McMenamins on Broadway

Location: McMenamins on Broadway. I thought I had been here before, but when I arrived I was surprised it was upstairs. How could I have possibly forgotten that? It certainly explains the tall sign.

Fellow travelers: Sue, Michael & Rebecca! Rebecca took time from her grueling grad school studies to come visit with us at this location.

Favorite light: nothing much of note here except the magnificent skylight, which I wish I had seen in the daytime.

Favorite art: I have to hand it to McMenamins: repurposing the painting that was already here really tickles me.

Also, this fabric art display is certainly unique; I haven't seen anything like it in another McMenamins location.

And I quite liked this mirror with the ornate wall painting behind it:

Food: Rock the Kasbah Burger that was almost certainly undercooked, tots, Ruby Ale shake

Passport stamps: McMenamins on Broadway, McMenamins on Broadway 25th birthday. We should have sung Happy Birthday before we left!

Other items of note:

• This was my third McMenamins in a week! Sometimes it just works out like that depending on my schedule.
• This location has a "Billiards Room" sign above a room that sadly has no billiards in it.
• The patio here looks like it must be wonderful in three seasons: protected and open at the same time, but above the street.

Chapel Pub

Location: Chapel Pub, a classic historical building in North Portland. This is not a quadrant I get to very often, so I was happy when an opportunity popped up to be in the neighborhood.

Fellow travelers: Just me! I had a meeting in this neighborhood and stopped by afterwards for dinner.

Favorite light: Most lamps here are the lovely-but-standard sunburst ones. I like the burning lamp outside, but the firelight from the fireplace I sat next to was probably my favorite:

Favorite art: the architecture! Everything about this location is beautiful, especially the arched windows whose nooks were often filled with books.

and this art of my favorite fireplace thus far in the Project:

Food: Smokestack Lightning mac & cheese, mustard chicken salad, Ruby ale shake

Passport stamps: Chapel Pub

Other items of note:

• Becky & I met here before the Bike Play last summer.
• Before it was a McMenamins, this location was the "Little Chapel of the Chimes," and an organist comes to play music on the restored organ on Thursday nights.
• The ironwork grills, of which I have no photos, were created by the same man who made the ironwork at Timberline.
• This is a great place to hang out and work: I memorized some cases for an upcoming job here. The waitress was gracious and accommodating.

Crystal Ballroom

Location: Crystal Ballroom, which includes Lola's Room and Ringlers. A while back I counted Ringlers as its own separate location, but really it counts as part of the Crystal Ballroom Empire. I was really happy that the Crystal Ballroom offers a tour every day at 2 p.m. instead of requiring seekers to schedule and/or buy concert tickets to get a stamp. Plus, seeing the ballroom in the daylight is a completely different experience than seeing it during a concert!

Fellow travelers: Since I was staying at the Crystal Hotel, I caught this tour solo.

Favorite light: The chandeliers in the ballroom were apparently discovered untouched in boxes after McMenamins bought the Olympic Club property in 1996. They are the life's work of an Italian glass artist and are worth millions of dollars each. Two of them are here but one of them, for some inexplicable reason, went to the Highland in Gresham. [edited Jan28.2014: sadly I have learned the tour guide this day was wrong. The official, slightly less interesting, story is here.]

Also, I noticed the bulbs in the Ringlers "virus light" have been replaced with multicolored bulbs since the last time I was there.

before:

after: 

Favorite art: Each mural in the ballroom is a tribute to a particular era of its history:

Food: Since I've already eaten at Ringlers, I didn't eat here again.

Passport stamps: Crystal Ballroom, Lola's Room, Tour a Brewery (I got the Ringlers stamp already)

Other items of note:

• A tour guide should never ask, "Are you all bored or what?"
• Ringlers is the name of the man who originally owned  Ringlers Cotillion Hall (which is now the Crystal Ballroom).
• Lola is the name of the police chief who tried to drive dancing out of Portland and tried repeatedly to shut Ringlers down. Even though she is long dead, she  must be mortified that a dance hall is named after her and her face is featured on a brewery tank.
• Pool at Ringlers is free until 6 p.m. every day with a $6 minimum purchase. 

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!