Switchback Saloon
One of the pioneers of this obsession was Landmark Saloon in the Richmond neighborhood, which opened back in 2010. With the bar located inside a former house built in 1906 and an expansive patio covered in wood chips, picnic tables, and plenty of ashtrays to get your smoke on – not to mention a trailer serving some mean barbecue – Landmark felt like it could have been plucked straight out of Austin, Texas’s Rainey Street district (before it got overrun with tech bros and douchey clubs). They had Shiner Bock on tap and plenty of tequila to schwill down, all while listening to a regular lineup of local and national honky tonk, alt-country, Americana, and bluegrass acts. For a good stretch up until the pandemic, Landmark was regularly packed. Even during the pandemic, the patio provided space for social distancing while still giving you the feeling of being out in community.
The last few years have been a bumpy road for the Landmark as they navigated the post-COVID reality of fewer people going out to bars and supporting local live music. After years of teases and threats to close on social media, they finally did it in February. Luckily, longtime regulars Scott Phillips and Graham Talley stepped in, took the reins, and rebranded it as the Switchback Saloon. Ask about the name, and you will get something about “land switch, switch mark” thrown around, but basically it’s a nod to switching it back to the Landmark while technically changing the name for legal purposes…or something like that.
“It’s a community gathering place, like a 3rd space has kind of been lost in the city. And we went to preserve that as best we could. Like, if we didn’t step in, I guarantee you, I can guarantee you, it would become an apartment complex. And we have enough of those on the block right now,” says Phillips while sipping a tequila shot on a perfect summer evening.
Unlike the other establishments here, Switchback doesn’t lean into nostalgia or any specific theme. Yet, it does feel like the kind of joint that you might find in Austin. Since taking the reins, Phillips and Talley haven’t changed the place’s overall look and feel, other than making some much-needed equipment upgrades. As a longtime regular, Phillips loves the place’s easygoing feel, especially its sprawling, woodchipped patio with a stage and a woodsy, downhome outdoor bar.
“I’ve seen it when it was good, and like pre-pandemic and even like a little bit post-pandemic, you could pack a patty in the summers, and that’s where we make most of our money is; we can fill this space in nice weather. It’s also one of the only bars in Southeast with a patio this size. It’s the neighborhood’s backyard. That’s all it was for us. Like, we come here, we play cornhole, we’d hang out, catch a show, the shed bar’s open, watching TV,” says Phillips.
Leroy’s Familiar Vittles – the long-operating barbecue cart – is still the food offering. The picnic tables are prime for knocking back Rainier or Shiner Bock with a tequila sidecar, and you can even smoke. Taken as a whole experience, Switchback and its emphasis on the outdoor hang just feels country, like the backyard of some roadhouse where a hang of Hell’s Angels might roll up out of nowhere or some talented troubadour will start a song-swap session on the fly.
“I think the main thing that we did, they have carried on as we’ve gone forward, is, we are a bar for everybody. I think it’s what you were saying before. And more than anything, just the community space, right? And I think that is country. Being, like, being able to have a place where people feel comfortable, and it’s, like, the new country where it doesn’t matter where you’re from, who you are, where you identify as, or anything. is a safe spot for anyone to come into. The only intolerance we have is the people that are intolerant,” says previous owner Nick Wilson, who still manages the bar.
As the neighborhood has changed and new country-leaning venues like The Showdown Saloon and Ponderosa Lounge & Grill have popped up, not to mention still-popular old haunts like the Laurelthirst, they face stiff competition. Phillips and Wilson readily admit these are among the many challenges Switchback faces now, including broader headwinds like the economy sucking and disposable income being down, Gen Z consuming less alcohol, and people spending more time at home than in bars. Yet, he is optimistic that Portlanders will keep the bar in business as a community space. Landmark and now Switchback may almost feel like a legacy bar at this point, yet its vibe feels more relevant than ever, and it is a worthy destination whether you are catching a show or just putting your boots up after a hard day’s work.
“If we buy the building, which we hope to, we’re going to put in there; it cannot ever be used for anything other than a community space. So it stays here. Like, housing? Yeah, you’re not gonna find a quarter-acre lot in Southeast Portland for a bar ever again. Land does not repeat itself.”
