Monday, February 16, 2009

A little history to go with our Stirrup Room T-shirt

We're thrilled to announce the release of our newest Vintage Roadside t-shirt - the Stirrup Room! Once located in downtown Portland, the Stirrup Room was known as one of the city's swankier cocktail lounges.

Below you'll find a bit of the history we've put together for the Stirrup Room, as well as a look at the graphic we use on our shirt.


Known for its Western decor, chuck wagon menu, and generously poured cocktails, the Stirrup Room was a hip 1950s era dining spot in downtown Portland, Oregon's magnificent Multnomah Hotel.

Twice named by Holiday magazine, a popular travel publication of the time, as one of the 75 outstanding restaurants in the United States, the Stirrup Room was by all reports one of the top places to see and be seen in Portland from 1955 to the early 1960s. We were lucky to find a reference to the Stirrup Room in Potter on America, a hilarious book written in 1955 by Stephen Potter, a British humorist traveling on a lecture tour across the US.

Unearthing a vintage menu at the Seattle Public Library with the help of Carol, our new favorite librarian, we tracked down another interesting bit of trivia.

The Stirrup Room's name refers to the term "stirrup-cup" or parting drink which "comes from the custom in olden days of having a last drink with a guest as he mounted his horse."

To read much more of the history and see additional images please visit our website here.

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

4 comments:

Rick Kilby said...

that's a mighty fine looking design - is the shirt itself blue?

Vintage Roadside said...

Hi Rick,

We're really happy with it! It's a three color screen print on a Royal Blue shirt.

Learning Spanish at 41 said...

Nice 3-color print job, guys! It's always tricky the more colors you have to print. Good color choice on the shirt as well.

Love that image of the lounge. I'll have to ask my parents if they remember The Stirrup--they would have been in middle/high school when it was in its prime. :)

p.s. thanks for following my blog--much appreciated!

Vintage Roadside said...

Tina,

Thanks for the kind words! We're very pleased with the way it came out.

If you round up any further history we'd love to hear about it.

And you're welcome! Always enjoy stopping by your blog.