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Guests can listen to opera music and drink in a smoke-free environment in the Honors Bar at the Kennedy School in Portland.
Stay in school during spring break
Portland's Ken nedy School
gives patrons a romantic
bed & breakfast experience
By Ryan Frank
Oregon Daily Emerald
who will let you sleep in class, drink
in detention or watdi a beer brew
ery at work in the girls’ bathroom.
But at McMenamins’ Kennedy
School bed and breakfast in Port
land, a college student’s wildest
dreams can come true.
Rescued from possible demoli
tion in the 1990s, the Kennedy
School, a restored elementary
school, is now a community
crown jewel and a memorable
destination for a weekend get
away ora spring break trip.
But if you do decide to make the
two-hour drive into Northeast
Portland for the night, be sure to
take your beer mug, your wallet
and some patience.
With five bars, a restaurant, a
movie theater and a soaking pool,
there’s enough under one roof to
keep you busy for a weekend, but
it will most likely involve drink
ing and eating.
McMenamins’ microbrews, the
best in the Northwest, are the drink
of choice in the five bars, but wine
and well drinks are also available.
The Detention and Honors bars
draw plenty of attention and laughs
from guests. The Detention Bar of
fers blues and jazz music, beer,
wine, scotch, bourbon and cigars
for the bad boys and girls, while the
Honors Bar caters to the good boys
and girls with opera music, wine
and a non-smoking atmosphere.
“At Kennedy, it’s the easiest
way to go from detention to hon
ors,” said Tim Hills, a McMe
namins historian.
At a weekend rate of $99, which
includes a movie and breakfast,
it’s not exactly cheap, but if you
can afford it, the Kennedy School
is well worth it. Pints and food run
the typical McMenamins rate of
$2.85 a pint and about $5 to $6 for
a burger or sandwich.
As is consistent with the two
McMenamins pubs in Eugene,
19th Street and High Street brew
eries, the service is not the
strongest asset, and plenty of pa
tience is necessary.
But beyond marginal service, the
Kennedy School is a true treasure.
All 35 guest rooms are remod
eled classrooms split into two
rooms that include original art
ot since recess has
school been this fun.
Even in college, it’s dif
ficult to find a professor
Courtesypboto
The walls of the richly unique McMenamins Kennedy School are lined with original art.
work and the original chalkboards
from when the school closed in
1975.
With hardwood floors, high
ceilings and large windows, each
room has a warm, romantic feel
that carries throughout the build
ing. Unlike Edgefield, the largest
McMenamins’ bed and breakfast,
located in Troutdale, each
Kennedy School room includes a
full private bath.
If you are looking for a relaxing
weekend of watching movies or
TV in your room, the Kennedy
School isn’t the place foryou. The
rooms don’t have VCRs or TVs.
But the Kennedy School does
have a movie theater that plays re
cent releases in a theater full of
couches and lounge chairs, where
you can drink and eat pizza dur
ing the flick.
If the food, drink, movie theater
and soaking pool aren’t enough to
draw you to the Kennedy School,
the place is packed with original
artwork, most of which covers the
history of the school and its sur
rounding neighborhood.
Which is one reason why so
many people enjoy staying at the
Kennedy School, Hills said.
“They look at all the paintings
and photos on the wall, and they
can relate; because of that com
monality of elementary school,
everyone can relate. ”
Without the neighborhood, and
specifically the Concordia Neigh
borhood Association, the
Kennedy School may have been
turned into a pile of rubble.
Constructed in 1916 and named
after the Irish immigrant who
owned the land, the Kennedy
School closed its doors in 1975
when Portland’s elementary
school population dwindled as
the baby boomers moved on to
middle school. Being one of the
McMenamins
Kennedy School
■WHAT: A 35-room bed and
breakfast
■ ADDRESS: 5736 NE 33rd, Portland
■ E-MAIL: kennedy@mcme
namins.com
■WEBSITE:
www.mcmenamins.com
■ PHONE: 888-249-3983
■ ROOM RATES: $89 per night
Sunday to Thursday and $99 per
night Friday and Saturday
older buildings in the district and
needing some repairs, the school
was shutdown.
After serving as a temporary
school for other schools in the dis
trict under construction, the
Kennedy School was relegated to
a storage facility.
Risking possible demolition in
the mid-1990s, the school was
saved by the neighborhood asso
ciation, which lobbied the city to
have the school converted into a
business.
Several companies placed bids
with the city to renovate the
school. McMenamins won the
bid, and after five months of reno
vations, the Kennedy School bed
and breakfast had its grand open
ing in October 1997.
The school is still closely tied to
the community. The school,
which is on the national register
for historic places, has a meeting
room devoted exclusively to the
community and offers regular, no
cost use of some facilities.
It’s that community atmosphere
and the number of things to do un
der one roof that make the
Kennedy School a charming expe
rience that is difficult to find any
where else.
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Council
CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange
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University or Oregon
L In the EMU Building
Eugene
877 1/2 East 13in Street
Eugene
(541)344-2263
Jn.
University of Colorado at Boulder
USE SUMMER TO
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FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Call 303-492-5146 or 800-331-2801 to request
a Summer Session catalog. Or visit our web site
www.colorado.edu/sacs/summer
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