This Oregon Restaurant Chain Keeps History Alive In Each Of Its Unique Locations

When you visit somewhere new, half the fun is finding the best places to eat and spend quality time. Bonus points if you find a place that's well-loved by the community. Gems like these deserve to be shared with the world, even if they aren't everywhere in it. Oregon is known as one of the best places in America for coffee, and it isn't lacking in the food department either. McMenamins is a pub, hotel, venue, and restaurant chain that started in Oregon in July 1983 when brothers Brian and Mike McMenamin opened the Barley Mill Pub in Portland. The location prominently features an old barley mill from Oregon's first-ever microbrewery. This preservation of history has become a key piece of McMenamins' legacy and one of the many reasons the chain has a cult-like following in the PNW.

Over the decades, McMenamins has focused on growing the business through opening new locations, serving delicious food, and establishing its own spirits and ales like the beloved Ruby and Hammerhead, which were released in 1986. McMenamins is anything but cookie-cutter, as each location is vastly unique from all the others. Depending on where you venture, you may find yourself in a former general store, wandering the halls of a repurposed school building, or dining at a former train depot. While the locations are different, the character of each McMenamins is undeniable. From beautiful art to the prominent homage to the Grateful Dead at nearly every location (a true Deadhead haven), McMenamins breathes life back into buildings that may otherwise have been forgotten and lets the history of each location tell its own story.

Staying seated at a McMenamins is a challenge in its own right. The intricate art that adorns the walls, ceilings, and even the pipes beckons guests to take a closer look at its beauty. Each location is completely one of a kind, as McMenamins artists like Lyle Hehn, Myrna Yoder, Jennifer Joyce, Joe Cotter, Kolieha Bush, Olivia Behm, and more have spent decades working with Tim Hills, McMenamins' historian, to bring the story of these establishments to life. Restaurants feature everything from pictures of alien spaceships, schoolhouse imagery, depictions of important figures, events, and local lore painted with vibrancy and detail that McMenamins' guests can't get enough of.

In 2013, McMenamins recognized the communities' desire to visit each location and created the Passport. Visit a location, solve a puzzle, or find a secret hidden corridor, and get a stamp unique to that date or pub. Some restaurants even deliver stamps with a free drink, food item, shirt, or exclusive passport glass. McMenamins lovers can revel in their exclusive passport goodies while trekking around Oregon and Washington to complete their booklet and achieve an invite to the coveted Cosmic Tripster party after getting that final stamp. Passports delivered more community as passport holders bond over a love of food, drinks, history, and the quirks McMenamins has to offer. For those who desire a more in-depth history lesson or wish to know what hops are and how they impact beer, McMenamins also offers tours at many of their locations (and yes, you get a stamp for it).

McMenamins fans know that each location offers something to celebrate. Whether it be the Hotel Oregon location participating in the UFO Festival that takes place each year in McMinnville, the Kennedy School's annual J.R.R. Tolkien birthday celebration, or the never-ending celebration of Grateful Dead via the Barley Mill Pub and the 7-foot tall bronze Jerry Garcia sculpture at Edgefield, McMenamins is ready to celebrate all that's good in — and out of — this world.

The size of each restaurant varies, and you may find yourself in a massive hotel with several pubs spread around the grounds, concert venues, soaking tubs, and movie theaters. You can also nestle up next to a warm fire in a smaller location for a cozy, relaxing atmosphere. Venture inside any McMenamins and fill your stomach with something from a menu of delicious pub-style food and revel in the unique drinks, local lore, and no stone left unturned art style that's a labor of love decades in the making. McMenamins continues to be a chain restaurant that makes big changes, but for many locals, it's a land of enchantment and a uniquely wonderful way to "keep the past in the present."