Skip to main contentIt’s closing time for good for two inner Southeast Portland bars just a few blocks from each other. Both Slow Bar at 533 SE Grand Ave., and HOME, A Bar at 719 SE Morrison St., made emotional announcements on social media this week that they would be making their final last calls in the upcoming weeks.
Slow Bar will close Aug. 9 after serving up beers, burgers and a heavy metal spirit for 21 years.
“This beast ran hot until the wheels came off, and we gave it everything we had,” the bar announced on July 10, citing a declining neighborhood, inflation, increased costs and two key staffers leaving as some of the reasons for the closure. “The hits just kept coming. To say we’re heartbroken doesn’t even scratch the surface.”
WW has run multiple odes to Slow Bar’s towering onion ring-topped Slowburger over the years, calling it “as much a rite of passage as it is a meal” in 2018 and declaring that “no bar burger has sustained more loyalty in Portland” in 2017.
“It is the unholy monster of Portland bar burgers, the behemoth that made even fancy-restaurant burgermakers take note,” wrote Matthew Korfhage in the ’17 article. “And yes, its towering construction makes it tenuous.”
Meanwhile, HOME, A Bar will close for good at the end of July after 10 years in Buckman. The bar served as a base for sports fans, especially for those who follow the Timbers, Liverpool FC and the Cleveland Browns. After HOME took over the former Morrison Hotel space in 2015, WW praised its homestyle menu offerings, writing that its poutine topped with ribs tasted like “what would happen if Memphis invaded Canada.”
The owners cited increasing costs for power, gas, insurance, rent and permits for the reason for the closure in a July 9 announcement shared on Instagram:
“We have an amazing team here at HOME and it breaks our hearts to close. Please come out for one last slushy or cocktail or beer.”
