Tony’s Tavern Is Both the Diviest and the Friendliest Bar on West Burnside

It's home to every old-Portland nostalgic, hard drinker, retiree, party kid and blue-collar worker in the neighborhood.

Tony’s Tavern (Henry Cromett)

1955 W Burnside St., 503-228-4574. 7 am-2:30 am daily.

Established: 1995

West Burnside Street's Tony's Tavern is the kind of tiny, low-down dive that might kick off with breakfast pitcher specials for the third-shift workers at 7 am, and make its last call later than anyone else nearby at 2:25 or so, after which there's to-go beer in the fridge. It's also the sort of place the cheap beer stays at $2.50 because owner Tony Kassapakis knows many of his customers are on fixed incomes, and where former news reporters hold court for more than a decade before having their own funeral there, too. Indeed, at least four different Tony's customers had wakes at the bar last year.

Tony’s Tavern (Henry Cromett)

From its beginnings as a beer-and-wine-only dockworker bar with a blue-collar base and a cutout of John Wayne in the front to its current crossover status as a home to every old-Portland nostalgic, hard drinker, retiree, party kid and blue-collar worker in the neighborhood, Tony's has long been both the diviest and friendliest dive in a neighborhood that once consisted only of dives. Note that Tony's Tavern is one of the rare spots to still have a juke with actual CDs in it. It is split—like the bar itself—among punk, soul, classic and country.

Bar story: In December, Tony's almost held its own wake at the bar. The bar announced its closure, but the landlord came back to the table at the eleventh hour.

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Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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