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Clubbing in Portland
 Normally
conservative, Portland can let its hair up.
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Portland's Pubs, Click Here
Portland may a bit short on the number
of dance clubs by big-city standards, but the ones it does have are
lively and present everything from New York to the Greek Islands to
70s America.
Modern martini-type bars are prevalent here. Two of the most popular
are in the Pearl District, conveniently located about a block from one
another.
The city's newest hot/hip hangout is BlueHour Located roughly
at 13th and Burnside in the Pearl District's Weidon & Kennedy building,
it's where Portland's beautiful people go to spend their money. The
classy restaurant/bar is not cheap – dinner and drinks can easily
set one back a C note – but neither is the crowd.
Along the same lines, although a bit dated, is Oba (12th and
Hoyt). Best for Friday Happy Hour, it continues well into the evening.
Oba is classy with a twist of casual. Dimly lit with colored lights,
it has an upper 20s-30s professional crowd who are just dyin' to meet
ya. A bonus is that the bartenders remember each patron's favorite drink.
Evening mixing runs
high at Oba, and not just behind the bar.
The bar hopping begins round 10, when the crowd departs Oba and turns
the corner to Paragon at 13th and Irving. The same type
of bar as Oba, Paragon features good music and a super-friendly crowd.
Like Oba, Paragon is an upscale people-meeting bar.
A fourth area option is Touche (15h and Gleason). Classy
and casual, the upstairs bar is good during the week or weekends for
playing pool or just hanging out.
Sauce Box (Broadway and Burnside), is the closest thing Portland
can produce to a New York martini bar. Or' italia, next to the
Westin Hotel, is famous throughout the city for its exotic drinks. Many
go just for the Mandarin Bull, an orange martini worthy of its name.
For high-end sipping, Huber's (3rd and Stark). is unparalleled.
A favorite haunt of Blazers' players, it serves a flaming Spanish coffee
poured right at your table; please don't spill! These keep the well-dressed
crowd happy well into the night. Huber's is the oldest, most elegant
bar in Portland. The owner works the door and the waiters are in tuxedos.
If you want to impress someone, go to Huber's. (Psst: for those having
dinner, the roasted turkey is legendary.)
When it's time to dance, Portland offers an interesting mix of clubs.
Greek Cusina (5th and Washington; photo at left) is a docile
Greek cafe by day and raging nightclub by night. Upstairs from the restaurant
is a huge and very lively dance bar in the true Greek tradition. It's
casual, loud and a real blast. They break plates and play Greek music
until 10, at which time a deejay takes over the tunes. A new third level
is pure dance and you can bounce between the second and third floors.
It's not exactly Mykonos,
but it's pretty lively. This place really rocks on Saturdays. Once you're
past the Greek Mafia jerk at the door, it's all fun from there.
Speaking of the Greek Islands, Santorini (1st and
Main) is a dressy dance club with a huge dance floor, popular among
the city's Russian and Arab population.
Polyester is in style at the near-national chain Poly
Esther's. The crowd is a bit younger at this 70s fever club than
across the street at Greek Cusina – early to mid 20s – who
don't mind paying the hefty $10 cover.
Cobolt, across Burnside on 3rd Street, is an alternate
dance club that's always packed. Earlier, it's a cool place to hang
because it has a bunch of board games. The 1201 in the Pearl
District is a small but hip dance club.
The Crystal Ballroom (13th and Broadway) is a causal
dance club featuring some of Portland's hottest bands. Bar 71,
across from Kells pub,has an outdoor dance floor that is popular for
strippers on their off nights. Since everyone in Portland know this,
Bar 71 attracts a good deal of men but it has no shortage of women,
either.
Portland's cutting-edge club is the Lotus Cafe (below photo).
It's easy to like a place where one can get a slice of pie before paying
the doorman the modest $5 cover charge. Inside, the Lotus Cafe is like
a hip London club without all the fanfare. The crowd is a mix of everything
– casually-dressed professionals, wildly-dressed punkers, you name
it. Lotus is wild, crazy, off-beat and laid-back, all at the same time.
 The
scene changes according to one's location in the club. The long bar,
bracketed by a tables and a diner-style counter, is great for having
a drink and chatting with friends. Enter the Card Room, however, and
it transforms into a dance club that's part Euro and part New York with
a touch of Vegas. A laser-light show creates an active dance scene,
a glitter-covered girl grooves on top of the bar and male and female
dancers in all white move wildly in an second-story cage lit by black
lights (right).
Berbat's Pan – not to be confused with Berbat's bar and
restaurant noted in our "pubs" section – has good food,
great drinks, is awesome sometimes and sucks other times. The crowd
is modern young.
On Thursdays, most of Portland's clubbers divert themselves to Fernando's
Hideaway (hidden away on 1st Street at the Hawthorne Bridge). It's
a two-level, upscale club with a large, open bar on the first floor
and a high-energy dance floor up the stairs. By 10 p.m., there seem
to more people waiting in line than there are inside. To avoid this,
arrive by 9:30.
Thursdays are also good at Jimmy Mak's (10th and Everett in
the Pearl District). A fine Greek Restaurant by light, it's a lively
jazz club by dark. The crowd is upscale but fun, meaning they dance
in the aisles. Then again, the music is so good, it's hard for anyone
to be restrained.
One of Portland's great secrets, even among many locals, is Andrea's
Cha Cha Club. Located across from the East Bank Saloon across
the Morrison Bridge, it is accessed via The Grand Cafe, a tacky
karaoke bar where one can get half-priced food and drinks by sitting
at the bar and saying you are staying at the hotel. There is, of course,
no hotel, but this identifies one as a local in the know. Downstairs
is a different world. The Cha Cha Club is a tiny, dark bar featuring
Latin music and Salsa dancing. Illuminated largely by a blue light,
it's almost as if you walked into Spain. Andrea is a huge Marlyn Monroe
fan and the starlet's photos cover the walls.
The Candlelight Room (at the end of 4th before it turns into
the 405 on-ramp) is a live music bar featuring jazz, alternative music
and more. Everyone in Portland eventually makes it into this place.
It has a "small but effective" dance floor, according to locals.
For a totally different scene, Billy Reed's (MLK in the NW area)
features jazz on Sunday afternoons and bands Thursday-Saturday nights.
It has good food and a deck to enjoy it all. The place isn't in the
best area of Portland but it's a good place on its own. The best view
with a cocktail in town is at Alexander's at the top of the Hilton
(6th and Salmon). The talented pianist seems to know every song ever
written.
There's young fun
to be found away from downtown at R.J.'s Wichita Pub.
It's outside of town – about 15 minutes down I-5, in fact –
but that doesn't stop the 21-to-25 crowd from packing into R.J's
Wichita Pub (Tualatin exit, right and right again at the second
light). It's a casual pub/club with dancing, buckets of cerveza specials
and a smilin' staff (be sure and find Francine on Thursdays and Saturdays
for fast and friendly service). Thursdays, girls drink for 50 cents
and this packs in people of both sexes.
Underage Clubs
They start young in Portland. The city has a few under-21 spots, the
most popular of which is Quest (2nd Street, next to Kells Pub).
It has different music themes each night, Wednesdays-Sundays, and really
packs in the crowd on weekends.
 Next
stop on the Party Bus: Post Party
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