Minor Disappointments: Being Underage in Portland

Written by Jennifer Nelson
Edited by Angie Frank

A year and a half ago I made the journey many Americans make at some point in their lives. I gave my family a hug goodbye and moved away from home. I spent the whole morning crying at home so that I wouldn’t look like a two-year-old in front of my parents at the airport. I packed up my life in two huge duffel bags and flew from Minneapolis to Portland.

I only knew a few people out of the 575,930 in this new city, but my goal was to go out often and meet a vast variety of punks, hippies, and homeless people. However, the image of Portland I had created in my mind was extremely different from reality. I was nineteen years old and ready to party, but I quickly learned that going anywhere that serves alcohol in this town when you are under the age of twenty-one was going to be a problem.

In Minneapolis, if you are under twenty-one and at a pub, music venue, or dance club that serves alcohol, they just put a mark on your hand and don’t allow you to obtain a wristband. I thought that all cities would be the same. I wanted to go out and see what kind of nightlife Portland had to offer.

The other students who lived on my floor at our PSU dorm would constantly ask me if I wanted to go out to the bars with them. A new pal I made invited me to see his friend play a live show, but it was in a bar in Southeast. I figured out that the best way to decide whether or not I should go was to ask if it was a twenty-one-plus show.

The answer was always yes.

This past summer I was invited by a friend, who I had met through school, to go to Jimmy Mak’s. I wanted to meet a group of new people and listen to some really good jazz music. Again my immediate response was, “Is it all-ages?” My friend had to call a bunch of people only to find out that it was twenty-one plus and I was devastated. It’s hard to meet people in a new city when they all go do things you’re legally not allowed to do. I would end up going to a coffee shop or watching a movie at home, which is nice, every once in a while, but can get boring fast. I quickly learned that this was going to be much more difficult than expected. No, not just difficult, completely unachievable.

Due to my frustration with the limitations put on my social life, I decided to do some research on the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC). I went to their website and found the mission statement which says, “OLCC’s policy will focus on public safety and community livability considerations when guiding alcohol beverage system growth. OLCC will meet potential customer demand for alcoholic beverages and outlets in a socially responsible manner.” This is a great mission and seems reasonable. I just wish it were a little less ambiguous.

The OLCC wants to help “guide alcohol beverage system growth”? Does the system not include clubs and bars that are also music venues? If they want the system to grow, they would gain more money by allowing minors to attend events at these venues. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, Oregon is one of eighteen states where the government directly controls the sales of distilled spirits, while a state like Missouri pays $2 per gallon in taxes on their liquor. Even a large city like Chicago only charges an extra tax of $1.85 per gallon.

First of all, venues would be making more money due to the increase of attendees. By allowing people of all ages into these kinds of establishments, there would be a boost in revenue and one could find a more diversified gathering. Venues, bars, and pubs could easily use “x” marks, wristbands, or other means to identify who is or is not allowed to be drinking. This would create an efficient way to distinguish between the different crowds and make more money for the establishments.

Second, it is possible to have an all-ages or an eighteen-plus show whose focus on public safety is high. That’s why venues have bouncers. Like any other venue, the people working there are trained in keeping the environment safe and friendly, and are able to distinguish when something might get out of hand. One’s safety is always in jeopardy when out at night in the city. A person who is twenty-seven could be incredibly drunk at a concert and start fights with people, endangering the lives of others just as easily as a drunken nineteen year old.

Minors know it’s illegal for them to be drinking, but they’ll do it anyway, whether it’s in public or not.

So the OLCC is kind of a drag. People who legally cannot buy liquor are also kept out of the wonderful music scene Portland has to offer. I just turned twenty-one after living in Portland for over a year and I feel a sense of freedom. I can finally go places and do whatever I want without being turned away for being a minor. All the cool jazz clubs I couldn’t go to and cheap movie theaters are available to me now at any time of my choosing.

Seriously, a three-dollar movie, and you have to be twenty-one to see it at the McMenamins Mission Theatre in Northwest Portland! Let’s say you want to see Twilight (rated PG) or Quantum of Solace (rated PG-13) for three bucks, but can only go during the evening due to school or work. Well, too bad, because the only movie you’re getting into is the one at 5 pm on Thursday, which is Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey, and it’s awful.

When I first found out about the Mission and their three-dollar movies, I told a friend of mine about it and we decided we had to go. We’re both from Minnesota, and in my hometown there is a theater that charges two dollars to view second-run movies. It’s an actual movie theater, and anyone can get in. My friend and I were planning to go see a movie at the Mission, just assuming we could get in as well. Neither of us had a lot of money and were running out of ideas for things to do during the summer.

The day we wanted to go see a movie I went to the Mission’s website to make sure what time it was playing, and discovered most of their movies were twenty-one plus. With our plans now crushed, my friend and I ended up sitting around watching a horrible movie about vampires starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Antonio Banderas. It could be one of the worst movies I’ve seen to date.

Oh, did I mention that if you’re a minor and can’t attend the twenty-one-plus shows, but want to go to the movies shown earlier in the day, you have to be attending with a parent? How do you suppose I, a nineteen-year-old, get a parent to go with me when they live across the country? This is just asking for more minors to break the rules, especially rules that don’t make sense.

So, the OLCC needs to change a few things, such as getting rid of the “no minors allowed on these premises” rule. In hard economic times like these, venues should be looking for ways to get more people in their doors. Kids in Portland have a strong passion for the music scene and not a lot of money. If they can scrounge enough up to get to the concert it is unlikely that they’ll have enough money to buy themselves drinks, seeing as how expensive liquor is in Oregon. If the OLCC actually went in and changed some laws allowing minors to be in venues that serve alcohol and the venues agreed to abide the law, everyone would win in the end.

While I may not be affected by these regulations anymore, it still concerns me because everyone should have the ability to experience all of the social aspects throughout the different districts in Portland. I love the nightlife and scenery this amazing city has to offer. The only issue I have is with the OLCC because it is extremely dated. The committee was created after the appeal of prohibition in 1933, and the old-fashioned sets of rules are simply asking minors to revolt. While I believe the rules prohibiting minors to drink alcohol are valid, I think those regulations can still be applied at all-age shows.

Ever since I turned twenty-one, half of the restaurants I go to don’t even card me. I sit down with my two bearded friends, order a beer, and don’t even have to pull out my beautifully colored and metallic Minnesota driver’s license (which I love to show off). Now that I am twenty-one, I walk around like the city like I own it because I am no longer in a position to ask whether or not I am old enough to go somewhere. And it only took 252 months.

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Jenny Nelson is a junior at Portland State University, majoring in communications and minoring in writing. She is working incredibly hard on graduating within the next year in order to explore the world and have new cultural experiences to share with everyone.