This New McMenamins is Built on an Old Airfield, With a Spinning Propeller From an Antique Plane

Here you’re always looking up—whether at the steeple-shaped roof made of honey-hued wood or the assortment of mismatched chandeliers.

(Abby Gordon)

Imagine an airborne bar ripped free from its foundation and lifted skyward with drinks sloshing, and you'll have the centerpiece of Beaverton's new Cedar Hills McMenamins (2885 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 503-641-0151, mcmenamins.com). In the center of a huge, new pub across the street from the old Cedar Hills location, a little propeller that once carried a 1950s plane now spins above a slatted-rustic wood bar.

(Abby Gordon)
(Abby Gordon)

Though the pub's a new building rather than a refurb, the aviation theme still showcases the McMenamin bros' love of history by paying tribute to this land's former life: For the benefit of a fleet of amateur pilots called the "Beaverton Outlaws," the farmer who owned the property once outfitted his pasture with a runway and 40 airplane hangars.

While in most McMenamins your eyes dart from one psychedelic painting to the next, here you're always looking up—whether at the steeple-shaped roof made of honey-hued wood or the assortment of mismatched chandeliers suspended from the soaring ceiling. And then there's the 40 taps arranged in a circle at the propeller's base. Most are devoted to beer, with 15 pouring brews from various McMenamins, including a Flurry New England IPA that burps with the flavor of Orange Julius.

(Abby Gordon)
(Abby Gordon)

There's also an astonishingly long list of 120 whiskeys. The food menu is familiar if you've ever even glanced at one at another McMenamins. You came for the Cajun tots, but break from routine and order Saigon Kick chicken tenders ($9.25) bathed in a red curry chili sauce and sprinkled with a spicy daikon-carrot slaw. Looking to hop off the plane and into one of those trademark McMenamins nooks? The other half of the building has lower ceilings, dimmer lights and another bar with a cubby hole window and 40 more taps.

(Abby Gordon)
(Abby Gordon)

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.