Quick Getaway, Part 2
Ok, so Saturday evening, we’re scheduled to see a musical on the campus of the University of Portland. We were running just a bit behind and looking for a quick bite to eat somewhere in the neighborhood of the university. It was a little frustrating because, near a school that size, you’d think that eating places would be in plentiful supply. Apparently not where we were looking. (Note to self: This would be a good reason to get an iPhone or something similar. Sometimes, immediate wireless access is just the ticket.) We were about ready to give up and go back to a Taco Bell we’d seen along the way, when we turned a corner and, lo and behold, we found ourselves staring right at the entrance to a McMenamins! This one just happened to be the St. John’s Theater and Pub.
Now, for those of you outside of the Pacific Northwest, McMenamins is a chain of brewpubs/restaurants and hotels in the region that are known for restoring old, dilapidated facilities and turning them into functioning establishments. They preserve local history and create a new community landmark in the process. For example, the St. John’s Theater and Pub was actually a holdover from the 1904 World’s Fair, the last building standing from that event, actually. It was the location of the first moving picture in Oregon, and had also been utilized as a church and fraternal organization along the way. McMenamin’s purchased the building and opened it in 1998. They utilized the theater to show recently-released films. Tonight, they just happened to be showing a movie I hadn’t heard about called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. What’s cool about this theater is that you can actually take your adult beverage with you inside the show. Just try that some time at your local neighborhood mall multiplex theater. In this case, my beverage of choice was a McMenamins Hefeweizen. And an excellent choice for the time of the year, I might add.
Of course, we decided to ditch the idea of the musical in favor of the movie at the pub. It was about 5:30 at the time, and the show started at 6, so it worked out perfectly. Susan and I and about 70 others enjoyed the show in Portland’s oldest theater. The movie itself wasn’t that great (although the critics at Rotten Tomatoes seemed to like it a lot better than I did), but the company and atmosphere more than made up for that part of it.
Sometimes, an unexpected opportunity presents itself just at the right time. This was a great part of our weekend, and we were lucky enough to hit it just at the right time.
Next up: Part 3 is our journey home, stopping at the most photographed location in Oregon.
