the Most Clandestine Table in Portland, tucked under the stairs in the bottom floor.
• Sadly, no milkshakes at the Zeus. 
• This visit coincided with the Chinese Garden's "9 Free Days," so I popped over there. A perfectly beautiful day! I also stopped by Powells. Hard to stay in your room when there's so much to explore!