Hawthorne Strip: A great dive bar that also has dancers.

The Hawthorne Strip has become a favorite for my lady and I whenever we visit Portland. It looks a bit run down from the outside, but don't let that stop you from visiting. We've been several times and always have a great time. I have to say, it is one of the friendliest, most relaxed clubs that I've visited in PDX (and I've been to alot of them)

The entrance faces the main street (Hawthorne) and is on the right side of the building. Upon entry there is always door staff checking IDs and the bar is immediately to your left. The place has a very rural, hometown dive bar kind of feel in a very relaxed way. Unlike many of the nightclub type clubs in downtown PDX or the rock-n-roll strip clubs like Lucky Devil or Devil's Point, Hawthorne strip really just feels like a bar. They have the standard selection of draft beer and plenty of CBC sodas which have become my favorite. There are simple tables scattered between the bar area and the stage, and the performance area for dancers is a small area in the far left corner of the bar.

The performance area is square with a pole in the center, and less of a stage, and almost more of a "pit". It isn't elevated, but floor level and almost "fenced" in by a bar on two sides, the the other two sides being the back wall of the performance area. This gives is the affect of almost being hidden from the rest of the bar, meaning you can't really see the performance unless you are sitting at the bar-like table area which fences in the performance area. This adds to Hawthorne Strip feeling more like a dive bar that also happens to have dancers.