just like grandma had.
Swing, swing your way to another drink at one of several Portland bars with a swing. The whimsical novelty (it’s like a playground, but for boozy adults!) remains another one of those quirks that keeps Portland, well, Portland.
While bar swings are nothing new to Portland, they’re certainly a rare sighting in other cities with a heavy bar scene. They’re mainstays in at least three bars: Bungalow Bar, Roadside Attraction and East Burn.
Bungalow Bar boasts perhaps the grandest swing set of them all. In the back patio, a long wooden table and swings hang from an overhead trellis. The contraption looks suspended in the air, like an illusion. Just go easy on the alcohol – the entire thing sways with every little movement, which could be a tiny disaster for those prone to motion sickness or klutziness.
If you want to avoid spilling beer on your neighbor, the patio also has four hammocks. They comfortably fit one person, or two, a little snugly. The hammocks hang upright instead of flat, like a cocoon. It’s the perfect spot to let your inner kid out and give it a dizzying whirl.
Further south in Portland, East Burn has a floating table similar to Bungalow Bar, and Roadside Attraction features an actual porch swing, like something you’d see in a romantic garden. Something about the carefree amusement of kicking it on a swing makes a bar patio seem like a home backyard.
Gray, rainy skies dominate nine months of the year, so when it’s actually warm and sunny, every hibernating soul seems to come out ready to play. What better way than on a swing? — Dominique Fong
