The Liberty Glass Porch is Portland’s Worst-Kept, Best-Kept Secret

So rarely do you find a two-story valentine to everything you love or used to love about Portland, perfectly preserved by a bunch of liquor.

(Will Corwin)

938 N Cook St., 503-517-9931, libertyglassbar.com. 3 pm-2:30 am daily. Happy hour 3-6 pm daily: $1 off draft and cocktails, $5 cheeseburger with fries.

Established: June 2008

Liberty Glass is the exception that proves there are no rules. It is a Portland house bar run by actual family members, a place in the Mississippi district that feels just as pleasant and relevant as it did nine years ago, a memorable and much-loved place that is so tucked away it's somehow always forgotten and then discovered anew. It's like an endless Easter egg hunt here at the Liberty Glass: claw-footed tub in the upstairs bathroom, spaghetti night on Sunday, bingo night on Monday, a $5 happy-hour cheeseburger with fries. One day, a Rainier and a shot might be a mere $5 for no reason. The whiskey coffee comes with whipped cream and cinnamon-chocolate sprinkle ($8). Upstairs the rooms feel like a drawing room for old friends or working writers, downstairs a sitting room for both families and strangers who met on the internet and want to fuck, and on the fireplaced porch—complete with endlessly long wheelchair ramp—it's a sit-down for the whole city. So rarely do you find a two-story valentine to everything you love or used to love about Portland, perfectly preserved by a bunch of liquor.

Bar story: Co-owners Rose and Jason McCormick are sister and brother and named the bar after a 1930s bar in Fremont, Ohio, owned by their grandparents.

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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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