The Lovecraft Bar

This is great. Its a little hole in the wall-​my girlfriend and I walked by it at least twice. Inside its horror/​goth themed, with an obvious flair for eldritch and cosmic horror. Soundtrack is A+ post-​punk/​industrial/​metal etc. Artwork is well curated and high quality, they even have custom vinyl mixes from bands that perform here. Being early-​ish on a Monday it was sort of slow, but it got pretty bumping later on. Don’t come here if you don’t like fog or lasers! I got an «Unpleasant Dreams» cocktail, it was excellent. They only have 4 beer taps but I’m not here to sample and be a beer dork. If you have a passing interest in horror/​goth/​whatever dark stuff I would highly suggest this place. On this Monday happy hour went until 10! We got 2 beers for $ 6! I will totally be back.

Went here with friends who are into the goth scene but it’s not my first choice for clubbing ha. I still had a great time even though I was scared nearly the whole time. The female bartender here is amazing. She is friendly and social and makes perfect drinks for cheap. The dancing is fun because it’s a tight space and their lighting is fantastic. They also have really creepy decorations like a real coffin you can lay in. There’s an upstairs that people go up in and watch you from above. Super spooky right. Come here with an open mind and you will enjoy everything this place has to offer.

Thursday nights used to be free, and by the look of things, they still are… if you’re a hipster douchebag. My (goth) friends and I were told there was a $ 10 cover charge that I did NOT see the neckbearded, hirn-​rimmed-​glasses-​wearing, flood-​pants-​sporting, Instagramming, pretentious asshole paying. Congratulations to the owner for alienating the class of people who made you famous. Rot in hell.

Maybe I was just there too early, and likely I’ll give it another shot… since I really DO want to like this place. However, I got there early on Thursday evening, since I heard it was the night to go. Basically it was a lot of Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the like. The people coming in were in were about goth as a pep club. I’m kind of glad I didn’t dress up like I normally would, since I would have been totally out of place there. I’m from Salt Lake and use to Area 51’s Sanctuary, the Goth club out there… a place where we all get corseted up and dance to Covenant, Crux Shadows and real goth music. Is it really sad that Mormonville’s goth club is better than Portland’s? That would be a yes.
I will say the décor was Cool… but come on… paint a room black and throw down some velvet loveseats and it would still be a decent environment. If you don’t have the music, the space, and you have a bunch of teeny boppers in hoodies? Can you really call yourself a «Goth Bar»?

Before I moved to Portland, I did some research to find goth clubs in the area. The Lovecraft was the first one I found, and the first I went to. The Lovecraft has different events every night, but Shadowplay runs every Thursday night, and that’s when I generally go there.
The place is pretty small, probably the smallest club in the city that I’ve been to. On a busy night, especially after midnight, you won’t have much room to move around. A lot of people hang out in front of the club, especially later in the evening.
Their drink prices are very reasonable. My usual beverage (gin and seven), costs $ 4. The decorations are a must for any horror fan. They’ve got a massive neon elder sign painted on the ceiling, as well as other Mythos decorations here and there. Lining a wall toward the restrooms are pictures of horror icons (Dracula, etc.).
The music changes depending on who’s spinning and what night it is. You’ll hear everything from goth, industrial, EBM, punk, metal, new wave… And that’s just on Thursday nights.
The Lovecraft is a thing you must check out when you’re in Portland, if you’re into the darker side of life at all.

I have no idea what the bad reviews about rude service are about, but I wholeheartedly disagree on this point. I was here this past Saturday and I had a fantastic time, the bartenders were all smiles, door guy was ON it clearing out empties as quick as people piled them up on the tables and counter top area near the booths. The staff was quick and efficient and pleasant as hell. The music was super fun 80s and industrial (though my heart was more into the 80s), and there were a bunch of cute happy people busting loose on the dancefloor. **Personal SIDEBAR** I lost my wedding band as I was setting a drink down at our table, because I am both clumsy and unlucky at once. It slid somewhere between the planks below the booth and I feared I’d never see it again, but the wonderful bartender *Shoutout to Brooke, you’re the best!!* took my # and assured me they would look for it. I got a text after hours that they had indeed found it. My ring is by no means insurable or an heirloom but I just got married last month so it was sentimental and I am totally grateful to them for moving the platform (i.e. heavy furniture!) to look for it.

Great Music Venue On The Eastside of Portland
SITREP
Whenever I troop through Portland, I enjoy stopping in at The Lovecraft Bar — any day of the week actually — but especially when the Thursday night event *SHADOWPLAY* is in session.
THE SETUP
The bar really is a smallish affair, but it’s got a LOT of character ooozing from off the walls and out of the floor (and I really mean *oooooozing*) — it’s almost as if the venue itself is sweating in some sort of Praga Khan fiendish fantasy!
LIVE MUSIC
I have caught some great love musical acts here — not big names like Rammstein or Def Leppard (or even CombiChrist, for that matter) — the music acts are energized and perform right in the middle of the main floor, the musicians with their guitars and keyboards, getting right up in our faces — it’s quite invigorating actually.
DJ MUSIC
But after the bands perform, the format transitions straight the DJ who inundates the entire venue with the throbbing rhythms of Industrial, Death Metal, Electroclash, and any other genre that assaults all of our senses while you are mesmerized, undulating and stomping on the dancefloor.
THE BAR
The drinks are cheap. And PBR is even cheaper than cheap. [And great beer to gulp if all you’re gonna do is dance it off in the next 10 minutes.
THE LOWDOWN
I wouldn’t have this venue be any other way than it is!

