Kelly's

Found the perfect location, Kelly's Olympian, which happens to have been an occasional haunt of mine 25 years or so years back. It was a great place to drink at 7 a.m. if I were between deadlines because one could marvel at the parade of big shots coming in for an alcoholic fix before work: judges, politicians, businessmen. Indeed, a week after jury duty I found myself standing at the bar beside the presiding judge of a case I was on! He was doing doubles, which is more than I was doing. I usually was doing a clam digger or bloody Mary at that time of day. This, of course, was not a luxury I often enjoyed but I always did think morning drinking included more informative people-watching material than nighttime drinking. During the time in my life when I was supporting myself freelancing, deadline to deadline, it didn't matter when I partied as long as I kept my deadlines, and I did. A functional reprobate, the best kind.

Kelly's is very different today than it was then (it was one of the last bars in Portland to allow women! -- as late as the 60s, I believe) but it has a jukebox (!!!) and a perfect floor plan. I just don't know what kind of zoo it will be. But it's one block from a hotel, I can get a good shot across the street of our actor taking his lady from the bar to the hotel, perfect set up for my needs.