Tag: Boiler Room at Kennedy School

Harry’s Birthday at the Kennedy School

Dear Liza,

One of our favorite local businesses, the McMenamin brothers, helped us celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday this past weekend. The party was at The Kennedy School.

We started with lunch on the Cypress Room patio and Zach took good care of us. There was a special menu of food and drink to honor our favorite boy Wizard, and we took advantage. I had the Leaky Cauldron Shepherd’s Pie and Bridgett enjoyed the Chamber of Secrets pizza in a gluten free crust. Our drinks were a butter beer for Grandpa Nelson, Felix Felicius for me, and Pumpkin Juice for Bridgett.

Once we were fed, it was time to shop! The classrooms of the School were filled with vendors of candy, books, art, and all sorts of Wizarding goodies. Honeydukes sold me some delicious peanut butter fudge. I passed on the “Cornelius Fudge”, which a fellow shopper guessed might taste of cowardice and bad management. (Don’t you just love clever smart guys?)

I met Christie Quinn, The BookMobile Babe, at her Banned Books booth.
She knows Auntie Katie and Books with Pictures and loves them almost as much as I do! In the world of “Folks Who Get Books to Kids”, these two are best buddies.

As always at McMenamin’s, we took time to appreciate the design and decoration of the place. We stepped into The Detention Bar for a refresher cocktail (and to get Bridgett the special stamp in her McMenamin’s Passport) and enjoyed the Oriental details as the The Chamber of Secrets played in the overhead screen.

Just down the hall was this lovely, ornate door, labeled Kennedy Night School. Our waiter, Zach, walked past as I was taking this picture. “It doesn’t go anywhere and is just nailed up there,” he said, “but doesn’t it look neat?”
Yes, it does.

When we had seen everything there was to see and gotten Auntie Bridgett a few more stamps, we headed home. I love that Harry and the McMenamin’s get together.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Castletown at McMenamin’s

Dear Liza,

Last night we went back to the McMenamin’s Kennedy School. The weather was really stormy, so we took a Lyft car.

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Portrait of John D. Kennedy, founder of the school

We ate in The Boiler Room, which is decorated with wonderfully steampunk-y pipes and things, as well as having odd and interesting paintings on the walls. Auntie Bridgett and I shared an Aztec Salad of lettuce, corn, beans and spicy tortilla chips and Grandpa Nelson had his french fries.

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Photo of kids and their birdhouses

 

 

 

 

 

 

We noticed several themes in the photos and paintings…they echo each other. In one wing of the school, there is a large photo of some kids holding birdhouses they had made. In a different corridor, there is a painting based on that photo. I love discovering this place, bit by bit!

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Painting based on photo!

Another interesting thing we learned was that this school, The Kennedy School in Northeast Portland, was where Mike and Brian, the McMenamin brothers, went to elementary school. So they saved their own school!

We were at the school to listen to an Irish music group called Katie Jane and Castletown which was playing in the Gymnasium. The room is small for a gym, but is a nice open space with a rug in the middle for echo-control and so tables and chairs don’t damage the wooden floor. In front of the stage, however, the floor was left bare as an informal dance floor.

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Katie Jane and Roger with dancer

The group is made up of three people: Drew is the pony-tailed drummer, Roger plays guitar and sings the low bits, and lovely Katie Jane, on violin, is the star. Her Irish fiddle playing soars and makes everyone want to dance! The audience was very mixed, but there were about 6 families with small kids who got up and did just that when the music started.

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Doing a turn with Grandma

I enjoyed this part the most, I think… kids just having fun with the music, helping smaller ones, and even doing a crazy turn with their grandma. Castletown played Irish tunes, some American Gospel, and even some Rockabilly, but all were dance-able, some sing-able, and all very, very entertaining.

When the band stopped at 9, we tipped them and told them how much we enjoyed the show, and headed off. Our Lyft driver picked us up before we even had time to get wet, and we were home and safe by 9:30.

Love,

Grandma Judy