Beloved Westside Dive Tony's Tavern Has Been Saved

Christmas miracles abound. The Rialto will not close. The Know will move to the Blackbird space.

And despite swirling rumors that Club 21 was closing after bar service on New Year's Eve, co-owner Marcus Archambeault told WW recently that the Sandy Boulevard rock-and-roll witchhouse would not be doing so—and that the bar's hopes of moving the entire former Russian Orthodox church to a nearby vacant lot remain alive. (As WW first reported two years ago, Club 21's owners have been looking into moving the bar's entire building on a flatbed truck, ever since development plans surfaced for the site.)

And now, word comes that beauteous West Burnside dive bar Tony's Tavern has been spared the guillotine.

Tony's Tavern, a 21-year-old dive bar home to one of the last real jukeboxes around, had already let their beer taps run dry, and bartenders were scrambling for new jobs.

Indeed, all the beer taps are still dry and covered in Crown Royal bags until a new shipment of kegs rolls in. After months on a month-to-month lease, and countless failed attempts at contacting their landlord, the bar was set to close December 31.

Well, not anymore.

After Willamette Week made calls to the office of their landlord, Carol Anderson of Gresham—also the former landlord of the Matador on West Burnside—and reported that Tony's would be forced to close, Anderson agreed to meet with the bar's owner, Tony Kassapakis.

After a week of talks, barstaff says, Tony's signed a lease to stay in its space on the day before Christmas Eve. The bar now has no plans to close.

So Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas, to all the "friendly assholes" of Tony's Tavern.

Now we're looking at you, Jimmy Mak's. Portland's on a hot streak.