Rotgut.org Blog: #2292 - Wig Wam Tavern, Portland, Scappoose, OR

Sunday, November 30, 2014

#2292 - Wig Wam Tavern, Portland, Scappoose, OR - 9/15/2013

Wig Wam Tavern, Scappoose, OR

If you're driving from Seattle to Portland or vice versa, and you have a little extra time, one of the ways to make your route more pleasant is to take Highway 30 up along the eastern side of the Columbia, rather than soul-less I5 on the other side. What makes it more pleasant is not spectacular scenery, but rolling through small towns like Scappoose, and by small businesses like the Wig Wag Tavern.

In Scappoose you will also pass the World Peace Candle, which looks like an old silo with an electric flame on top -- which is exactly what it is -- but which was once listed by the Guinness book as the world's largest candle. The structure was once coated with actual wax, with a real wick, and lit by the governor of Oregon with a 60-foot long match.

The Wig Wam Tavern is a comfortable, old dive, with Coors and Budweiser on tap, free pool, bar food ("best gizzards in Columbia County"), and native American items that appear to be collected over many years. On some nights the Wig Wam has karaoke or live music, but on this rainy afternoon we just chatted with pleasant bartender Heather. The place appears to be fairly old, a business here during prohibition, was the Wig Wam back in day, later run as "Duffy's" and under a couple other names before becoming the Wig Wam again.