As the latest project from the owners of storied businesses like Hey Love and Dig A Pony, LaVerne’s feels just as thoughtful and cohesive: the lush, tropical vibes of Hey Love and the undeniably young and hip Dig A Pony replaced by something that feels broken-in and nostalgic, a place you want to linger at if space allows.
And that’s exactly what Aaron Hall, who co-owns the bar with business partner Sophie Thomson, says the team intended, going so far as to develop a full backstory for the joint.
“We imagined LaVerne’s began in the ’40s or ’50s, was passed down generation to generation with updates made along the way, and then frozen in place somewhere around 1986,” he explains. “It’s meant to feel like the small-town bar you go home to at Christmas, where all your friends and high school crush are waiting.”
The mythos of LaVerne’s—named after friend and creative collaborator Bree Myers’ grandmother (and, separately, her pet chicken)—is also informed by its building’s history. A part of the Woodlawn neighborhood for over a century, it has housed the Woodlawn Odd Fellows Hall, the short-lived Cannabis Cafe (before recreational weed was legalized), and the Oregon Public House, among other businesses. LaVerne’s has seen some stuff, but she’s emerged “timeless and unpretentious,” in Hall’s words…