Solae’s Lounge Jazz Bar Is a Return to Old Alberta

Before it was the Nest, the building was home to Joe’s Place, one of several black-owned businesses on Northeast Alberta Street, a neighborhood that was once Portland’s African-American cultural hub.

(Henry Crommet)
By Matthew Singer

1801 NE Alberta St., 503-206-8338, solaeslounge.com. 4 pm-2 am daily.

Established: March 2015

Rising from the ashes, quite literally, of disheveled punk clubhouse the Nest, Solae's is a reclamation project in more ways than one. After the aforementioned Northeast Alberta Street dive burned down (and subsequently reopened on Southeast Belmont Street), Jayson and Yosief Embaye moved in, installed a small stage and a long marble-top bar, and transformed the place into a sleek—but not stodgy—jazz club, modeled after the blues bars of New Orleans. But while the aesthetic is New Orleans, the spirit is taken from somewhere much closer to home. Before it was the Nest, the building was home to Joe's Place, one of several black-owned businesses on Northeast Alberta Street, a neighborhood that was once Portland's African-American cultural hub. With Solae's, that community gets a piece of its history back in an area that's been gentrified beyond recognition.

(Solae’s, Thomas Teal)
(Henry Crommet)

Of course, holding onto it wasn't going to be easy: Last year, the club successfully dodged having to institute a curfew for live music following noise complaints which, suspiciously, did not dog the previous occupant. But as with any venue, if the neighbors think it's too loud, you must be doing something right. 

Bar story: Joe's Place was the longest-running black-run bar in Portland when its septuagenarian owner, Joe Benjamin, sold the place in 2006. Its closing was considered the final nail in the coffin of pre-bohemian Alberta until a lot of the old crowd came back to Solae's.

Drank: Bar Guide 2017

Welcome to Bar Guide 2017 | Where To Find a Copy of Bar Guide 2017

The 100 Best Bars in Portland | How We Selected Them

Bar of the Year 2017: Bar Casa Vale

2. Century | 3. The Know | 4. Lombard House | 5. The Old Portland

Portland's Party Patios, Porches and Rooftops | Scumbag Breakfasts, Ranked

$6-and-Under Happy Hour Burgers | Portland's Finest Restaurant Bars | Late-Night Happy Hours | $1 Oyster Happy Hour Deals | Best Bar Pizzas | Dope Discount Nachos | Fancy Jell-O Shots | Tapas

Where to Play Shuffleboard | Pinball | Pool Halls

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.