Red Flag Bar Will Close This Month After 10 Years

Staff says the problem was a rent hike, and the owner has said he's moving to Pittsburgh

At Red Flag (Aaron Mesh)
By Matthew Korfhage

After 10 years as a cheap watering hole in a fast-changing 28th Avenue 'hood, Kerns bar Red Flag will close on March 29 rather than pay a drastic rent hike.

Red Flag owner Danny Bortfeld was also one of the owners of Alberta Street punk dive and venue the Know on Alberta Street until it closed Nov. 30, making this the second long-running Portland dive in six months that Bortfeld has closed after a rent increase or landlord dispute.

But for a little over 10 years, Red Flag has been a sterling jukebox bar, with a slightly dirty Bruce Reynolds poster, frozen margaritas, cheap beers, cheaper wells and a habit of asserting in very precise terms whom it won't serve.

"We will not serve you if you were born before this date in 1996," says a sign behind the the bar, "or if you are Milo Y."

Previous owners of that distinction include, notably, Dave Matthews and Mumford & Sons, who both served long tenures as Those Who Shall Not Be Served.

But rather than sign a new lease after years of landlord disputes, the bar had hoped to move to a nearby location on East Burnside Street. Those plans fell through last year. When the Know closed in its original location—it's back open on Sandy Boulevard—Bortfeld told the Portland Mercury he'd be moving to Pittsburgh.

Related: "The Know is Closing."

Stop in and pay your respects if you haven't already. In the meantime, Bortfeld has been hosting a countdown on his Facebook page.

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