History by the Glass

“Once the kind of place where your estranged alcoholic father would buy you breakfast, the Trap now feels like that weird bar in the suburbs your friends from high school settle on for an annual evening of bad decisions the night before Thanksgiving. The Trap has grown up a bit, and so have you.” -Pete Cottell, Willamette Week, November 2017A classic Portland bus stop bar. A Foster-Powell area dive (emphasis on the lowercase d) and karaoke performance hall. Home of the BEST hash browns hashbrowns and bloody marys in town? Possibly. Home of one of the most open and honest, death-defying bartenders in the city? Absolutely. An inspiration to drop an inexhaustible amount of Admiral Ackbar Return of the Jedi -- "IT'S A TRAP!" -- puns over the course of an hour-long episode? You bet your sweet mon calamari asses! Bar visit and episode recording: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Folks, Prohibition sucked. And here in Oregon, we had it worse than most, cutting off our own booze supply in 1916 -- four years before the rest of the country. When the 18th Amendment was finally repealed in all states in 1933, Oregonians had not legally been in a bar for EIGHTEEN GODFORSAKEN YEARS! It was during that time (1923) that a neighborhood grocery store was built on the corner of N Catlin and Willamette that later became the delightfully punny Your Inn Tavern (7004 N Catlin Ave.). So is this intimate, wooden, rollicking, survivor of a bar really 102 years old? Could it have been a 1923 speakeasy easily transformable into "the best damn grocery store in town" with the pull of a lever? Well...no. But that didn't stop the HBTG boys from joyously crossing the St. Johns Bridge to make their first visit and some new friends at this verifiably great and memorable old Portland bar. Bar visit and episode recording: Thursday, August 28, 2025 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

This month's episode finds the boys -- now officially including Producer Bill -- back in town, contemplating semi-historic and overtly political bar decor...poking around Shanghai Tunnels...eating a by-god bar burger...ogling a PERFECT men's room...possibly having one round too many...and putting their age/surliness/cynicism aside to have life affirming jello shots at downtown Portland institution, Scooter McQuades aka Scooters (1321 SW Washington St.)!! It's the classic Portland bar where every good night begins and/or ends accompanied by an equally classic, clinging to the rails HBTG episode...cheers! Bar visit and episode recording: Wednesday, July 24, 2025 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Thought you'd heard the last of History by the Glass? Think again! After a 6-month hiatus, Alfredo & Nate are back for their fourth season of vintage bar-going adventures. As part of their annual curiosity-laden Bourdain Day observance, the boys squeezed into an 8-seat turboprop bound for the cowboy town of Pendleton — "The Real West" of Oregon — for their first official HBTG bar visit outside of the Portland metro. There they found a lively, highly walkable/stumbleable drinking town anchored by the 130ish-year-old Rainbow Cafe, cheerfully maintaining its (recently "Swindler-ed") claim of being the oldest bar in Oregon. Facts are indeed stubborn things, but no amount of verifiable contradictory history has ever kept the fellas from a good time over a few rounds in a high-character old joint! PLUS — a salute to the ultimate barstool everyman George Wendt, kudos to Esquire's favorite HBTG bar, and more!Bar visit and segment recording: Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Additional recording: Tuesday, July 1, 2025 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

In one of their most professional efforts ever (even with Alfredo's audio sounding like a Jack in the Box drive-thru speaker) the HBTG boys visited with Samantha Swindler -- features reporter, videographer, chronicler of all things weird, intriguing, and off-the-beaten path for The Oregonian/OregonLive -- to learn more about her recent efforts to determine the oldest continuously operating bar location in Oregon. It was a search that ultimately came down to the Rainbow Cafe in downtown Pendleton and a place called Pioneer Saloon in the tiny ranching community of Paisley in South-Central Oregon. Both claimed 1883 and, as we revealed in the interview, neither turned out to be correct. But one eventually stood alone as the undisputed oldest bar in Oregon. Interview recorded: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