My friends and I really stood out… I mean literally I think we were the only ones with any color besides black, gray or white on our clothes — so I was a little self conscious. However, Lovecraft came through and was not judging of us «not fitting in». The vibe and mood of the crowd was Fantastic! The décor was cool, the fog machine and lights were great. Not exactly my scene but I felt comfortable and it was fun.

Seriously? Is this place real? And how have I lived in PDX for 4 years without knowing about it? Awesome, creepy vibe inside. Pitch black with minimal lighting. Horror movies playing on a projector, pentagrams on the ceiling and a coffin in the corner. I got some weird looks, as I’m an avid Anthropologie-​wearing, perfectly manicured young lady, but don’t discount me — I can hang with the best of them in the horror trivia department. The best part is, you get relatively left alone and the staff pours stiff drinks. I could see this becoming a regular spot for me!

I am visiting this week from Los Angeles, CA and really wanted to check out the goth scene in Portland. My boyfriend and I are active in our local club scene and were curious to check this place out. The décor is amazing. There are coffins, skeletons, cobwebs… all the workings for a kick ass bar. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a really odd band playing what was borderline grungy crap music. Not a big deal, we were early for what was supposed to be a goth night at 10pm called SHADOW PLAY. The bar tender was the rudest b*tch faced woman on the planet. The drinks were cheap but my jack and coke was a Coke with a splash of Jack. When we asked her to add a little more alcohol she said we would have to pay for the extra shot and gave us so much attitude for it. I will never recommend this to any of my friends that ever visit Portland.
My tip if you’d like to check it out yourself. Get some drinks at the Slow Bar a few doors down (their drinks were delicious and actually contained A LOT of alcohol) and visit this bar after midnight. The tunes were a little more danceable.

Drove up from Cali and decided to have a few drinks here to relax. Female Bartender was rude from the beginning– gave my sisters boyfriend a hard time about the beer he wanted. My sister and I got a jack and coke each and they were so watered down it tasted like soda. Come on now! We aren’t trying to get drunk but if I am going to have a drink I don’t want to drink watered down soda. When I approached the bartender she was very serious and said I could pay for another shot if I wanted to and just walked away… it’s not like they are busy here. Try working at an L.A. Bar lol jk. First time here & employees didn’t leave a good impression. Won’t be coming back — mainly because I like 15 hours away but don’t be so unhappy! We are all just trying to have a good time :)!!

I’ve been curious about this place since I moved to Portland, but never got around to checking it out until the past couple of months as I was booked to actually perform there (twice) as part of an experimental synth collective.
Though a bit dive-​y, the décor is actually really great and fitting to the theme of «Lovecraft» with all sorts of hidden things to discover (coffins, scary masks, dead baby dolls, etc.) This place brought me back to my goth days of the early 1990s when I use to hang out at Helter Skelter in Los Angeles, but Lovecraft actually has a better «theme» to it, though a strange mix of people the two nights I’ve been there (quite a few Hipsters) but that may have been due to the synth collective night I was performing for.
Either way, I felt comfortable there, it was a cool/​fun place, the people were nice, and I would hang out there again even if I wasn’t performing. I can’t speak to the drinks as I don’t drink (never have) but they have cool names for their drinks…
For live music, though the stage is pretty small, it has a pretty good sound system with not-​too-​bad acoustics and when the people are packed in, just a really great energetic vibe that lends itself well to a performer. I had a blast!

Went here for Goth dance night and it. was. a. blast!
Drinks are cheap, the bartenders friendly, and the music bumpin’. If you want to enter a time capsule, go to Lovecraft Bar and relive your goth days.
The décor is amazing!

I believe I stumbled across this bar due to an online search for local goth clubs, and after reading up on it a bit (I love the commentary on their site) I decided that it was worth looking into. I mean, really, a goth bar dedicated to HP Lovecraft? What is there not to like? Take the time to look around the club at the walls and décor and if you are a horror or Lovecraft buff, see how much of it you recognize.
The music is always listenable if not danceable, the DJs and the bartenders are engaging, and I have enjoyed the live acts that have been there on the nights I have randomly shown up. They have different theme nights depending on the week, so do not go expecting the same thing twice (unless you are expecting a good time…).

