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! We’re looking for people to join our successful team! People who enjoy working with a team to produce like-minded results. SDS Lumber Company is a goal oriented organization that strives to be efficient in 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