Dig A Pony
WW
from the huge horseshoe bar (which he says could seat as many as 40 people) to the buildingâs new windows and decor (a 110-year-old piano, vintage church pews and custom stained glass work
The new watering hole will also feature nightly DJsâthere will be a turntable built into the bar and Hall foresees mostly pre-'90s vinyl in rotationâand a budget-priced menu curated by consulting chef Gregory Gourdet of Departure. Hall says Dig A Pony hopes to open on July 20 (they'll be cutting it very close, though, based on the still-unfinished nature of the space), and while live music isnât slated for DAP this summer, some of Portlandâs finest electronic and pop bands (we were told names; we were also asked not to repeat names) are slated to help celebrate the grand opening.
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Other tidbits recovered from our walk through: "Everything was covered in 90 years of asbestos tile and carpeting, and a lot of mediocre design decisions from the '70s," Hall says. "So we ripped everything out, but when we did, we exposed these old beams and this original tile floorâprobably from 1917 when the place was built. It was originally an old pharmacy called Potterâs Drug Company. So weâre just trying to bring it back to that element. We donât want to be pigeonholed as sort of a speakeasy, but all of our eyes are drawn to a classic look with dark wood."
As for that Beatles-inspired name, Hall says the primary owners (Hall, Jake Carey and Paige FinleyâFinley being the Beatles expert) talked over "about a hundred" names, but Dig A Pony just stuck. "I don't know if people will actually call it that," he says. "They'll probably just say Pony or DAP."
WWeek 2015