Well, it’s nice that Portland has a regular goth bar? That said, it would also be nice if they actually played music that fit with the venue and didn’t feel like you were arguing with your Pandora station. The industrial electro night was more of a new wave and dubstep night, and my previous trip to Lovecraft had me waiting through a playlist of random generic alternative tunes (Gorillaz to Manson to Pulp) before anything danceable and consistent was played. There have been smaller dance floors I’ve stomped on, so kudos for space, but there is not a lot of space and few people dancing on it. At least the venue itself looks nice and there’s no cover.
The drinks left me baffled because my cocktail tasted like a whole lot of mixers with very little alcohol, so I assumed they had to measure everything out. Except when I ordered a shot, the bartender free poured what had to have been a 2 oz shot for me. What’s the point in getting a cocktail if you have to get the alcohol separate?
I miss going out to dance, but if Lovecraft is my main option in Portland, I guess I’m not missing much.

Oh, Lovecraft. You are a unique beast. This is the only bar I’ve ever been to where New Order came on and everyone (everyone!) cheered — as though they’re Beyonce.
Lovecraft is one of the only places in town where you can go dancing and be surrounded by people who aren’t complete twats. They even get their smoke machine going for full effect.
They take cards, although their machine is down more often than not. Their bathrooms are truly disgusting and covered in the graffiti of tortured goth souls. Like, «Kill Your Parents.» Some nights they offer Tarot upstairs for $ 10, which is pretty fun. Bartenders aren’t the friendliest, but given itsa goth bar, it’s clearly part of the ambiance, right?
If you’re trying to party and don’t want to go to a strip club, Lovecraft is your best bet in Portland. It’s one of the few places in town that legitimately stays open as long as they legally can (2:30 am).

I’ve been to this goth club twice now and both times have really enjoyed myself. I’ve been told that it’s a 7-​day a week goth club and think that’s super cool!
Both times I have been here there wasn’t a cover and I also wasn’t wearing all black at the time. I identified as goth for many years as a teenager growing up in the 90’s, so have a lot of nostalgia of those times hanging out in a place like this. I also didn’t feel like anyone gave me the stink eye for not wearing all black either, even though I admit I should of taken the time to dress up/​wear all black before I came. I loved dancing and listening to old favorites like Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The layout of the building is mainly one large room with a bar along the back and a stage for the DJ in the front. They also have a smog machine that goes off frequently which is fun to dance through.
I definitely will try to come here again next time I’m in Portland and really hope the goth scene here continues to thrive.

I have to say, this place is pretty freakin’ weird. An HP Lovecraft themed bar. Very Portland. Like most things in this city, not only is it strange; it’s strangely endearing. And a damn good time if you want it to be.
Fog machines, lasers, and loud music. You walk into this place and are instantly transported into a goth club-​dive bar hybrid. We were here last weekend and there was halloween décor everywhere. All I could think was «wow, what a great place to have a costume party».
The music here is a pretty eclective mix of dark wave, industrial, techno, and whatever else the DJ is feeling. Like most DJs, I think they are generally willing to listen to a request, but there’s never a guarantee that they’ll play it. At any rate, you probably should be more concerned with dancing your ass off more than what the person playing music is doing.
The bar is small and somewhat limited in selection but thats not really a big deal. This is a place where you shouldn’t care about that. Having said that though, the choices are solid (Stone on tap. PBR tallboys). Also, in my experience the staff is always been polite and friendly.
Be warned that there is only one bathroom in this place. I think there may be a second one but it looks to be tucked away in the back somewhere. I was not adventurous enough to seek it out.
Give this place a try. It’s as fun as you want it to be.

A bar dedicated to HP Lovecraft. Only in Portland (actually, a bar in NYC copied their idea this past year).
I’m kinda jealous. Austin is weird and we don’t have bars named after literary figures. Portland has several, and the theme at Lovecraft is not just for the author himself but macabre in general.
In reality, Lovecraft Bar is really more than anything a goth bar. And they do 90s dance party nights. AND they host live bands. But wait, there’s more! Their cocktails are unusual and named after people like Bruce Campbell, Cthulhu, Kraken and themes from the book Flowers In the Attic. A lot of them are made with absinthe. They also sell hot tea, and small food items like mac and cheese, cup o noodle soup and Count Chocula cereal (not kidding).
Final note: You must drink your drinks in this dark bar and cannot take them outside. If you are wondering why they don’t have outdoor seating here is the Q&A from their F.A.Q portion of their website explaining:
— Why do you not have outside seating?
If we did, homeless people would poop on the tables. We would also legally be required to have cameras or a full time staff member watching you. It doesn’t seem worth it for the 3 months of sunlight a year we have in Portland for an expensive outside seating license. Drinking is only legally permitted inside.

My first time here and was very excited since me and my friend drove 4 hours to spend the weekend in portland. Loved this place! Great music, drinks were reasonably priced $ 6-​$ 8. I loved the «teenage zombie». There were some great dancers there and it was so amazing.
The only thing I hated was this couple stood literally in front of us and started making out. Seriously did you guys have to block our view with your free porn preview? Chick sat on the table next to us while she kissed her boyfriend and he fingered her. Over like 20 minutes of that till it was almost 2 am & my friend and I decided to leave 20 mins early.
Overall, can’t wait to go back again