Space Room
4800 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97215Phone: (503) 235.8303
Located in: Southeast Portland
BarFly's Review of Space Room
With fifty some-odd years anchoring the "Stumble Zone," the Space Room exerts a powerful tractor beam, drawing all walks to its tattered, Sputnik-era, booth-laden, perpetual midnight lounge. A bubbly crowd of mostly twenty-somethings may be found here most any evening, making this a good choice for an off-night birthday celebration.
Swell staff, good juke, recent remodel of the Brite Spot and keen smoking patio does it justice in face of the smoking ban. Free hors d' 4:30-6 M-F.
Angelo's, Bar of the Gods (BOG), Dingo's, Mount Tabor Theater, Por Que No? Otra Vez, Sapphire Hotel, Sewickly's Addition, Tanker, Watertrough, Zach's Shack
I checked this place out for the grand re-opening. Great new decor, yummy drinks, and big screens. Oh and they have this little alien dude on the wall who is pretty sweet.
After returning to PDX from a 6 year haitus, the SR was a must. Still nice and dark, stiff mixers, and cool staff. And yes, I wear a hoodie because if Fcking rains and I'm not partial to third world paramilitary caps. Watch it, you need to walk home after a few hours here.
It's he fuckin' Space Room, Yo! The Space Room!(Ok, enough of that, but you can probably detect my enthusiasm about the place.) What can I say, it's a great place to get fitznickered. The drinks are STIFF like your dad was on the night of your conception. Plus, the staff are amazing...I mean, who else can keep a smile and a drink in your hand all night WHILE dealing with the barmuda's drunken collective? Two thumbs up, guys!
Now the decor is very fab. You got murals that cause controversy! And boy do they ever..I mean, they actually anger people with their depictions of seaside establishments! Now that's fuckin' art!
Just be glad they keep the lights on low - and don't reach into any strange corners.
Does the Saturn lamp above the bar have the correct number of rings? Should I listen to someone who can't spell the word "get" correctly?
Anyway, love the fishbowl drinks here- always strong and always tasty. You can't go wrong with the Fresh Underwear or Purple Alien and the Bloody Mary with the chipotles is pure fire but worth the burn. I tried one of the wintry coffee drinks recently and it was quite good too.
The staff always has their shit together no mater how large the crowd and they smile.
I like to come during the twilight hours and watch the crowd gradually transform. It's a cross section of the drinking populous.
I could not get enough of the decor, it was simply adorable! It reminded me of Roswell New Mexico. Drinks were good, try the space punch! Staff was very friendly. Seemed kind of dead in terms of the number of people there, but that is not a bad thing in my opinion!! Wait staff was attentive and my husband loved the big screen TV.
Good God Man? Complaining about the inconsistancies in the fucking coastal mural? Who gives a flying shit about whether or not the painting is geographically correct or not? Don't you go there to unwind AND DRINK, for Chris sake...Fuckin A, bring up something real...Like the food sucked one time you were there. or the service was slow. Space Room is an old school reliable watering hole that smells of stale cigs, but pours one mean cocktail.You want atmosphere head back to the coast. Hell, I even have drink named after me there, how many bars in Manzanita name a drink after there custies? Get over yourself and enjoy this place, there are'nt going to be places like this around for ever and pretty soon you'll be bitchin about the problems at your new bar where you SHOULD presently frequent if your gonna continue to complain about such petty shit....IN THE PEARL...Hawthorne "Beermuda Triangle" for life.
Now dont git me wrong: Space Room has numerous big plus factors. For one thing, it's not Sewickly's. Christ, what a saving grace. But as a part time coastie (i live in Manzanita part of the week), that incorrect mural of Cannon Beach deeply offends me. For one thing, my fave bar of all time is in CB (Warren House). But more to the point, the mural is so geographically incorrect it's painful. The cliffs of Arch Cape are depicted immediately to the left of Haystack Rock. WRONG answer!! I love my Space Kittens....but the depiction is just sick and wrong from an artistic and geological point of view.
I must admit, I've become dismayed with ye space room after years of being a regular. Too much smoke, HORRIBLE juke box (what's wrong w/ an Internet juke kids?) and an increasingly white trash crowd (hoodies are not cool...sorry) have all turned me away recently. However, some of the stiffest pours in town, ultra-cool staff and that ever-kitschy sci-fi theme keep me interested at least a little. But man...it's turning into Gresham there. Get rid of the wrong crowd. It will be lovable again
It's a perfect place if your name is Norm or Cliffy, they make you feel at home at the Space Room. It's perfect on a early Sunday night to hang for a while. The only BIG drawback is no real food after 8pm, come on...food+drink=$$. And the staff is great, during the day there is a lady there who has been pouring for 37years. Yikes and she pours great drinks and she is a golf and sports fan to boot.
I Like the Space Room! I feel safe there even when I am falling down. Granted I have been going there for years. I put up with the frat boy groups on fri and sat nights. Very few bars pour like the Space Room. I have to spend a fortune elsewhere to get the same buzz as the Space Room.
I'm sure you're an Adonis, Cuda. I really am. And that is very cool indeed. Thanks for the tip on where my bowser brethren and I should hang. We don't wanna taint your cool.
Who said the juke box was cool here? - lame. This is the kinda place you go when you are too ugly to go to cool bars. Just stay in the dark area by the front door please. The BOG and Sewick's have this place beat hands down.
This place is just right. I always recommend it. I dont remember his name but the morning bartender on the weekend makes crusher drinks
Sputnik era decor? All I saw was cheap Xmas lights. This place is a dive without any of the charm that certain dives can provide. And I had the worst Bloody Mary I've ever choked down in my entire life there. You could have brined a 20 pound turkey in it. Hungry, I ordered a reuben against my better judgement, and sure enough I was paying up for it at 3:00 AM. And 3:30 AM. And once again at 4:30 AM. The only thing from the sputnik era in this dive is the corned beef. Oh...and maybe the server. Pretty skeezy if you ask me.
Whenever my boys come in from out of town I take them to the space room to start the night off. STIFF, cheap drinks, funky dive bar feel to it.
I love this bar I am from LA and what a pleasent change from the urber trendy dime a dozen crap in LA! Way to go space room!
Yes, the Space Room is conveniently located in the heart of 'stumble alley' and has the most visable signage for blocks.
But no, if you go on a saturday night looking for pool tables or a place to pose at the bar, you'll be disappointed. The Space Room is just a good solid bar with stiff cocktails and really effective hangover fare (dim lights, too).
Although the place tends to fill up with the bridge-and-tunnel set on weekend nights, it has plenty of booths, a decent jukebox, pretty waitstaff and more than it's share of glow-in-the-dark murals.
Maybe stop in for a drink early Saturday night before you go out. Definitely come back Sunday morning, and bring sunglasses.