Return of Tube to the Old Town Club District

The Tuesday night opening celebrates “Tubesday,” a long-standing DJ night dance party with DJ PHNM.

Tube (Courtesy of the Tube)

“It’s the soft opening of a 20-year-old bar,” Tube owner Eric Bowler jokes.

Tonight, Tube’s neon sign will once again illuminate downtown streets. Its staff will sling vegan breakfast sandwiches and dispense White Claws to the party people who so crave them. Bowler says that Tube will initially be open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 8 pm to 2 am—until it can staff back up to five days a week.

The Tuesday night opening celebrates “Tubesday,” a long-standing DJ night dance party with DJ PHNM that occurred regularly before the shutdown. The feeling is nostalgia. The DJ booth neon lettering still reads, “NO REQUESTS.”

NO REQUESTS (Courtesy of the Tube)

In the coming weeks, Bowler plans to fire up a rotating crew of local and national DJs. “We’re most excited to see Tube—a Portland landmark—back in the mix,” Bowler tells WW. “It will live on.”

Bowler and his wife have owned Tube since 2013. They’re also involved with local bars Maxwell—which sits next door to Tube—and Fortune, on Southwest 11th Avenue. They closed the bars to comply with the COVID shutdown in March 2020. During the protests, someone broke into Tube and squatted in the bar, trashing the interior and making the club’s return even less likely. Bowler thought they might not be able to open the bar again, but then got some unexpected grants from the federal government, thanks to the CARES Act II.

Tube meant to be back in rotation far before now, but it took five months for the club to have its liquor license renewed. Bowler says this normally takes 30 to 60 days, so the wait was unusual.

GO: Tube, 18 NW 3rd Ave., tubepdx.com. 8 pm-2 am Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.


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