Season 3 of History by the Glass reaches its culmination with a trip into the heart of Portland's historic Chinatown district to visit the century-ish old Republic Cafe (222 NW 4th Ave.) — the oldest Chinese-American restaurant in the city — and its random and remarkable Ming Lounge. Still stuffed with Christmas ham and eggnog, Alfredo and Nathan shackled themselves to longtime friend of the pod Bill Clifford and headed into the red-tinted unkown to seek the treasure of character-centric historic bar experiences. And thanks to bar host Heather Nissa Ragonese (and perhaps the epicurean spirits of all the Chinese, Japanese, and/or American customers of years past) they found it in droves on an unforgettable night in old Portland. First, however, they summarized the HBTG year that was and previewed a forthcoming interview with Oregonian/Here is Oregon reporter Samantha Swindler — curator of the state's most distinct human interest stories and newfound historic bar researcher —in another overflowing episode of History by the Glass! Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, Dec. 27, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Filled with immense thanks for all YOU who have traveled with the two of US for the past six years, we celebrated Thanksgiving weekend with our second annual HBTG Audience Choice Episode. The ridiculously over-complicated Thunderdome selection process saw 12 audience-nominated old bars enter, one bar leave as chic NW Portland's beloved Rasputinesque anachronism Joe's Cellar (1332 NW 21st Ave., Est. 1941) outlasted nearby Yur's in the deciding round. Both finalists were nominated by the fine folks at Slabtown Tours, North & NW Portland's preeminent walking tour guides and keepers of eclectic local history. For Nathan and Alfredo it was an opportunity to reconnect with a pre-podcast HBTG bar (some 6 1/2 years after their initial visit) and marvel once more at its subterranean divey charm, dedicated bartenders, and jaunty ambiance. All of which improbably endures despite the structural death sentence it received during a highly publicized months-long closure in 2013. At Joe's, it's always the end of the world as we know it and we feel fine! Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, November 29, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

"There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive." And that's just where the HBTG boys found themselves after an energy draining 2-month production delay -- rusty, slightly discombobulated, and, yes, probably a little drunker than advisable...but still slightly ALIVE and, in fact, overflowing with joy after a visit to one of their all time favorite IRL bars, SW Portland's The Old Barn (9656 SW Barbur Blvd., Est. 1981). A conversation with longtime owners and former proprietors Johnny and Karri Malafouris, and the city's best Sunday NFL bartender / TV whisperer Gina Angerilli, sent the boys down memory lane with this classically unpretentious, ramshackle, mass transit adjacent neighborhood joint, where the drinks are honest and plentiful, the food distinct and filling, and the sports-centric atmosphere more comfortable than your living room couch on Thanksgiving day. It's the kind of place modern Portland too often takes for granted and that veteran bar owners feel is slowly slipping from our consciousness. But as long as The Old Barn and other blue collar neighborhood spots like it remain slightly alive, then there's hope for us all. Bar visit and episode recording: Thursday, October 24, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

"Faster, Higher, Stronger...Drunker?" To commemorate these Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, the HBTG boys set their sights on the Marathon Taverna (SW 18th & Burnside), arriving just past opening at 7 a.m. alongside several of Portland's world-class early morning drinkers (including one bourbon-loving fly) to take advantage of the economical breakfast special, jaunty bar conversation, and live Olympic coverage. A corner drinking spot by several different names since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the Marathon was established in 1974 by Greek immigrant Harlambos “Bobby” Polizos who, along with his wife Diane, also ran the legendary Acropolis Steakhouse (strip club) in deep SE Portland. Both continue to be family owned and operated today. It's the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and all the rise and chug magic you love in this gold medal caliber episode of History by the Glass! Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, August 2, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

