The Cheeriest, Drunkest Dive on West Burnside Has Been Reborn as the Wildwood Saloon

Scooter McQuade's has bought Tony's Tavern. Yes, there are Jell-o shots.

(Sam Gehrke)

If Tony's Tavern was the well-read drunk of the West Burnside neighborhood surrounding I-405, Scooter McQuade's is the old party girl. So it makes sense they just got married. After Tony's nearly passed into oblivion, longtime owner Tony Kassapakis decided to consolidate to his Parkrose location, selling the place to Kevin Kilgore and Scooter's owner Debbie Boone.

Now, it's called Wildwood Saloon (1955 W Burnside St., 503-228-8527), with no resemblance whatsoever to the former iconic fine-dining restaurant of the same name. The old wood and deep booths from Tony's are intact, and so is the juke: Kilgore got hold of an old flip-book Rock-Ola jukebox full of Willie Nelson, the Boss and the Beatles. Three of the bartenders stayed on as well. "Debbie's not the sort of person who would come in and clean house," our bartender told us. "That's not her style."

(Sam Gehrke)
(Sam Gehrke)

But a few things have changed. The newspaper clippings have been replaced by black-and-white photos of times gone by—like that one time the Blazers won a championship. The 16 beer taps have been fixed and filled with old-timers like Widmer and Deschutes, but also newer-comers like Gigantic and 10 Barrel. It's a bit brighter and cleaner, and there are more TVs.

The window now sports an old-time, county fair-style rotating hot dog and corn dog cooker next to a bag of peanuts—and hot dogs are always a dollar. Scooter's being Scooter's, Boone couldn't help but bring in Jell-O shots (grape and lime on our visit.) A stiff gin-and-tonic, a Jell-O shot and a hot dog rang in at a cool $6.50 total.

At those prices, it's pretty easy to hang out all day, like the man next to us on an early evening visit who'd watched perhaps the entire Olympics from his stool. "That woman looks like a miniature version of the Tick!" he shouted to the room, before being told he'd gotten the color of the comics hero's outfit wrong. "Oh well," he said. "I'm really stoned."

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.