FLASHBACK: The Great Northwest Road Trip 2016: Part 4

After the Peculiarium, we had some time to kill before our tour of the Shanghai Tunnels. So, we headed for a tiki bar....the Alibi. Dating back from 1947, The Alibi was this wonderful old school tiki bar that we (especially me) feel in love with. It was uber dark when you first walk in and it takes your eyeballs some time to get used to the light. (The lighting was also why most of my pictures came out as blurry crap....UGH! I got a few though...)  Wow! What a cool place. If I'm in Portland again, I WILL go back.














Here is the Alibi's page on Critiki if you want to know more:  https://critiki.com/location/the-alibi-portland-141/  Also, better photos can be found here:  https://www.google.com/search?q=the+alibi+portland&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=910&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4hrfT1rjOAhUT-GMKHbAaBkQQ_AUIBygC


​Following an all too quick trip to The Alibi, it was time for our tour of The Shanghai Tunnels...under the old part of Portland, where men were kidnapped to work on sailing ships and women were also kidnapped and forced into prostitution.  It was interesting---but very limited (we all thought they'd be much more extensive---and apparently a whole new section will be opening for tours in the fall). To start off the tour, we had to meet at Hobo's...a restaurant/bar on the outskirts of Chinatown in Portland.



Once the tour was underway, we were taken to this steep staircase that lead down under the streets. From there it was one big dark and dirty area after another...a former opium den (with the bunk bed), shoes taken from kidnapped victims (to keep them from running away in the dark if they got lose, glass was spread out all over the ground), cells and a small closet where the women were terrorized (with chair in it) into prostitution.













 We were glad we got to experience it, but I think all three of us were somewhat disappointed and a little underwhelmed by the Shanghai Tunnels. And did I mention it was supposed to be haunted? We didn't experience anything spooky at all...

Following the tunnels, we headed to a kava bar on the south side of town. None of us had ever experienced kava before. It is supposed to give you clarity and a sense of calm and euphoria, etc. It's been used for thousands of years by native islanders, yadda yadda yadda. We experienced no calm, no clarity, no euphoria. What we DID experience was a very foul and utterly nasty tasting fluid none of us will ever try again. GROSS! But brownie points for serving it in a coconut shell. THAT was fun.




And that's really all I have room for in this email. Still to come--the 2nd tiki bar, the original Original Pancake House and much, much more!

CHEERS!

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