14
Columbia Gorge News
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
www.columbiagorgenews.com
GORGE LOCAL: IN BUSINESS
Hood River’s newest bottle shop and
lounge has something for everyone
Cook
■ By For Janet
Columbia Gorge News
W
ITH THE OPEN-
ing of Hood River
Common House
at the end of May, the Kitts
family added another
business to their corner of
town. The new bottle shop
and lounge, located beneath
the Ruddy Duck, is the third
business for the Mike Kitts
and Tassie Mack family at
Oak and Fifth streets, joining
the clothing boutique and
Mike’s Ice Cream. This
one, though, is a venture
dreamed up and carried out
by the family’s second-gen-
eration siblings: McKinley
Kitts, Josh Kitts and Cecily
Kitts Diffin.
“We’ve had the ice cream
shop since 1986 and the
Ruddy Duck for 15 years,”
McKinley said. “My siblings
and I had a conversation
and decided, maybe it’s
time to close the loop.” The
Common House is in the
space previously occupied
by the restaurant Kin.
When the pandemic hit
last spring, McKinley was
touring with his band, Flor.
After a show in Aspen in
mid-March, the tour was
abruptly halted and he re-
turned home to Hood River.
His fellow band members
figured they’d resume the
tour after a few months, but
McKinley was doubtful. “I
got a weird feeling that it was
going to be more long term,”
he said.
He threw himself into
helping with the family
businesses — something
he’d been unable to do over
the years as his music career
flourished. “I wanted to step
up and help out,” he said.
As the pandemic year wore
on, there was some brain-
storming among the siblings
about what they could do
with the remaining space in
the historic building, which
was once home to Tum-A-
Lum Lumber. Josh, who lives
in Portland near an eclectic
bottle shop and bar, floated
the idea for something
similar.
The rest, as they say, is
history.
The space required
renovating, which they did
over the winter and spring
— remodeling and updating
extensively, including the
kitchen. There’s currently no
formal food service at the
bottle shop, but McKinley
said they wanted to prepare
it for the future. “We put in
everything a nice restaurant
kitchen would have,” he said.
McKinley credits Josh with
seeing the project through
“from concept to opening,”
although all three siblings
were involved every step
of the way. “We all had the
opportunity to be shoulder
to shoulder,” McKinley said.
“It was chaos, and also really
good bonding.”
The lounge has seating
areas and tables with plenty
of space between. “We didn’t
The Hood River Common House opened at the end of May, dreamed up and carried out by siblings
McKinley Kitts, Josh Kitts and Cecily Kitts Diffin.
Photo courtesy Pickles Photography
An outdoor seating area is arranged around the exterior brick fire-
place at Hood River Common House. At right, a guest laughs in the
indoor seating area.
Photos courtesy Pickles Photographey
want to build the business
around COVID, but the flow
is important to us,” McKinley
said. In addition to the inside
space, the outside of the
building facing Fifth Street
has been reconfigured into
an additional seating area.
A dedicated wine section
is filled with a selection of
local and regional wines, as
well as some from farther
afield. Bottles are available
to purchase for take-away, or
to drink onsite with a small
corkage fee.
Being a bottle shop,
there is, of course, a large
drink cooler. And there’s a
story behind it. The lounge is
relatively small, and the wall
where the cooler sits is vis-
ible from everywhere. “We
didn’t want people to have
to look at an ugly, industrial
cooler,” McKinley said. They
came across an old cooler
for sale at a market in Kelso,
Wash. The price was right
for anyone who would come
and remove it immediately.
McKinley and Josh, along
with a couple of friends,
drove to Kelso with a trailer
and extricated the cool-
er from the space it had
occupied since sometime in
the middle of last century.
Once they got it home,
Josh spent countless hours
getting it in working order,
including crafting narrow
custom wood strips to make
the doors slide open and
closed and refitting it with
new lighting. But the effort
paid off and the cooler fits
right in with the aesthetic of
the lounge. And, McKinley
points out, it literally fits
perfectly along the length of
the one wall where it needed
to go. “It was meant to be,”
he said.
The cooler is stocked with
a varied selection of mostly
regional beer and cider.
At the bar, six taps offer a
rotating selection of beer,
cider and, eventually, hard
kombucha.
Although there are light
snacks available, visitors to
the lounge and bottle shop
are invited to bring food in
with them — preferably from
one of the nearby food trucks
or take-out eateries. “We
want to encourage people to
patronize all the businesses
around us,” McKinley said.
One of the bottle shop’s
final touches came together
shortly before opening:
The hand-painted signs on
the outside. “They’re kind
of throwback,” McKinley
said. “The building is from
the 1920s. We thought, let’s
restore some of that vintage
feel.”
The signs add the finishing
touch to Hood River’s new-
est gathering spot. “It’s all in
the name,” McKinley said.
“There’s something here for
everyone.”
SDS Lumber Co.
is HIRING!
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safety, quality, and production. We want people that can come into
our already efficient teams to learn, grow, and become an asset to the
Company. If that sounds interesting to you or if you would like to learn
more contact Nick Reeves, HR Supervisor at (503) 720-7465 or email
nickr@sdslumber.com.
Current Openings:
-Utility Worker
-Dryer Grader
-Class A CDL Truck Driver
-Maintenance Millwright
-Saw Filer
Benefits include:
• 401(K) Matching
• Benefits include: Health (medical. dental,
Vision. Prescription); Life insurance
• Access to Sponsored Medical Clinic
(no cost for employee and family).
• Vacation pay & 8-paid holidays
• Employees discounts on our wood
products, work apparel and more.
• On the job training
• Plus other benefits!
