Poison’s Rainbow, the Northeast Portland Bar Co-Owned By Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Has Suddenly Closed

Sales had reportedly been "abysmal" for months.

(Thomas Teal)

We've reached the end of Poison's Rainbow.

The Kerns neighborhood bar co-owned by Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock has abruptly closed, according to an announcement posted to the business's Instagram account Friday morning. Eater was the first to report the news.

The eclectic bar, decorated with neon colors and terrariums sometimes tended by Brock himself, opened less than two years ago at 344 NE 28th Ave. Other than the Modest Mouse connection, its biggest claim to fame was as the first permanent outpost of popular pop-up Ranch Pizza. The pizzeria left after a year to open their own brick-in-mortar in Woodlawn, and according to employees the bar never fully recovered.

Related: Ranch Pizza Is Bringing Its Detroit-Style Pies to Northwest Portland.

"Despite our best efforts to rebrand with DJs and the best staff on the plant, without a sustainable food program we just couldn't bring in the numbers," Kelly Godell, a managing partner of Poison's Rainbow, told Eater. She also blamed ongoing construction in the neighborhood. "We just couldn't get people to come enjoy the spot."

"Our sales were abysmal," added Matt Brown, whose consulting group, Title Bout, helped Brock open the bar. "Win some, lose some."

Staff was only told of the closure Thursday night, hours before the announcement went live on social media. But while the closure was sudden, it was not totally surprising to them, either.

"Everyone was wondering when it was going to happen," says an employee who spoke to WW on the condition of anonymity. "But that was purely observational. It was nothing from what we were told from the higher-ups."

Related: Isaac Brock Begs You to Come to His "Ice Cream Party" on Modest Mouse's New Single.

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