Portland February 2015 - Day 2

 

 

 

Even though I have had my license since I was 18, sitdown driving arcade games and go karts are still the best. I know plenty of people out there who agree with me. The only way I can explain it is that it makes you feel like being a kid again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We next went to this bar called Shanghai Tunnel. It is an underground bar. Portland has many of these underground tunnels that were used for "shanghaiing", which was the illegal maritime practice of kidnapping people and selling them to ships to be enslaved for labor purposes. These tunnels connected throughout the underground of the city and served as temporary prisons until the people could be trafficked to the harbor. It's a fascinating but harrowing part of history. It's too hard to explain what it was like down there imagining all of the crazy shit that went down in here. We continued that trend by drinking some IPAs and playing the gambling machines. Things got weird, but that's a common occurrence for me. But it doesn't usually happen in an underground bar with Shanghai Tunnels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember this Star Wars Episode 1 pinball game from my days working at the Mayfair Mall General Cinemas theater back in 1999. The sounds, bells and whistles (not to mention the horribly delivered dialogue) of this game really took me back. This place was all about nostalgia. And rules apparently. I waited in a long line to get a beer, so I decided to save some time a bought 2 tallboy PBRs. As I was walking around the joint, I got yelled at for double fisting. I told the guy I was drinking it for a friend. He didn't buy it. So I had to set one down while I drank the other. Portland has been really good to me so far, but I can't get behind this rule. I'm from Milwaukee.

 

 

 

 

 

The next place we went was a real treat for me. Sarah introduced me to this bar called Ground Kontrol. It's basically the greatest place in the world and an absolute gold mine. They mix beer/drinks, old school arcade and pinball games, nostalgia and people in their late 20s/early 30s. This place must make serious bank. It had all the real old classics (which are too many to name) but I found myself drawn to Star Wars Episode 1 pinball, Area 51, Turtles in Time, The Simpsons and Mario Kart. It was outstanding. I was in heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah brought a couple of her friends along to party with us. I'm sure on that night, I was introduced to them and learned their names. But that was back in February. You can't expect a drunken asshole like me to remember that shit. I even tried to Facebook creep Sarah's page to find out, but I failed. Story of my life. But I guess it doesn't matter now. What matters is that we had a great time. With great nameless (to me) people.

 

 

 

 

 

Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part about this place was the multiplayer games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I can't begin to count how many quarters my friends and I wasted on this game. And tonight would be a continuation of that as my quarters disappeared.