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History by the Glass

History by the Glass

By: Nathan P. Gale and Alfredo Moreno
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 Welcome everyone to the History by the Glass podcast. Your tour of Portland, Oregon's famously historic and infamously endangered bars, pubs and saloons. Inspired by Paul Pintarich's "History by the Glass" book series.Nathan P. Gale and Alfredo Moreno
Episodes
  • 43 — Scooter McQuades

    43 — Scooter McQuades
    Aug 1 2025

    This month's episode finds the boys -- now officially including Producer Bill -- back in town, contemplating semi-historic and overtly political bar decor...poking around Shanghai Tunnels...eating a by-god bar burger...ogling a PERFECT men's room...possibly having one round too many...and putting their age/surliness/cynicism aside to have life affirming jello shots at downtown Portland institution, Scooter McQuades aka Scooters (1321 SW Washington St.)!!


    It's the classic Portland bar where every good night begins and/or ends accompanied by an equally classic, clinging to the rails HBTG episode...cheers!


    Bar visit and episode recording: Wednesday, July 24, 2025

    HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

    Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers
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    1 hr
  • 42 — The Rainbow Cafe (Pendleton, OR)

    42 — The Rainbow Cafe (Pendleton, OR)
    Jul 7 2025

    Thought you'd heard the last of History by the Glass? Think again! After a 6-month hiatus, Alfredo & Nate are back for their fourth season of vintage bar-going adventures.


    As part of their annual curiosity-laden Bourdain Day observance, the boys squeezed into an 8-seat turboprop bound for the cowboy town of Pendleton — "The Real West" of Oregon — for their first official HBTG bar visit outside of the Portland metro.


    There they found a lively, highly walkable/stumbleable drinking town anchored by the 130ish-year-old Rainbow Cafe, cheerfully maintaining its (recently "Swindler-ed") claim of being the oldest bar in Oregon. Facts are indeed stubborn things, but no amount of verifiable contradictory history has ever kept the fellas from a good time over a few rounds in a high-character old joint!


    PLUS — a salute to the ultimate barstool everyman George Wendt, kudos to Esquire's favorite HBTG bar, and more!


    Bar visit and segment recording: Wednesday, June 25, 2025

    Additional recording: Tuesday, July 1, 2025

    HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

    Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers
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    1 hr and 30 mins
  • Another Round With...Samantha Swindler (The Oregonian/OregonLive)

    Another Round With...Samantha Swindler (The Oregonian/OregonLive)
    Jan 13 2025
    In one of their most professional efforts ever (even with Alfredo's audio sounding like a Jack in the Box drive-thru speaker) the HBTG boys visited with Samantha Swindler -- features reporter, videographer, chronicler of all things weird, intriguing, and off-the-beaten path for The Oregonian/OregonLive -- to learn more about her recent efforts to determine the oldest continuously operating bar location in Oregon. It was a search that ultimately came down to the Rainbow Cafe in downtown Pendleton and a place called Pioneer Saloon in the tiny ranching community of Paisley in South-Central Oregon. Both claimed 1883 and, as we revealed in the interview, neither turned out to be correct. But one eventually stood alone as the undisputed oldest bar in Oregon. Interview recorded: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers
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    38 mins
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