*DRUMS PLEASE* Here it is, the pod, slightly transformed, just a bit of a break from the norm, just a little somethin' to break the monotony... Yes indeed, it is SUMMERTIME in the city and on the eve of America's birthday, the HBTG boys put their sunglasses on, oiled each other up like a pair of Navy fighter pilots prepping for a sand volleyball game, and headed north to the mighty Columbia River to seek, no, not the Northwest Passage, but the oldest bar in Portland's sector of this legendary waterway -- the Sextant Bar & Galley (4035 NE Marine Drive)! Built in 1973 by longtime owner/proprietor Dean Burch, this venerable, unpretentious local spot continues to be run by the same family today. It's a classic neighborhood bar & grill, featuring back patio river views interspersed with aircraft fly-overs -- a perfectly satisfying place to have a cold one. But with the sun in your face, a Corona or two coursing through your veins, and the endless possibility of summer on your mind, satisfaction is sometimes only as good as the next bar down river... ...So think of the summers of the past, adjust the bass and let the Apline blast, play this episode and let 'em run a rhyme and put yourself on cruise and lay back 'cause this is summertime... Bar visit and episode recording: Wednesday, July 3, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Fathers. You have 'em, you may be 'em, you probably love 'em, and you may also drink in dark bars because of 'em. But there's no better place in Portland to linger over a stiff pour and big ol' pile of eggs while thinking about yours than My Father's Place aka MFP (523 SE Grand Ave.). Established as MFP in 1978 (yes, ANOTHER late '70s bar!) and a local watering hole since at least 1935, it features a triple option of drinking/dining/entertainment experience to suit whatever outlook on life you enter with and is known for being one of the best places in town to start and/or finish your drinking day. The HBTG boys strolled in at 10 a.m. on a sunny Friday, ensconsed themselves into one of the more uniquely designed bars they've ever come across, taught themselves how to use fork and spoon over 18 inches of vaulted padded vinyl, and, as always, enjoyed this episode's rollicking post-bar visit reminiscence. PLUS, thoughts on the best new-old/old-new bar in town, Jerry's Tavern, and a fond farewell to the incomparable Bill Walton -- forever a champion of Portland and unabashedly optimistic living. Thank you for your life Bill. Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, May 31, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Five 1/2 years ago...two earnest, but slapdash episodes into this grand experiment called the History by the Glass podcast...we were contacted out of the blue...by an actual BAR. And not just any bar, but an honest-to-god OLD bar who simply said, "Love your podcast!" -- the first inkling we had that maybe this thing might possibly resonate beyond our immediate friends and family. Of course, that bar was none other than McPeet's Portland Pub (4501 NE Fremont St., Est. 1979), which we had the pleasure of FINALLY visiting on a warm Monday evening to enjoy some cold High Lifes, a damn fine burger, memorable restroom, and great conversation with owner Chris Peterson and bar hype man (and social media manager) Mitch Forness. You may find plenty of bars in this town that are older, quirkier, more elegant or more divey, but sometimes what you really need most are the simple pleasures of a wonderfully basic neighborhood pub that's been serving up local comfort and fellowship for generations. Bar visit and episode recording: Monday, April 22, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Established in 1907, Dan & Louis Oyster Bar is Portland's oldest family-owned restaurant. Is it really a bar though? Or just a restaurant that serves drinks? We'll leave that for you to decide. But is it a FANTASTIC place to eat, drink, and connect with Old Portland? Abso-shuckin'-lutely. Yes, like Roger Sterling and Don Draper in Mad Men's Season 1 classic "Red in the Face" oyster lunch scene, the HBTG boys were busting after a midday bacchanal of invertebrates, martinis, and cheesecake. Thankfully for all involved there were no flights of stairs to be climbed en route to the recording studio afterward and the only expulsion was the pure joy of experiencing a Portland classic for the first time. PLUS, reflections on our visit to one of the newest bars in the city -- Too Soon -- in our April Fool's episode! Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, March 29, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Join us dear friends for another succinct and well produced episode of History by the Glass -- Portland most popular podcast tour of the city's freshest, hottest, and relatively historic bars, pubs, and saloons…whiskey libraries, modern speakeasies, craft brew pubs, and mixology dens. In this rare commercial-free episode, we asked how soon is Too Soon when we visited Northeast’s 8-week-old Too Soon cocktail lounge -- the oldest bar in Portland serving complimentary warm cookies at last call. Bar visit and episode recording: Thursday, March 7, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

Remember FUN?! Well, thanks to vibrant old locals like The Slammer Tavern (500 SE 8th Ave.) it's BACK. And, hey, so are WE for a THIRD season of History by the Glass! We were thrilled to get busy living at one of Portland's most unique, friendly, and fun-loving dives (or is it?), which has been sentencing folks to good times as "The Slammer" since the late '70s on the ground floor of a towering, mysterious 135-year-old building that's featured a neighborhood watering hole since the start of WWII (if not earlier). Lovingly family owned and operated, we had the pleasure of grabbing a bolted stool alongside owner/bartender/contractor/maestro of bar mojo Christopher -- whose legendary mom, Lizzie Robarts-Dille, has worked and/or owned the place for about as long as it's been The Slammer -- to learn all about the magic of this Portland institution. There's the refreshing simplicity of the beer selection, the intentionality of games both offered and NOT offered, and...hands down, one of the most memorable bar bathrooms we've ever experienced. All this, plus reflections from our recent borderland bacchanal in Alfredo's hometown of El Paso, Texas, and more! Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

