Chasing The McMenamins Mystery

I’ve already been to Honors – one of five McMenamins pubs inside the Kennedy School. Years ago the guys at McMenamins converted the elementary school built around 1915 into one of Bridge City’s coolest boutique hotels. Turns out Detention was hidden in an old janitorial closet – I don’t smoke but that didn’t stop me from sticking my head in to take a peek. I didn’t want to miss out on anything; I wanted the full McMenamins experience.

My sister moved to Oregon in 2006 and I’ve been visiting ever since. In my travels I’ve learned that there is no other brand more quintessentially Oregon than McMenamins. With more than 60 bars, two distilleries, 10 hotels and its own wine and coffee lines, McMenamins is ubiquitous in the Beaver State but virtually unknown to anyone outside of the Pacific Northwest.

“We’re definitely not hounding folks to get their attention; people know what we have and seek us out for the right experience,” explained Jimi Biron, McMenamin’s booking guru and the company’s official Minister of Fun. We met up with Biron at the Crystal Ballroom, McMenamin’s marque 1,500-capacity venue with an attached 51-room Crystal Hotel celebrating the musical legacy of Stumptown. Each room is dedicated to a performance at the ballroom: there are themed rooms for Allen Ginsberg, The Decemberists and one titled Wake Up, honoring a legendary show by Arcade Fire where the band led fans outside and down Burnside Street for an impromptu parade.

“The cops showed up that night but instead of shutting us down, they blocked off the streets for us,” Biron joked. Subtle musical references are everywhere – even the stained-glass windows inside the hotel’s Zeus restaurant contain the guitar chords to the Grateful Dead’s 1969 song “Dark Star.”

That’s what I enjoy most about McMenamin’s properties: there’s always something cool to discover – some musical reference that might only make sense to a Dead fan or a Sleater-Kinney junky.

“A ton of detail goes into everything we do, and we spend years restoring our properties,” Biron explained. “So it’s ok that we’re not super well known in the industry. We plan to be here for a long time and, eventually, the folks that are looking for us will find us. And we’ll make sure that they have a great time.”