Ship Ahoy Tavern Explained

Ship Ahoy Tavern
Street-Address:2889 Southeast Gladstone Street
City:Portland
County:Multnomah
State:Oregon
Zip:97202
Country:United States
Other-Label:-->

Ship Ahoy Tavern is a dive bar in Portland, Oregon. It is located in southeast Portland's Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood and opened during the 1940s. The nautical-themed bar has pinball, a billiard table, and decorations like lighthouses and ship models. Ship Ahoy has hosted food carts and pop-up restaurants on-site, including MidCity SmashedBurger.

Description

The nautical-themed[1] dive bar Ship Ahoy Tavern operates on Gladstone Street in southeast Portland's Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood.[2] [3] It has a patio, and the interior has a card table, knicknacks, pinball, a billiard table, and multiple television screens. Decorations include lighthouses and ship models. The bar serves beer and cider, as well as snacks like pizza and pretzels. According to the Portland Mercury, patrons are allowed to bring in food from select nearby restaurants.[4] In 2023, Willamette Week said Ship Ahoy "feels quintessentially Portland with its mix of lovable weirdos, service-industry workers enjoying their night off, neighborhood lifers and hipsters".[5]

History

The bar opened during the 1940s, and was later owned by the Moles family.[6] Ship Ahoy has been described as a sibling establishments to My Father's Place.[7]

Ship Ahoy was burglarized in 2008.[8] In 2023, someone crashed a U-Haul truck into the building.[9] [10]

Food carts and pop-up restaurants

In 2018, Ship Ahoy hosted the pop-up Wanna Fight, which Eater Portland said served "modernist-meets-Big Mac" food such as smoked mussel Jell-O shots, grits with oxtail ragu and American cheese, beet with green papaya atchara, and a ricotta custard with miso dulce de leche.

The Thai food cart Chop Chop PDX (or simply Chop Chop), which ranked fourth in The Oregonian list of the best new food carts of 2023, operated in front of Ship Ahoy until February 2024.[11] [12] [13] In March, the owner of MidCity SmashedBurger announced plans to start operaring a food cart at Ship Ahoy by the end of the month.[13]

Reception

In 2004, Marjorie Skinner of the Portland Mercury said of Ship Ahoy's clientele:

Ship Ahoy was among ten businesses selected for the 'Your Favorite Dive Bar' category in the Portland Mercury 2014 readers' choice poll.[14] In 2016, the newspaper's Joe Streckert said the bar's nautical decorations "place character without crossing over into kitsch" and called the bar "a place where living happens". He opined, "Ship Ahoy is a neighborhood place, the kind you hang out in after work on a weekday. It's not momentous or gigantic, but that's why it's good. It's the type of neighborhood bar where one can just be, whether gazing into a TV screen or standing at a pinball machine."

Drew Tyson included Ship Ahoy in Thrillist 2014 "definitive guide" to Jell-O shots in Portland.[15] Pete Cottell selected the business for the Gladstone neighborhood in the website 2015 list of the best dive bars in 25 of Portland's neighborhoods. He said the bar offers "an excellent patio, above-average tots, and a solid selection of pinball machines, and Ship Ahoy is exactly what the doctor ordered for a no-bullshit Friday night. Or Sunday morning. There's always room for jello."[16] Matthew Korfhage included Ship Shoy in Willamette Week 2016 overview of Portland's "biggest PBR bars" and wrote, "When you order PBR at south-of-Powell dive bar Ship Ahoy, you have to be specific. 'Bottle, draft or can?'"[17]

Heather Arndt Anderson recommended Ship Ahoy in Eater Portland 2017 overview of "where to eat and drink like a pirate", or nautical-themed restaurants, in the city. In the website's 2024 "ultimate guide" to Portland's "iconic" dive bars, Ben Coleman said Ship Ahoy "has the battered charm of a reliable old trawler that doesn't know how to sink" . He opined, "Food is of the 'we can heat up a Totino's for you but we'd rather not' school, but if grog is what you're after and Gladstone is what you're on, the Ship Ahoy can oblige."

