Neighborhood Notes

As of Friday, September 5, at 4 p.m., the historic McMenamins Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd Ave.), a 1915 elementary school turned hotel, will offer yet another spot where guests and visitors can enjoy a drink, have a meal, play some pool and more. The bar is set in, oddly enough, the school's former boiler room. An ordinary-looking hallway door opens to reveal a huge, multilevel bar with room for 100 guests, a jukebox, two pool tables and shuffleboard, all paired with a full menu of handcrafted McMenamins ales, wines and spirits plus a food menu offering pizza, calzones, panini and more. The massive boiler itself has been taken out, although its heavy doors were retained for display; much of the original artwork done by the McMenamins artists also depicts the old plumbing. The Boiler Room Bar is non-smoking and is open to guests 21 and over; as of September 5, its hours are Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. ‘til 1 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon ‘til 1 a.m.

Along with the Boiler Room Bar, Kennedy School guests can visit the Courtyard Restaurant, Cypress Bar and, of course, the famous Honors and Detention Bars. The hotel also offers 35 classrooms-turned-guestrooms with the original chalkboards and cloakrooms still intact, a theater-pub showing recently released films, an onsite brewery (located in the former girls' lavatory), an outdoor saltwater soaking pool, beautiful regional artwork and special event and meeting spaces for holiday parties, reunions, weddings and beyond.