The Bitter End; so long. The Bitter End pub, formerly located on 20th and West Burnside, just across from Jeld Wen field, recently closed down. Sad times, kinda makes me long for the end of the world predicted to occur on the winter solstice of this year...
The Bitter, The End, whatever the regulars called it, was one of the sponsor bars for the Timber Army, one of the MAIN bars. After every game, a buncha boozed-up soccer hooligans crashed the bar, and I do literally mean "crashed." The place was a wreck every time. Home of the infamous "Timbers Tim," one of the greatest bartenders in the entire city (this author's humble opinion) was reason enough to frequent this diviest of dive bars. Staggeringly stiff drinks, dilapidated pool tables that were usually missing a few balls, friendly regulars, awesome bartenders, stiff drinks, Trophy Buck (arguably one of the best bar arcade games ever), pinball tables, stiff drinks, all kinds of Timbers swag, cool pictures, oh, did I mention the stiff drinks? I'm talking about a pint glass full of whiskey with a spritz of coke...though I suppose that may have been a privilege of frequent patronage.
What most people DON'T KNOW is what's below the bar. Having been constructed during the early 1900's, the building has an eerie, prohibition-tunnels kinda thing going on below including, but not limited to a room that supposedly was the last room an early owner saw right before he hung himself (rumors suggest his ghost still haunts the establishment.) Beyond that is a concrete room (also haunted) where a giant boiler once stood. Stories about human sacrifices.
We're gonna miss you, you and your broken heater stuck on kill in the back of the bar, your never ending supply of cracked-out hookers traipsing in to put their last dollar in the video poker machines, the guy wandering up and down Burnside trying to sell roses and all the other crazy characters that were part of the ambiance of The Bitter End.
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