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Coleman . Ben . 2012-11-27 . The Ultimate Guide to Portland's Iconic Dive Bars . 2024-09-05 . Eater Portland . en . 2020-12-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201231222812/https://pdx.eater.com/maps/dive-bars-portland . live .
  2. Web site: Anderson . Heather Arndt . 2017-11-02 . Where to Eat and Drink Like a Pirate in Portland, Mapped . 2024-09-05 . Eater Portland . en . 2021-12-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211204175421/https://pdx.eater.com/maps/nautical-restaurants-pdx-portland-pirate . live .
  3. Web site: Jackson-Glidden . Brooke . 2018-11-06 . This New Pop-Up Serves Stacked Vegan Burgers . 2024-09-05 . Eater Portland . en . 2022-01-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220117075903/https://pdx.eater.com/2018/11/6/18069180/secret-sauce-burger-wanna-fight-pop-ups . live .
  4. Web site: Streckert . Joe . The Ship Ahoy: Where Living Happens . 2024-09-05 . Portland Mercury . en . 2023-09-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230930155315/https://www.portlandmercury.com/Feature/2016/03/09/17741536/the-ship-ahoy-where-living-happens . live .
  5. Web site: 2023-09-20 . Deep Dive: Our Guide to Southeast Portland's Dive Bars . 2024-09-05 . Willamette Week . en.
  6. Book: Sawyer, Adam . Unique Eats and Eateries of Portland, Oregon . 2018-10-01 . Reedy Press LLC . 978-1-68106-186-3 . en.
  7. Web site: 2016-09-21 . 32 Places to Get a Beer for Less Than $2 . 2024-09-06 . Willamette Week . en . 2020-12-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201230182704/https://www.wweek.com/bars/2016/09/21/32-places-to-get-a-beer-for-less-than-2/ . live .
  8. Web site: Terry . Lynne . 2008-12-11 . Police seek help finding suspects in tavern robbery . 2024-09-05 . The Oregonian . en.
  9. Web site: Kim . Soyoung . 2023-11-21 . Person crashes U-Haul into side of SE Portland bar, leaves empty handed . 2024-09-05 . KPTV . en . 2023-12-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231210150504/https://www.kptv.com/2023/11/21/person-crashes-u-haul-into-side-se-portland-bar-leaves-empty-handed/ . live .
  10. Web site: Ashton . David F. . 2023-12-23 . Thief uses U-Haul truck to smash into Creston-Kenilworth tavern . 2024-09-06 . The Bee . en . 2024-01-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240124065614/https://www.thebeenews.com/news/thief-uses-u-haul-truck-to-smash-into-creston-kenilworth-tavern/article_326f662a-97d2-11ee-9b4a-3b58e6f9c7a4.html . live .
  11. Web site: Russell . Michael . Acker . Lizzy . 2023-09-22 . Portland's best new food carts of 2023 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240829115530/https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/2023/09/portlands-best-new-food-carts-of-2023.html . 2024-08-29 . 2024-09-05 . The Oregonian . en.
  12. Web site: Russell . Michael . 2023-09-24 . Indiana? Iowa? (Montana!?) Chop Shop PDX's fried pork sandwiches know no borders . 2024-09-05 . The Oregonian . en . 2024-08-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240828230649/https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/2023/09/indiana-iowa-montana-chop-shops-fried-pork-sandwiches-know-no-borders.html . live .
  13. Web site: Wong . Janey . 2021-01-20 . Portland's Restaurant, Bar, and Food Cart Closures . 2024-09-05 . Eater Portland . en . 2021-01-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210121191206/https://pdx.eater.com/22240842/portland-restaurant-bar-cafe-closings . live .
  14. Web site: PDX APPROVED 2014: DRINKS & NIGHT LIFE . 2024-09-06 . Portland Mercury . en . 2024-04-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240413130216/https://www.portlandmercury.com/Feature/2014/07/16/13017246/pdx-approved-2014-drinks-and-night-life . live .
  15. Web site: Tyson . Drew . 2014-08-20 . PDX Jell-O shots: a definitive guide . 2024-09-06 . Thrillist . en . 2021-10-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211026015421/https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/best-jell-o-shots-in-portland . live .
  16. Web site: Cottell . Pete . 2015-10-21 . The Best Dive Bar in 25 Portland 'Hoods . 2024-09-05 . Thrillist . en . 2016-09-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160909040923/https://www.thrillist.com/drink/portland/portlands-best-dive-bars-portland-dive-bar-guide . live .
  17. Web site: 2016-08-19 . These Are Portland's Biggest PBR Bars . 2024-09-05 . Willamette Week . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ship Ahoy Tavern".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.