by Sam Soule for pdxguide.com

It's true, this town has really never seen anything quite like the Doug Fir, and its attached lodging complex, the Jupiter Hotel, all recently opened on Portland's latest hipster development stretch, lower East Burnside. The exterior of the place alone, a vision of blue-and-green lit patio romance with what looks to be something reminiscent of a stylized double-wide nosing the sidewalk, is enough to elicit such comments of shock and mild derision—Portland is not such a high concept town when it comes to rock 'n' roll.

Of course, the Doug Fir is not simply about being a music venue. It's about a whole lot of things, a requirement of being just one component in a sweepingly synergistic party complex. Unfortunately, I'm just a simple guy, not sweepingly synergistic, at all; but I am keenly aware that Portland desperately needs a good small-sized music venue.

Before all the renovations, I had visited this location back in the mid-90's when it was just a dark and dingy afterthought to a Chinese restaurant. The Chinese Tea House, as it was then called, played host to a sporadic string of punk rock shows. I knew the Doug Fir's performance space stood to be small. With all the big changes, I wondered how it stood up now?

Pretty good, really. First off, the central eastside location is genius, easy to get to with limited parking hassles. The passing of shady street corner packs haunting the side streets off Burnside will amount to the only evidence of "urban grit" involving any evening spent at the Doug Fir. Inside the polish is on. The Doug Fir delivers on all the style and atmosphere the exterior promises (and then some). Brown-toned and splashed with white light, the retro-modern resort lodge design scheme may well be inspired by someone's unhealthy preoccupation with Lincoln Logs, the Brady Bunch, Denny's, and the Jetsons. We're talking fabulous with a capital FAB.

Taking the tour from top-to-bottom, upstairs is a lounge with slinky mirrored alcoves overseen by a brilliant crystal-looking moose head mounted on one wall; as well an unambitious Americana-stlye family restaurant, resplendently decked out with all the log trimmings and an expert flair for groovy futurama. Though kids are welcome until the late hour of 10:30 p.m., the "Fir Burger" playfully pays little respect to traditional family values throughout the day. An even nicer touch on the menu is the naming of three omelets after local rock clubs no longer in business: the Satyricon, the Blackbird and the E.J.'s, respectively.

Of course the Doug Fir has none of that organic-decay feel that characterized much of those aforementioned, and dearly departed, rock clubs. That's the kind of atmosphere certain Portland show-goers seek out. (Typically, me.) No, it's all logs, brown carpet and glowing white cubes to rest a drink on down here; no resemblance remains (thankfully) to the days of the Chinese Tea House. But the Doug Fir is, by virtue of clear-sight lines to the stage, its killer sound system, stylishly cozy environment, and (what looks to be) strong booking, the best small venue in town to see a show. There are, however, some significant drawbacks.

By midnight I was downstairs sitting comfortably on the backside of the Doug Fir's island bar noting how horribly everyone looks when lit from below (the floor around the bar glares up with white light). A great equalizer, that. The Seattle band had proven to be as interesting live as they were on record. But what turned out to be even more interesting was that the band was packing it in shortly after midnight. In a few moments, a late-night wave of waiting party seekers would break past the rope line outside for a chance to dance downstairs to a scheduled DJ. The eleven dollar show I showed up for was over—for the 21+ audience I was part of, the night was starting and finishing at the same tome. Obviously, there was a problem with priority happening here, and I'm not the only one who felt it.

A friend of mine summed it up regarding the Doug Fir aptly: "They dropped two million on the place and now they need to spend the next six years being the "it" spot. Only, it's not even that anymore."

The flocks of people, young and old, have checked out the Doug Fir. Obviously, the venue is making a play for all of them, and in that effort they may be terminally over-extended. As a potential location for consistently good rock show, the place is brimming with potential. Perhaps they are looking right now to see what works. I can tell you what doesn't: Rock shows presented in half measures.

The opinions expressed within are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of pdxguide.com or The Columbian Publishing Co.