Portland, Oregon is a long way from New York City boys, from Boston and PA...but still we love our Irish bars...and we revere our proud, independent, authentic AF bar proprietors.

Katie Bullard and Carl Simpson started the legendary Dublin Pub in 1983, first in SE Portland where it attained peak notoriety and helped make Portland craft brewing history, before moving to its current location in 1989 on the site of another infamous bar -- The Faucet -- in the Raleigh Hills/Deep SW Portland/unincorporated Washington County area of the metro (6821 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy).

In an industry notably devoid of strong, almost tall-tale women owners and proprietors, Katie (aka "Mama Dub") was an aberration as the heart and soul of the DubPub for the better part of 40 years until her death in October of 2024.

Nate and Alfredo visited 10 days before St. Patrick's day to chop it up with current owner (and original Katie Bullard hire) JT Mackey to learn how this beloved bar bridges its generational clientele gap and otherwise soak in the middle aged craic of the place. Slainte!

Bar visit and episode recording: Saturday, March 7, 2026

HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

“'To hell with the handkerchief,' said Walter Mitty scornfully. He took one last drag on his cigarette and snapped it away. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last."

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

By James Thurber

1939

Born and raised in the tucked-away Mountain Park Plaza where Lake Oswego meets deep SW Portland (11830 Kerr Pkwy, 97035), Walter Mitty's Restaurant & Bar has provided a languid home for drinking day dreamers since 1982.

And much like the ineffectual protagonist of the classic short story (that very loosely inspired the original bar founders) -- a man who would rather be the hero of his own fantasy world than deal with an increasingly unsatisfying reality -- your three podcast heroes, Alfredo, Nathan, and Producer Bill, mounted their bar stools for another world-saving episode of History by the Glass.

Nominated three straight years for our Audience Choice Episode tourney by determined fan of the bar and pod (Robyn V), Walter Mitty's is what it is without trying too hard to be anything it's not. It's uncool. It's unironic. Despite the name, it's not an homage to much of anything. Which of course, makes it absolutely perfect in all its '80s oak and glass and green carpeted glory.

Bar visit and episode recording: Friday, January 24, 2026

HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers

[NOTE: Enjoy the resurrection of this classic (kinda long, rambling, and minimally structured) HBTG episode from Season 1 , now with 100% less unlicensed Brenda Lee music!]

Do you like your old Portland bars OLD? Well, they don’t get older than this. Join us for a Very Special Episode of History By the Glass. We don our gay apparel to slurp cocktails at Jake’s Famous Crawfish (14:51), established 1892. Then we get even "history-ier" as we carve out time to talk turkey bars over at Huber’s (48:58), established 1879. Very old, indeed!

Bar visits and episode recording: Friday, December 27, 2019

HBTG theme song: "Frozen Egg" by Lame Drivers

Interlude music: "Right Track" by Lame Drivers