“Music, Booze and Regrets” is Kenton Club’s Tagline

Add “loud rock ’n’ roll” and you’ve basically got the ins and outs of this Kenton mainstay.

By Donovan Farley

2025 N Kilpatrick St., 503-285-3718, kentonclub.com. 11 am-2:30 am Monday-Friday, 10:30 am-2:30 am Saturday-Sunday. Happy hour 3:45-5:45 pm Monday-Friday: 50 cents off drafts and wells.

Established: 1947

"Music, booze and regrets" is Kenton Club's tagline, and with good reason. Add "loud rock 'n' roll" and you've basically got the ins and outs of this Kenton mainstay, which added "World Famous" to its name after being featured in the 1972 Raquel Welch roller derby romp Kansas City Bomber. Formerly a biker hang, the Kenton Club's charm now lies in the fact that walking through its doors is akin to stepping into a Rainier-soaked time machine headed to a simpler time—one unconcerned by things like cirrhosis, lung cancer and heart disease. As such, the menu consists of about eight basic fried items, you can count the taps on two hands, and the guitars are played fucking loud. You can catch a punk, garage or hardcore show most nights, video-poker jockeys humping the American Dream most afternoons and a coterie of chain-smokers permanently installed on the patio.

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Donovan Farley

Donovan Farley

Donovan Farley originally hails from Atlanta and lived in New York City before arriving in Portland in 2014. Donovan also writes for VICE, Paste, Consequence of Sound and other various reputable outlets about current events, politics, the arts and whatever else strikes his fancy. He one day hopes to share tacos with Andre Benjamin and Joan Didion.

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