If interested please give Nick the HR Supervisor a call at
Public Notices
Invitation to Bid
City of Hood River
PROSPECT AVE,
1ST TO 7TH WATER
& SEWER REPLACE-
MENT
PROJECT #679
Bids from quali-
fied contractors will
be received by the
City of Hood River
(Owner) at Hood
River Public Works,
1200 18th Street,
Hood River, Oregon
97 0 31, u n t i l 2 : 0 0
PM on July 6, 2021,
Th e C i t y o f H o o d
River will receive and
accept bids ONLY
through QuestCDN.
com via their elec-
tronic V ir tuBid™
online bid service. A
virtual bid opening
will be held at the
day and time of the
bid closing utilizing
Zoom Meeting where
bids will be publicly
o p e n e d a n d re a d
aloud. A link to the
Zoom bid opening
will be e-mailed to all
pre-bid conference
attendees after the
pre-bid conference.
A mandatory pre-
bid conference will
be held on June
22, 2021, at 3:00
PM onsite at the
intersection of 7th
S t . a n d Pro s p e c t
Ave. (621 Prospect
Ave.), Hood Riv-
er, Oregon 97031.
Statements made by
Owner or Owner’s
representatives at
the conference will
not be binding upon
the Owner unless
confirmed by written
A d d e n d u m . Th e
meeting will con-
clude with a site visit.
Bidders must
comply with ORS
27 9 . 0 27 re g a rd -
ing submission of
First-Tier Subcon-
tractor Disclosure
Form by the deadline
indicated on the
form. Disclosure
forms are provided in
the Bid Documents.
Th e w o r k t o b e
done under this
contract includes
construction of ap-
proximately 2,035
linear feet of new
water main, water
services, and appur-
tenance; construc-
tion of approximately
1,604 linear feet of
new sewer main,
sewer services, and
appurtenances;
sidewalk and curb
surface restoration;
abandonment of
existing water and
sewer facilities, con-
nections to existing
facilities, sewer by-
pass pumping, curb
ramp replacement,
and a full road re-
construction. All
work is located in
H o o d R i v e r, O R .
The project location
is along Prospect
Ave, from 1st St. to
7th St. The work is
more particularly de-
scribed in the project
plans.
Prequalification is
not required; how-
ever, applicant must
submit with its Bid
evidence of qualifi-
cations and experi-
ence to perform the
work.
The work is fully
described in the
Contract Docu-
ments, which may
be downloaded via
the bidding section
of the QuestCDN
w e b s i t e a t w w w.
questcdn.com. To
b e c o n s i d e re d a
p l a n h o l d e r, y o u
must register for a
f re e m e m b e rs h i p
on QuestCDN and
download the con-
t ra c t d o c u m e n t s
in digital form un-
der ‘download bid
documents’ on
the bid advertise-
ment page. There
i s a n o n - re f u n d -
able fee of $15.00
to download the
documents. Please
contact Quest CDN
Customer Support
at (952) 233-1632
or info@questcdn.
com for assistance
in free membership
registration, down-
loading and working
with digital project
information. Bidders
will be charged a fee
of $30.00 to submit
a bid electronically.
Bids will only be
re c e i v e d a n d a c -
cepted via the on-
line electronic bid
service listed in the
“Submitting an On-
line Bid” section. The
QuestCDN eBid doc
number for this proj-
ect is 7893111.
All bidding doc-
uments are avail-
able at the following
Plan Centers: Ore-
gon Contractor Plan
Center, Daily Journal
of Commerce, Tri
City Construction
C o u n c i l , Pre m i e r
Builders Exchange,
Salem Contrac-
tor Exchange, SW
Washington Con-
tractors 7017, Herm-
iston Plan Center,
iSqFt Plan Room,
Central Oregon
Builders Association,
McGraw-Hill Con-
struction Dodge.
The Project has
been designed by
Grayling Engineers.
Inquiries concern-
ing the contents of
the plans, speci-
fications and bid-
ding documents
should be directed
to Wade Seaborn,
City Engineer for the
City of Hood River
(541.436.3510), or
w.seaborn@cityof
hoodriver.gov. The
deadline for ques-
tions is June 30th at
5:00 p.m.
Bids will be pub-
licly opened im-
mediately after the
deadline for bid sub-
mission. Bids shall
be submitted on the
bid forms supplied
in the bidding doc-
uments and shall be
accompanied by a
bond, postal money
order, certified or
cashier’s check from
the bidder in the
amount of at least
five percent (5%) of
the bid as security.
Th e s u c c e s s f u l
bidder will be re-
quired to execute a
formal agreement
with the Owner and
provide acceptable
insurance and both
a performance bond
and a material and
labor payment bond
each in an amount
equal to 100% of the
contract award in
accordance with the
Specifications within
ten (10) days of No-
tice of Award.
The project is a
public work subject
to ORS 279C.800
to 279C.870. Con-
tractor must be reg-
istered with the Or-
egon Construction
Contractors Board
(CCB) prior to the
bid opening and
must file a public
works bond in the
amount of $30,000
with the CCB pri-
or to commencing
work on the project.
Contractor must pay
Pre v a i l i n g W a g e s
in accordance with
ORS 279C.800 to
279C.870. No Bid
will be received or
considered by the
Owner unless the
Bid contains a state-
ment that Bidder
agrees to be bound
by and will comply
with the provisions of
ORS 279C.840 or 40
USC § 276a.
The Owner may
reject any Bid not in
compliance with pre-
scribed public bid-
ding procedures and
requirements, and
may reject for good
cause any or all bids
upon a finding of the
Owner that it is in
the public interest to
do so.
The City of Hood
River is an equal op-
portunity employer.
ADA accommoda-
tions will be provided
on request; phone
541.387.5201.
June 16, 2021
#1702
(503) 720-7465 or email at nickr@sdslumber.com
WE ARE AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER!
Columbia Gorge News