Low Brow Lounge
{{Short description|Dive bar in Portland, Oregon, U.S.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox restaurant
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| name = Low Brow Lounge
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| established = {{Start date|1998}}
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| street-address = 1036 Northwest Hoyt Street
| city = Portland
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| state = Oregon
| zip = 97209
| country = United States
| coordinates = {{Coord|45.5272|-122.6819|display=it}}
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Low Brow Lounge is a dive bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States. It opened in 1998.
Description
Portland Monthly has described Low Brow as the Pearl District's "diviest dive bar", serving the neighborhood's "working people" with "some of the greasiest food around".{{cite journal |title=The Low Brow Lounge |journal=Portland Monthly |url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/bars/low-brow-lounge |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222739/https://www.pdxmonthly.com/bars/low-brow-lounge |url-status=live }} Thrillist has said the establishment is "true to its name", with "no frills" and "just cold beer and solid bar snacks".{{cite web |title=Low Brow Lounge |url=https://www.thrillist.com/venue/drink/portland/bar/low-brow-lounge |website=Thrillist |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222741/https://www.thrillist.com/venue/drink/portland/bar/low-brow-lounge |url-status=live }}
History
The Low Brow Lounge was stablished in 1998,{{cite news |last1=Horton |first1=Jay |title=Low Brow Lounge Outlived the Rise of the Pearl, and Now Feels Classic |url=https://www.wweek.com/bars/2017/05/23/low-brow-lounge-outlived-the-rise-of-the-pearl-and-now-feels-classic/ |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Willamette Week |date=May 23, 2017 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222839/https://www.wweek.com/bars/2017/05/23/low-brow-lounge-outlived-the-rise-of-the-pearl-and-now-feels-classic/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Butler |first1=Grant |title=Raise a glass to 30 great Portland bars that are still going strong |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/life_and_culture/erry-2018/06/201a1caf503784/raise_a_glass_to_great_portlan.html |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=The Oregonian |date=June 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230182659/https://www.oregonlive.com/life_and_culture/erry-2018/06/201a1caf503784/raise_a_glass_to_great_portlan.html |url-status=live }} and claims to be the first tater tot bar.{{cite news |last1=Korfhage |first1=Matthew |title=Trolley Drunk |url=https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-25224-trolley-drunk.html |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Willamette Week |date=August 18, 2015 |archive-date=December 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230182703/https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-25224-trolley-drunk.html |url-status=live }} Minors can accompany guardians on the side of the restaurant without a bar, as of 2016.{{cite news |last1=Merck |first1=Kat |title=Portland Bars Where You Can Bring Kids |url=https://www.wweek.com/bars/2016/01/05/kiddie-krunk-the-definitive-list-of-places-to-drink-with-your-kids-in-tow/ |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Willamette Week |date=January 5, 2016 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222741/https://www.wweek.com/bars/2016/01/05/kiddie-krunk-the-definitive-list-of-places-to-drink-with-your-kids-in-tow/ |url-status=live }}
Reception
File:Portland, Oregon, October 2020 - 07 (cropped).jpg
In 2016, readers of Willamette Week placed Low Brow third in the "Best Dive Bar" category in the annual "Best of Portland Reader's Poll".{{cite news |title=Best of Portland Reader's Poll 2016: The Complete List of Winners |url=https://www.wweek.com/promotions/2016/07/18/bop2016/ |work=Willamette Week |access-date=December 16, 2020 |date=July 18, 2016 |archive-date=January 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106055341/https://www.wweek.com/promotions/2016/07/18/bop2016/ |url-status=live }} Readers named Low Brow runner-up in the same category in 2018.{{cite news |title=Here are the Winners of the Best of Portland Readers' Poll 2018 |url=https://www.wweek.com/culture/2018/07/10/here-are-the-winners-of-the-best-of-portland-readers-poll-2018/ |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Willamette Week |date=July 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106055318/https://www.wweek.com/culture/2018/07/10/here-are-the-winners-of-the-best-of-portland-readers-poll-2018/ |url-status=live }}
In her 2019 article "Where to Eat and Drink in Portland's Pearl District" for Eater Portland, Kara Stokes wrote, "The Low Brow Lounge is a dark cave of a space that feels both wholly out of place and desperately needed in the posh Pearl, the kind of place ideal to hunker down in while it's raining... It's a dive bar through and through, somewhere to go for stiff cheap drinks and a tinge of old Pearl nostalgia, if not necessarily a dining destination."{{cite web |last1=Stokes |first1=Kara |title=Where to Eat and Drink in Portland's Pearl District |url=https://pdx.eater.com/maps/restaurants-bars-pearl-district-portland |website=Eater Portland |access-date=December 16, 2020 |date=September 9, 2019 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222802/https://pdx.eater.com/maps/restaurants-bars-pearl-district-portland |url-status=live }} The website's Alex Frane and Alli Fodor included Low Brow Lounge in their guide to the city's "iconic" dive bars, writing, "A respite of low-brow dining in the otherwise bourgeoise Pearl District, the all-too-appropriately named Low Brow Lounge offers the cheapest drinks and most-fried food for blocks around. The multi-chambered diner and bar sports arcade games and quirky artwork, and each night sees regulars and service-workers coming in for an escape from the Pearl."{{cite web |title=The Ultimate Guide to Portland's Iconic Dive Bars |url=https://pdx.eater.com/maps/dive-bars-portland |website=Eater Portland |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=December 16, 2020 |date=October 24, 2019 |first1=Alex |last1=Frane |first2=Alli |last2=Fodor |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222812/https://pdx.eater.com/maps/dive-bars-portland |url-status=live }}
In his 2019 overview of Portland's "most essential" dive bars, Thrillist's Pete Cottell wrote, "With cheap-ish craft beer, dark, winding hallways, and above-average bites that rarely break the $10 mark, Low Brow Lounge succeeds at being the only comfortable place for a vast swath of Portland to grab a drink or two when forces beyond their control require them to spend some time in the Pearl District."{{cite web |last1=Cottell |first1=Pete |title=The Most Essential Dive Bars in Portland |url=https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-dive-bars-portland |website=Thrillist |access-date=December 16, 2019 |date=September 20, 2019 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222745/https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-dive-bars-portland |url-status=live }} He also included Low Brow in his 2019 list of the city's "best bars for single mingling".{{cite web |last1=Cottell |first1=Pete |title=The Best Bars for Single Mingling in Portland |url=https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-single-bars-portland |website=Thrillist |access-date=December 16, 2020 |date=June 19, 2019 |archive-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222744/https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-single-bars-portland |url-status=live }}
See also
{{Portal|Food|Oregon}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Low Brow Lounge}}
- {{Official website|http://lowbrowlounge.com}}
{{Pearl District, Portland, Oregon}}
{{Restaurants in Portland, Oregon}}
Category:1998 establishments in Oregon
Category:Dive bars in Portland, Oregon