Unhappy Hour

[July 9th, 2003] Every weekday afternoon, workers from the Greek Cusina on Southwest 4th Avenue and Washington Street attach a sign advertising "Happy Hour!" to a board outside the restaurant.

According to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, that sign is a flagrant violation. Buried deep in state regulations is a rule forbidding restaurants and bars from advertising any temporary price reduction for alcoholic beverages. In essence, the OLCC says, establishments that lure customers with the promise of cheap drinks are breaking the law--and advertising it!

Restaurateurs downplay the rule. Advertising happy hour has become "like jaywalking," says Cord Martinez, general manager of the Greek Cusina. "It's against the law, but how many people care?"

Flip through local newspapers and you'll see what he means. Illegal advertisements routinely appear in WW, the Portland Tribune and the Mercury. In fact, WW's Summer Guide issue was home to a half-dozen offenders, including a McCormick & Schmick's ad featuring the line "Best Happy Hour--Willamette Week Reader's Poll" and a pitch for PGE Park advertising "Thirsty Thursday."

Strange as it might seem, both phrases are forbidden, says Ken Palke, spokesman for the OLCC. The rationale? Advertising discounted drinks leads to excessive consumption of alcohol, which in turn leads to, well, drunkenness.

Not all states agree, however. Washington doesn't prohibit happy-hour ads, says Sherry Frederick of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, because their regulators don't think such advertising leads anyone to drink more than they would anyway. Lori Jovovich, assistant chief of business practices for the California Department of Liquor Control, echoed similar thoughts, saying that the state allows everything except advertising for "free" drinks.

According to Palke, no one has ever complained about Oregon's advertising rule, although bar and tavern owners could, in theory, petition the OLCC to overturn it.

Instead, owners would rather flout the law than change it, much like the average pedestrian's attitude toward jaywalking laws.

OLCC agents routinely inspect establishments such as the Greek Cusina, but Martinez says investigators have never talked to him about the establishment's happy-hour sign, despite numerous opportunities.

OLCC says it does enforce the law--which is punishable by a $199 fine on the first offense--but clearly the rule is honored more in the breach than in the observance. "We try to do the best we can with what we got," says OLCC investigator Cliff Cummins. "It does require a certain amount of cooperation from people who have the licenses. I don't think they are going to say, 'Well, it's a minor violation, so I'll go ahead and violate it.'"

But that's exactly the attitude of restaurant managers who ignore the rule. "They can't go singling out establishments when everyone is doing it," says the Greek Cusina's Martinez.