Dave Knows Portland

Archives for December 2009

Things to do in Portland on Christmas Day (2009)

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Some shops and activities and bars and restaurants do stay open on the holiday – you just need to know which ones.

Here are some places to drink, shop, and enjoy yourself Christmas Day 2009* out of the clutches of your overbearing family! . . .

[Of course this list is far from comprehensive – if you know of additional restaurants, bars, etc. that are open on Christmas Day please leave a comment and refer to the comments for more!]

SHOPS

Powell’s Books (1005 W Burnside). The downtown Powell’s is open 10am to 6pm on Christmas Day (9am to 7pm Christmas Eve).

ACTIVITIES

This doesn’t happen every year, but the Trailblazers are playing on Xmas day. They take on the Denver Nuggets at 7:30 on December 25th at the Rose Garden. There are plenty of tickets available too.

Bowling. Grand Central Bowl (SE 8th and Morrison), and many other bowling alleys, remain open Xmas day.

Movies. Catch a movie – many movie theaters are open on the Holiday.

Peacock Lane. Check out the holiday lights on Peacock Lane in SE Portland from 6pm to 11pm on Christmas Day (for a preview of this year’s lights, visit Mile73!).

Ghost Christmas Ride. Ride your bike on nearly empty streets with your fellow bicycle merrymakers. Ride starts at 9:30am at the SE Lucky Lab (915 SE Hawthorne).

BARS and RESTAURANTS

Rialto (529 SW 4th). This downtown institution is open 365 days a year. Play some pinball or pool, while enjoying your beer. Watch basketball on the ginormous TVs.

Basement Pub (1028 SE 12th). Formerly the smokiest bar in town®, the Basement is open 3pm to 2am.

Cheerful Tortoise (1939 SW 6th). Opens at 5pm on Christmas Day [thanks commenter Kirsten!]

Prost! (4237 N. Mississippi), the newish German pub on North Mississippi at Skidmore will be open normal hours on Christmas Eve, and opens at 8pm on Christmas day for the 1st annual Prostmas!

Red and Black Cafe (400 SE 12th) is open both Xmas Eve and Xmas Day, 10am to 7pm.

Last year PDX Pipeline confirmed that the following bars were open; many of which may very well be open this year too (I’ll update as I learn more):

Update: And some more (via the Bar Pilot blog at Portland Monthly):

House of Louie (331 NW Davis).

My Father’s Place (523 SE Grand).

Yamhill Pub (223 SW Yamhill).

Update: The Lions Eye (5919 SE 82nd) is open Christmas Day 7pm-2:30am.

Also try truck stops (seriously! Jubitz, for example), Chinese places, hotel restaurants.

OTHER RESOURCES

TriMet’s Christmas Day schedule: TriMet buses and MAX trains will run on Sunday schedules. Portland Streetcar will use a modified Sunday schedule, running with one less train [download PDF schedule here].

And make sure to check out PDX Pipeline, Bar Fly, and PortlandFood.org for more bars and restaurants open on Christmas Day.

*The information in this post is compiled through a combination of hearsay, website perusals, assumptions, and direct contact – please do not take it as gospel; if you don’t want to make a fruitless trip out, give the place a call first!

Peacock Lane is Officially Open for the 2009 Holiday Season

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We braved the rain and chill last night to visit the inaugural, pedestrian only, day of Peacock Lane‘s annual (since the 1920s) holiday-light-o-rama.

From today until New Years Eve the lights are on from 6pm to 11pm (and midnight on December 24th and 31st).

Lights

Heather and I, along with our friends Justin and Katie strolled through the car-free street (just for one night) from Belmont to Stark, and back again, taking in the lights, listening to carolers, and almost buying some hot cocoa from the tiny booth set up for that purpose (we demurred, however, as we had drunk our fill of delicious beer at the Horse Brass Pub previously).

Thanks to Mile73‘s Heather for the photos, and read her post for more: Oooooh. Aaaaaah.

Portland in the News: The Food, The Bad, and The Bicycling

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Three recent articles from around the web about Portland run the gamut from interesting and informative to weird and wrong, with one about bicycling, of course.

First, the bicycling:

Dallas to Portland transplant discusses differences between cycling in both cities at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff

Lydia Pierce, a former Dallasite who recently moved to Portland, answers a few questions for BFOC regarding the differences between pedaling in the “worst city for bicycling” vs. the “bike friendliest” city in the nation.

Next, an excellent article about Portland food – home cooked to food carts:

Destination: Portland, Oregon. Food Carts, Fabulous Restaurants & Fantastic Home Cooking at how2heroes

We recently took a food field trip to one of America’s great food cities: Portland, Oregon. Portland is a young city where everyone I met except one person is from somewhere else but no one plans on leaving anytime soon. With the great restaurants and breweries, close access to the mountains and wine country, and an overall friendly, laid back lifestyle, who can blame them?

And finally, a hastily thrown together travel piece, of which we’ve seen plenty the past few years.

yellowbikesUS city breaks: Six things you must do in… Portland at The Daily Mail

What makes this one particularly amusing isn’t the boilerplate Portland cliches (e.g. eco-pioneers, bicycle rides, and Powell’s), but rather the accompanying photographs. There are only two, and they’re both just wrong (and reproduced to the right).

allagashFirst, there’s the photo with the caption Velo city: Riders admire the impressive skyline of cycle-friendly Portland from the Willamette River path. What is pictured? A fairly standard Portland skyline shot from the east bank of the Willamette near the Hawthorne Bridge. The photo, however is old. Pre-Esplanade, old. The three bike riders in the photo are mounted on the infamous yellow bikes – circa 1994!

The second photo isn’t quite as amusing, but it too is just wrong. Caption: Spoilt for choice: Local beers on offer in Portland bars. Nice sentiment, but the beers in the photo? Long Trail Ale, Geary’s Ale, Stella Artois (none of which are Portland beers), and Allagash White – which actually is a Portland beer: Portland, Maine that is.

December 16: Holiday Bottle Snatch at The Beermongers

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Holiday_Bottle_Snatch300The Beermongers (1125 SE Division), the new bottle shop at the southwest corner of Ladd’s Addition, helps you celebrate the holidays while also helping the Oregon Food Bank this Wednesday, December 16 from 4pm until 9pm, with the Holiday Beer Snatch:

Come to The Beermongers and stock-up for the holidays from the finest beer selection in SE Portland. For every dollar you spend between 4-9pm, Forest Products Solutions will match it in a contribution to the Oregon Food Bank, up to $600.

The Beermongers have a fantastic selection of beers, and offers kegs to go as well. Check out the Our Styles section of their website for a nifty beer finding tool – click on a particular style and you’ll receive a list of The Beermonger beers available that match it.

December 16: All Great in the Crate

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All Great in the CrateJoin KBOO’s Sunday night hosts for All Great in the Crate, a benefit 9pm Wednesday, December 16th at The Report Lounge (1101 E Burnside).

Come find out what you’ve been missing or loving on Sunday nights on KBOO.

Host Tre Hardson (The Pharcyde) will be joined by DJ Sesqui of Astral Traveling, DJ SoulR1 of Music Without Borders, DJ Tinman of Tin Man Alley, and DJ Kez of The Movement for an evening of great music, and also a raffle, and giveaways.

Hall of Records will be there too, with deep crates of vinyl for sale!

$5 suggested donation, proceeds benefit KBOO’s Sunday night line up.