Nathan P. Gale and Alfredo Moreno
60 episodes listed below
Old bars, loose history, real affection.
History by the Glass follows older Oregon bars through their back rooms, origin stories, owner lore, and stubborn local myths. The tone is loose and barstool-friendly, but the show keeps circling back to why these places matter.
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History by the Glass builds local history out of bar tops, old newspaper traces, bathroom detours, and whatever story the owner is willing to tell after a drink. It is not polished museum audio. That is the point. Each episode circles a specific bar, then lets the room pull the conversation in different directions. The Dublin Pub becomes a story about the Fawcett bar, pinball, turtle races, and a legendary owner-proprietor named Katie. Walter Mitty's brings in literary branding, and the show's habit of turning a visual detail into a full conversation. The Golden Nugget Bar arrives as a listeners choice stop with holiday drinks and failing equipment in the mix. The Trap is handled as a breakfast-and-karaoke bar with remodeling memories, screwdrivers, and a running fight over coaster etiquette. Your Inn Tavern stretches from bar jokes into a grocery-store past, OLCC trouble, ownership memory, and COVID-era endurance. Scooter McQuades gets treated as a rock-and-roll downtown room where the basement tour matters as much as the building's age. The Rainbow Cafe pushes the map to Pendleton and digs into whether an old brick building can support the claims made for it. The show is rowdy. It is also more serious than it pretends to be. Its best moments happen when skepticism gives way to affection, or when a ridiculous tangent lands on a useful historical clue. The bar itself is always the main character. Menus, troughs, saloon doors, pinball machines, drink orders, mic problems, and owner names all count as evidence. The conversations move fast, with interruptions and jokes serving as texture rather than distraction. Still, the episodes keep returning to a clear question: what survives when a neighborhood place gets old enough to become folklore? History by the Glass is for people who want local history with less reverence and more life in the room.
Made for: For listeners who like local history, neighborhood bars, Oregon lore, and conversational comedy that moves fast. It especially suits people who care about the small details that make old rooms feel storied.
What sets it apart: The show treats bar trivia, owner memories, bathroom design, drink choices, and building records as part of the same historical puzzle. Its looseness makes the research feel lived-in rather than lectured.
Welcome everyone to the History by the Glass podcast. Your tour of Portland, Oregon's (and beyond) famously historic and infamously endangered bars, pubs and saloons. Inspired by Paul Pintarich's "History by the Glass" book series.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It tests Oregon bar lore against records, ownership histories, and the physical evidence still standing behind the counter.
History by the Glass follows co-hosts Nathan P. Gale and Alfredo Moreno into old Oregon drinking establishments, where local memory meets the stubborn work of checking dates, owners, buildings, and business names.
An 1880 brick building was a drugstore first; Nathan and Alfredo make you enjoy the correction.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively bar-history visit with enough local lore to make the room feel bigger than the drinks.
History by the Glass turns a Portland bar stop into a neat local-history note, using Dublin Pub to revisit Raleigh Hills, the old Fawcett bar, and the details that make a place feel lived in.
A St. John's bar story that folds ownership, OLCC friction, and neighborhood lore into one messy pour.
History by the Glass's 44th stop turns its attention to St. John's, folding a bar name, a menu note, and a stretch of ownership into one local portrait. Nathan P.
A skeptical bar tour that finds its footing in a haunted basement and an unusually memorable bathroom.
History by the Glass, episode 43, settles into Scooter McQuaid's with a cautious first impression and then earns its footing when the owner opens the way downstairs.
Pendleton's Rainbow Cafe turns into a brick-by-brick lesson in how newspaper ads keep a bar's past alive.
History by the Glass is at its strongest when it lets the Rainbow Cafe's home read like a brick record. The building comes through as a two-story brick structure built in 1880 by Thomas Malarkey, then advertised on January 1, 1881 as Somerville and Raley's Drugstore, before…
A bar-history detective story with solid reporting under the charm.
Samantha Swindler treats a simple bar question with real reporter discipline. The piece moves through old records, prohibition-era detours, and the competing claims around Oregon's oldest continuously operating bar location without losing the thread.
Republic Cafe, Ming Lounge, and the Portland history that kept showing up after midnight.
History by the Glass gives Chinatown's Republic Cafe and Ming Lounge a sturdy sense of place, turning a single Portland stop into a long view of the city's shifting history.
Miller Beach chaos, served breakfast-style.
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Israeli public life, argued from Tel Aviv.
History by the Glass episode 48 focuses on the Dublin Pub in Raleigh Hills, Portland, and ties it to a 1983 start on Southeast 31st and Belmont.
This episode explores Walter Mitty's, a historic and endangered bar in Lake Oswego, Portland, Oregon, as part of a podcast series on local drinking establishments.
The hosts introduce a special episode of History by the Glass, discussing their new recording setup and humorous banter in King City, Oregon.
This episode of the History by the Glass podcast features a listeners choice segment on Milwaukee's Golden Nugget Bar, with hosts discussing drinks and holiday greetings.
This episode of the History by the Glass podcast explores a historic bar in Portland, Oregon, with hosts discussing drinks and local culture.
Episode 44 opens with a grocery-store joke and a crank of old-bar mythology.
Nathan Begale and Alfredo Moreno head downtown to Scooter McQuaid's.
The hosts head to Pendleton, Oregon, in search of the Rainbow Cafe.
Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian and Heroes Oregon walks History by the Glass through her investigation of Oregon's oldest continuously operating bar.
Bill Clifford gets heckled fast before Nathan P.
The hosts share their top five historic bars visited in Portland, Oregon, and discuss future bars they anticipate visiting post-pandemic.
The hosts of History by the Glass discuss their current situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in a lighthearted, humorous way while recording remotely via Zoom.
The hosts introduce episode 17 of their podcast, discussing personal anecdotes and setting up their journey to visit every still-open bar from a historical list.
The hosts celebrate reaching episode 15 of their history podcast, reflecting on past episodes and acknowledging a guest from the previous show.