Hobo's
Hobo's Restaurant and Lounge, or simply Hobo's, was a restaurant, gay bar, and piano bar in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown, in the United States. Housed in a building with rare access to the Shanghai tunnels, the establishment served as a starting point for guided tours. The menu consisted of American cuisine including steakhouse fare. Hobo's was featured on the Food Network's Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, before closing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description
Hobo's was a restaurant, gay bar, and piano bar located at 120 Northwest 3rd Avenue in downtown Portland's Old Town Chinatown. The establishment also served as a starting point for tours of the Shanghai tunnels.In 2008, Willamette Week Amanda Waldroupe described Hobo's as a "chi-chi, predominantly gay establishment" and wrote, "Coming here, you may run into the famous or semi-famous, or see escaping sailors emerge from the Shanghai Tunnels—the entrance is in front of the bar—in need of a drink". In 2009, the newspaper's Ryan Fleming described Hobo's as a "relaxed and casual place to go before heading to the more hectic clubs nearby". He said the space was "primarily a restaurant" with a bar, pool, and pianists performing live, and described the clientele as "an array of Portlanders, many of them looking to get laid".
In 2002, CNN's Dmae Roberts called Hobo's an "upscale restaurant with a really full and fantastic-looking bar". Christina O'Connor of the Daily Emerald described Hobo's as a "classy and inviting" lounge with candlelit tables and rare access to the tunnels, along with neighboring Old Town Pizza. The tunnels were accessed by a trapdoor and stairs to the restaurant's basement. Lonely Planet described Hobo's as a "classy gay-centric restaurant-piano bar" and a "quiet, relaxed place ... good for a romantic dinner or drink", with live music Thursday through Sunday, starting at 7:00 pm. The restaurant, which Eater Portland Byron Beck and Conner Reed called "spacious", had an "extensive" dinner menu, serving prime rib, crab cakes, and other steakhouse "favorites", as of 2019. Hobo's served cocktails, beer, and coffee drinks. Happy hour was available daily from 4:00-6:30 pm, as of 2009.
History
Michael P. Jones, a historian, tour guide, and founder of the company Portland Underground Tours, used Hobo's as an entrance to the tunnels, as of 2002–2010. Jones also used the tunnel entrance is his capacity as founder of the Cascade Geographic Society, for which he also served as a tour guide. Hobo's staff were reportedly familiar with his work and unfazed by his presence. O'Connor wrote in 2010:Rachael Ray visited the restaurant for the seventh episode of the second season of the Food Network's Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, which focused on Portland. According to the network, in the episode she "uncovers Portland's past with a visit to Hobo's for scallops". In 2012, Hobo's was featured on the fourth episode of the sixth season of the paranormal documentary and reality television series Ghost Adventures. During the episode, ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, and Nick Groff "delve deep into the dingy Shanghai Tunnels to unearth the spirits that still haunt Hobo's Restaurant ... and collect some compelling visual evidence", as claimed by the Travel Channel.
Hobo's closed by October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.