"It was after Christmas babe...in a Chinese restaurant dive bar...an old man said to me, won't see another one..." The season 2 finale and annual holiday special found the HBTG boys holed up at St. Johns' historic and wonderfully divey Wishing Well Chinese restaurant lounge (8800 N. Lombard St.), fulfilling a Christmas tradition for Nathan while reflecting on the poetic melancholy of the season and a banner year of old bar adventures. Thank you all for listening and telling your fellow bar aficionados about us. It's been one of the true creative joys of our lives to be able to celebrate these places and communities with you. We'll see you all in February of 2024 for season 3 of History by the Glass. In the meantime, may we never let auld acquaintance be forgot and enjoy many cups of kindness yet for auld lang syne. Happy New Year!! Bar visit and initial recording: Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023 Special Guest: Bill Clifford HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Just like one of John Madden's legendary turduckens, we squeezed an obscene amount of goodness into THIS, our Thanksgiving/inaugural listener's choice/5-year anniversary special! Longtime listener Matt Wyss was our lucky winner with his submission of his live music lovin' local, the Laurelthirst Public House (2958 NE GlisanSt.), and we were thrilled to jam ourselves into Portland's Grand Ole Opry on a lively Monday night before digging into the somewhat surprising history and unique experience of this venerable Portland institution. Bar visit and initial recording: Monday, November 20, 2023 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Episode No. 30(!!) finds the HBTG boys enjoying their Halloween Spooktacular happily drinking among the undead at Holman's Bar & Grill (15 SE 28th Ave) -- no, not the youthful clientele, but the bar itself! Established in...ehhh, let's just call it pre-WWII...Holman's appeared to be ALL dead when it locked its doors during the sweeping pandemic closures of 2020. However, thanks to the local legends of historic bar reanimation, Warren Boothby and Marcus Archambeault, it proved to only be MOSTLY dead and was brought back to life in late July of 2023. This beautiful Frankenstein of an old bar (featuring pieces from some of its deceased peers) is back and puttin' on the Ritz better than ever. With unpretentious drinks, great food, historic authenticity and character, and plenty of patrons, it's proof that old joints don't have to be "Bar Rescued" to stay relevant and vivacious today. Bar visit and episode recording: Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

Fall is officially upon us. Which, for the HBTG boys, means sports, sports, SPORTS! Once upon a time, the venerable Claudia’s on SE Hawthorne would’ve been atop the list of beloved old local places to grab a cold one and watch the game, but with its October closure after 75 years of service, it was time to evaluate one of its worthy successors. This is how we found ourselves parachuting into NE Portland‘s North Tabor neighborhood on a Monday Night Football night to experience the underrated and historic A & L Sports Pub — the latest of a series of watering holes in this century old building going back to 1945. The epitome of a local sports bar with nightly regulars, knowledgeable and affable staff, and enough space to fit the entire 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers team, the A & L has been bringing folks together to slosh pitchers of beer, catcall opposing fans, and do all that good communal sports bar stuff we know and love so well since the dawn of the ‘90s. Buckle up your chinstrap and get in the game! Bar visit and recording: Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 HBTG theme song: “Frozen Egg” by Lame Drivers Interlude music: “Right Track” by Lame Drivers

The Yamhill Pub is a Fox News producer's wet dream. It's the grimy, thrashed, chaotic, debauched, unrepentant, undeveloped, iconically menacing "lowest down diviest dive in Portland"...and we couldn't be more proud. Established in 1933 or 1939 in a century-old downtown building, the Yamhill Pub supernaturally resists all attempts to categorize it or neatly explain it. Its history is unknowable, yet infused throughout the sneaky warmth and undeniable character of the place. It is, in fact, a neighborhood bar that gives everyone who dares an opportunity to be their most weirdly normal selves and is the type of place every single neighborhood in our city and yours should feature and celebrate. If you like the F-word, bar movies, unforgettable lavatories, obscure Seinfeld references, and confused middle aged suburbanites attempting to decipher modern day sex/drug parlance -- this is your episode! Bar visit and recording: Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers