Sam Bond’s Makes “Best Bars in America” List
Esquire has included local bar Sam Bond’s Garage in its list of the 100 best bars in America. Sam Bond’s was the only bar from Oregon to make the cut. Here’s what Esquire had to say about the venerable establishment:
As you stretch out on the split-timber benches under the old barn’s bare rafters, you slowly realize you’re in the family room of one of the weirdest neighborhoods in America — a shady, overgrown co-op of artists, ecoanarchists, spirit healers, drug dealers, and permanently circling vagabonds. And the living couldn’t be better: Couples play cribbage on the rough-hewn communal tables, kids loll on the modest stage until the sun goes down, and the strong-limbed waitresses circulate the beers in mason jars and smile, but only if they really mean it. It’s like a frontier dance hall in a mining town where the vein’s gone dry. The dreams are alive, but appealingly bruised.
What, no love for The Old Pad?
The Old Pad’s servers possess a noteworthy and admirable kind of patience. The last time I was there I paid off a $30 tab in dimes. I have not been back since.
At least they have rudders on the ceiling
The only thing the Old Pad deserves credit for is being two blocks from my house.
The Old Pad seriously deserves some credit. No joke.