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BY JEFF ALWORTH |
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McMenamins Hotel Oregon 310 NE Evans St., McMinnville, (503) 472-8427 The Hillsdale Pub (1505 SW Sunset Blvd., 246-3938), the McMenamins' oldest brewery, celebrates 15 years of operation on Saturday, Feb. 20, with a marching band, door prizes, commemorative T-shirts and glasses, and lotsa good beer. McMinnville's Hotel Elberton opened for business in 1905, claiming to be the city's finest lodging. But in 1910, hearing the news that two trains would soon link the town to Portland, owners upped the ante and renovated the still-new building. They replaced chamber pots with plumbing and natural gas lamps with electricity; they even added two floors, making the four-story building the tallest in the county. No longer limiting their boast to "city's finest," they called the Elberton "the best and most up-to-date hotel west of Portland." Unfortunately, reality never matched speculation. Only one train came to McMinnville, leaving the Elberton with fewer guests than expected--so few, in fact, that the fourth floor was never completed. Over the years, the fortunes of the hotel waxed and waned. During the depression, it went through another renovation, becoming the Hotel Oregon. Then, after good times in the '40s and '50s, business steadily declined. By the '60s, the rooms were closed to the public, and the only remaining activity took place in street-level shops. That all changed on Feb. 28, when the McMenamin brothers, patron saints of lost buildings, reopened the Hotel Oregon's doors. Working for months with the Old Oregon Hotel Partnership, they have completely restored the building to its original grandeur and more. (For the first time in history, the fourth floor contains more than beams and studs.) The addition of period lamps and fixtures, historic photographs and restored wood trim throughout make it easy to imagine the building as it looked 90 years ago. Of course, it's also been McMenaminized: The famous funky art is here, along with old metal signs from around the world. Some may find the paintings more quirky than beautiful, but it's clear that the artists have taken particular effort to imbue the new restoration with a sense of history. Walk down the hall on the second floor and you'll pass a portrait by Jennifer Joyce of Thomas A. White, the Elberton's founding proprietor. On the third floor there's a Cathie Joy Yong painting of Ada Widness, who, with her sister Joyce, ran the Beauty Maid Shoppe from 1938 to 1977. In the basement is a rendering of the resident ghost, John, by Myrna Yoder. As usual, the McMenamins have used the building's peculiarities to their advantage. Take the Cellar Bar, for example. Most people would have left this dark, cramped basement as storage space, but the McMenamins have given it the personality of a Prohibition-era speakeasy: With dim lighting and clapboard ceilings, it evokes secret decadence. It is just one of three pubs separate from the main restaurant that are tucked into nooks and crannies throughout the building. The most impressive pub, and the highlight of the hotel, is the Rooftop Bar. Built with an eye toward picturesque views of the historic downtown and beyond, it is a small enclosure encircled by a spacious outdoor terrace. Once the wind and rain let up, this will be a popular spot to while away the day with a pint of Ruby or a glass of pinot gris. Inside, the wood-paneled bar, with brighter lighting and a kind of nautical ambience, offers a cozy alternative during inclement weather. In recognition of nearby vineyards, the Hotel Oregon features a huge selection of wines--not just the McMenamins' own line, but dozens of others from around the county. Also available is a wide selection of liquors, including single-malt scotch and Irish whiskey. Like their other ambitious projects, the Hotel Oregon is a universe all to itself; you could wander for hours with a pint of beer and never leave the building. But the brothers' newest has something more to recommend it than the Edgefield and Kennedy School: an entire region. It's a great central location from which to explore McMinnville and the surrounding vineyards. And after a day of sampling wine, it's a great place to retire for a good pint of stout. McMenamins Index 14--Number of breweries serving those pubs. The workhorse is Edgefield, which in 1998 brewed 4,866 barrels (about 150,000 gallons), accounting for roughly a quarter of all McBeer brewed in Oregon. The smallest is Eugene's High Street Brewery, which brewed a mere 630 barrels. Fourteen is also the number of active McMenamins brewers. After their tenure at McMenamins, alumni of the chain have gone on to other breweries. They include John Krogstad of Orchard St. Brewing in Bellingham, Wash., Mike Altman of Mountain Sun Brewing in Boulder, Co., and our very own John Harris of Full Sail. 1985--Year the first batch of McMenamins beer was brewed. That particular beer, a golden ale called "Hillsdale Ale," was an all extract-brewed beer (no malted grains were mashed), and history records that it was not very good. 1--Rank in popularity of Hammer-head among all McMenamins beers. One in every five pints sold is a Hammerhead; other faves include Ruby (16 percent of total beer sales) and Terminator (15 percent). IPAs, in all their various permutations, account for 17 percent.
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