Entry No. 50 — the Portland file — filed under: dive-bar
Kenton Club
The Kenton Club opened in 1947, turned biker not long after, and earned the "World Famous" it still prints on everything by appearing in the 1972 Raquel Welch roller-derby picture Kansas City Bomber — memorabilia from the shoot is still on the walls, and the film is regularly and wrongly remembered as Animal House. Daryl and Doreen Waitt bought it in 2006 and kept the wood paneling, the Formica tables, the hardwood dance floor, the pool table, the darts and the pinball intact. The calendar runs almost entirely at a $10 cover: three-band garage and punk bills, DJ Action Slacks vinyl dance parties, and TWIRL PDX Queer Disco a couple of times a month. Smoky Mountain BBQ has run the kitchen since 2008, so there is Southern food to absorb the cheap drinks. Every so often a Saturday goes up on the calendar as "No Music — enjoy a conversation with our friendly bartender," which is the most Portland scheduling decision available.
→ Three more underground music & performance in Portland — never the same twice
The story
The Kenton Club opened in 1947 in a North Portland neighborhood that had been built as a company town: Swift put its meat-packing plant here in 1911, and the surrounding blocks became Portland's main stockyards and, for a while, the center of the West Coast cattle trade. The bar's building is ornamental concrete block, put up in 1949 by the Kenton Building and Contracting Company, and it stands inside the Kenton Commercial Historic District — though the National Register paperwork lists it as "historic noncontributing," because at some point the tile changed, the storefront came out and the windows got covered over. It has, in other words, been altered by being used.
It went honky-tonk and biker early and never entirely stopped. In 1972 the roller-derby picture Kansas City Bomber shot here with Raquel Welch, and the bar has printed "World Famous" on everything since; the Welch and Bomber memorabilia on the walls is treated by the house as a permanent memorial rather than decoration. Daryl and Doreen Waitt bought the place in 2006 and changed remarkably little. Willamette Week put it at number 94 on its 100 best bars and called it one of Portland's last bars to still have hair on its chest.
What's actually in the room: wood paneling, Formica tables, linoleum, vinyl seating, low ceilings, a large hardwood dance floor directly in front of the stage, plus pool, darts, pinball and video poker. Smoky Mountain BBQ has run the kitchen since 2008 — brisket, pulled pork, ribs, meatloaf, fried fish, hushpuppies, collard greens, dirty rice. The calendar sits almost entirely at a $10 cover: three-band punk, garage and country bills, vinyl dance parties, Club Nitty Gritty for R&B and soul, Vampyros Lesbos for goth and post-punk, and TWIRL PDX Queer Disco a couple of times a month. And every so often a Saturday goes up as "No Music — enjoy a conversation with our friendly bartender."
What it's like
Doors are effectively noon, because the bar opens then and simply keeps going until 2am; the show is something that happens inside an already-running bar rather than an event you queue for. Get there around 8 and the room is still half empty, which is the good hour — order BBQ, take the pool table, read the Raquel Welch wall. Someone collects $10 at the door once the first band is close, so carry cash; there's no advance ticketing and no list. When the music starts, the hardwood in front of the stage is the room's whole logic: it's a dance floor, it isn't deep, and on a three-band night the crowd cycles through it as the bills change. Nobody dresses up. Stay for the opener you've never heard of — at $10 for three bands that's the entire proposition — and tip the bartender who's been on since noon.
The move: Pick a Friday or Saturday with three unfamiliar band names on it, get there by 8 to eat BBQ and shoot a rack of pool while the room is still empty, pay the $10 at the door, and stay through the opener you've never heard of — that's the entire point of a $10 three-band bill. Walk the half mile up to the 31-foot Paul Bunyan on N Interstate afterward for the obligatory photo.
📍 Before you go Open every day noon–2am; 21+. Covers are almost always $10 cash-friendly at the door, occasionally $20 for a bigger bill, and there is no advance ticketing — check the calendar on their site the day of, since some Saturdays are deliberately booked as "No Music." It's in Kenton in far north Portland, roughly 20 minutes from downtown; the MAX Yellow Line's Kenton/N Denver stop is a few blocks away, which matters given the 2am close. Street parking is easy. The film credit is Kansas City Bomber, not Animal House — don't lose that bet.
- 📍 Portland
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 2025 N Kilpatrick St, Portland, OR 97217
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Paul Bunyan Statue — A short walk up toward N Interstate and N Denver stands the 31-foot concrete Paul Bunyan built for the 1959 Oregon Centennial — the obligatory photo, and it's on the way to the MAX platform anyway.
- Speck's Records & Tapes — Records and tapes a couple of blocks over on N Denver, closing at 6, which makes it the pre-doors half of the evening and the natural place to hunt whatever the vinyl dance party played last time.
- McMenamins Chapel Pub — A pub poured inside a 1930s funeral chapel about a mile and a half south on N Killingsworth, refurbished pipe organ still standing — the seated, organ-and-ironwork opposite of a hardwood floor and three garage bands.
More weird in Portland
Good to know
How do I get there, and back at 2am?
It's in Kenton, far north Portland, roughly 20 minutes from downtown. The MAX Yellow Line's Kenton/N Denver stop is a few blocks away, which is the detail that matters given the 2am close. Street parking on the surrounding blocks is easy.
What does a night cost, and can I book ahead?
Almost always $10 at the door, occasionally $20 for a bigger bill. There's no advance ticketing at all — you show up and pay. It's open every day noon to 2am, 21+.
Is there anything I should check before driving out?
The calendar, the day of. Some Saturdays are booked deliberately as "No Music — enjoy a conversation with our friendly bartender," which is delightful if that's what you came for and a wasted trip if it isn't.
Is there food?
Smoky Mountain BBQ has operated inside the club since 2008, lunch and dinner — brisket, pulled pork, ribs, meatloaf, fried fish, hushpuppies, collard greens, dirty rice.
Wasn't Animal House filmed here?
No, and this is a bar bet you can win. The film is Kansas City Bomber, the 1972 roller-derby picture with Raquel Welch. Animal House was shot elsewhere in Oregon, and the mix-up is close to universal.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia
📷 We made a card for this one on Instagram →
last checked: 2026-08-26