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Fireside Coffee Lodge
24 hours of coffee, hunting
lodge schtick and wifi
by
Sam Soule, for pdxguide.com
The
Fireside Coffee Lodge
on Southeast Powell has
got one thing going for
it. It's open 24-hours.
For that, I can be thankful.
I'm
thankful because I've
found the Fireside Coffee
Lodge to be something
of a much needed haven.
For instance, when seeing
a show at the nearby Twilight
Cafe and Lounge, I often
find I need to take a
break from the noise going
down on the stage of everyone's
favorite strip mall diner
turned minor rock palace.
Over a simple cup of quiet
coffee at "the Lodge" (as
it is popularly known
among the ever present
gaggle of socially stranded
teenagers who hang out
there) I've found the
refuge I require, a rarity
in in this city.
It
is a little ironic, really,
what with Portland's decent
reputation as a town for
good coffee. There are
cafes, both chains and
those independently owned,
sitting caffeinated sentry
on every major (and quite
a few minor) corner in
this city. But try scoring
a simple cup of joe after
10pm in a setting other
than a bar, restaurant
or convenience store.
It's like finding frequent
Tri-Met service from downtown
-- spotty at best. And
after 2:00 am, nonexistent.
 Alcoholic
libations may drive night
culture but it doesn't
have to define it. On
this point Portland is
simply not up to speed.
What
is (unfortunately) not
ironic, is the Fireside
Coffee Lodge itself. The
place is defines itself
with a straight-faced "hunting
lodge" schtick, with loads
of heavy, blonde log furniture,
complete with shellacked
stumps for stools, simply
stuffed without care into
a low-ceilinged room that
exudes a lifeless, municipal
functionality. The place
feels like the first grade
classroom of my youth
stuffed with every imaginable
piece of tacky souvenir
crap one could purchase
roadside en route to a
lakeside tourist trap.
 Unlike
the hipster bars in this
town that attain some
level of fashionable cheekiness
by raiding estate sales
and Goodwill bins, the
Fireside knows no restraint
when when raiding low
culture's bottom drawer.
The ceiling of this place
is littered with hanging
oars, sleds and ski's;
the walls crawl with bad
alpine prints, painted
saw-blades and poorly
carved wooden animal figures.
There simply is nothing
cute about a stuffed moose.
The fact that some people
find such dreck "dear" is
not translating in this
late-night coffee setting.
It hurts my head.
Thankfully,
there is plenty of sidewalk
seating, surprisingly
free of such atmospheric
delights as a chain saw
rendered "Indian" totem.
On
the other hand, like EVERY
realistically-thinking
cafe these days, the Fireside
offers free wireless internet
service and 24-hour hotspots
are just slightly more
lacking in this town than
24-hour cafes. There are
three out-dated PC's on
hand with surprisingly
fast internet connections.
Use of the computers is
free to customers who
make a purchase of $2.50
or more.
 And,
also like many small coffee
shops in Portland, the
Fireside is adamantly "anti-Starbucks",
one of the more mis-directed
points of activism this
town embraces. This space
is not the place to editorialize,
but let me say this: At
least Starbucks has nice
signage.
My
advice to the Fireside
Coffee Lodge? Gut the
place. Keep the stone
fireplace, the piano and
the computers, and start
the interior decorating
over. Let the hyper-active
kids have a crack at it.
The coffee drinks are
working. The sloppy sandwiches
and haphazard microwaved
entree's are not. Make
change. Stay in business.
Portland
needs more all-night coffee
shops.
The opinions expressed
within are those of the
author and do not necessarily
reflect those of pdxguide.com
or The Columbian Publishing
Co.
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