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Few things at Killingsworth Dynasty (832 N Killingsworth St., 234-5683, killingsworthdynasty.com) are as they appear. The "chicken burger" contains no chicken—everything here is vegan. The light fixtures, on closer examination, are made of wind chimes or a little crosshatch of PVC pipe. The security guy is there to watch the sidewalk, not the bar, the result of an arcane agreement with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission due to the city's somewhat disturbing worries about "the neighborhood" on North Killingsworth. And the signless bar, from the outside, does not at all appear to be a bar. But within, the space is both cavernous and comfortable, with cool-kid bangers spinning on the decks, from throwback hip-hop to post-punk to First Saturday queer nights devoted to "house, disco, magic and sharing bathroom stalls." To the right of the door, it's a new-Portland affair dressed up in wood slats, with a chamomile whiskey cocktail and an open kitchen turning out plantain chips, arepas and black-eyed pea curry. To the left, it's an unfinished-concrete dance bunker, with a long bar table in the middle to split the difference, and a DIY VIP section behind the DJs that smells impressively of fresh cedar. It's sort of like a North Portland Holocene from the guy who made Rotture and the Tube, a much-needed dance-party venue for the art kids who'd rather not bike over the Alameda Ridge to get home.
WWeek 2015
