“And back there is the soaking pool,” said Tim, continuing the tour.

“Where?”

“Walk past the theatre and take a right,” he said, motioning with his free hand, the other holding one of the beers that they make on-site.

I walked by a restaurant, pub, hotel rooms and an old meeting room before getting there.

This wasn’t your regular trip to the movies, the wood-oven baked pizza on our laps and pitchers of golden pale ale underneath the retro couch hinted at that – but then again, Bend, OR, isn’t your average town.

The McMenamin Brothers knew that. They were good at finding places like Bend. And inside these hidden secrets of towns, they were even better at finding things like this old Catholic school. Or sheds. Barley mills. Chapels.

You get the idea.

For more than 30 years, the Portland-based duo have been taking old run-down locales and transforming them into what they call ‘Kingdoms of Fun’ – historical buildings remade into pub-based spaces that usually include three-to-four star accommodation, breweries, conference halls and more. In fact, as long as it’s ‘not too formal, too complicated or too orthodox’, they’ll probably be interested.

So should you ever be passing through the Pacific Northwest, give one a try.

Chains? Well – sure. In theory.

But it won’t be long before you – like the others before you – consider experiencing the other 44.


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