McMenamins Edgefield a Vintage Adventure

McMenamins Edgefield a Vintage Adventure

It all started out when looking for a place to stay when doing a video of the local ghost town in Bridal Veil. McMenamins Edgefield seemed to be the perfect spot. Why? Well, for one it was fairly close to Bridal Veil and it had a history of its own. Built in 1911 as a poor farm by Multnomah County, the facility went through several transformations and eventually closed in 1982. It then was abandoned, vandalized, and damaged by fire. McMenamins found the property and had a great vision of retreat with Music, food and lodging and purchased it in 1990. In 1991 the newly renovated Power Station theater & Pub opened and the rest is history. Today its a hotel, hostel, restaurant, bar and more, and less, which leads to my review. When I arrived I did my usual thing, I checked in and let the front desk and my first problem arose. The far sighted clerk couldn't find my reservation which was apparently lost. After some work, the clerk found me a room. I settled in took some photos of the grounds.
Eventually the photographic euphoria wore off and I had my own vision of retreating to the pub for some music and food. I arrived at the Power Station and asked the Bar Keep for some food that would distinguish itself in my review. Mind you, price was no object. He came back with Tater Tots. Cajan Tater Tots! He mentioned that they were a signature meal of McMenamins. To be honest, I wasn't impressed. So, I snapped a few photos of the Power Station and went back to my room to order room service. The only problem here is that there isn't any phones in the room and therefore there isn't any room service. The golden arches seemed 4 star at this point. But, I had a review to do. I definitely wanted to go out on the grounds at night and do some ghost hunting for spirits. After all, they seemed to be well known for spirits. So I decided to catch some early sleep so that I was wide awake for my journey later in the evening. I laid down and wanted to start counting sheep, but found I was counting springs in the mattress instead. Also, the room was very cold, after cranking the thermostat I never could get the room warm enough. Well, maybe a movie would help. Of course there isn't any TV, so I broke open my Kindle Fire and planned to watch a movie. But the only furniture to sit on was a small, wood chair that was anything but comfortable. So, instead and decided to go out on a trek to find real food. I found the Black Rabbit Bar and Restaurant, and asked for a menu and found the only real food was a vegetable plate with some sandwich meat. The vintage salami was on the edge and the cheese was too. But it was hard to mess up on the pickled vegetables, as long as they didn't come from the local garden. At this point I too, like McMenamin was having a vision of retreat with Music, food and lodging , but would settle for Propofol, the medication that put Micheal Jackson to sleep! Not to worry! By this time is was 9pm and dark enough outside to video any spirits in the non liquid form. Thank goodness the camera is waterproof, because the rain would have taken it out in the first 5 minutes. After some shooting, it was time to face the music of my cold, dark room and try to get some sleep on that iron laden mattress. The rooms are all named after the interns that were there when they closed it down. Too bad old Scotty wasn't more haunting, that would have made for a more exciting trip. I managed to get a few hours in and woke up, showered in the men's lavatory down the hall. And eventually found warmth in the comfort of my VW Beetle, and food down the road at Micky D's. So, what is my conclusion after this adventure?

1. If you are looking for a bar, this place has several.
2. If you want to see some history of an old poor farm that was renovated from abandonment, this is a good place to visit.
3. But as far as lodging, a car is preferable. Any car.