What Happens at Ron Toms

So, I'm sure you've all been at Ron Toms (600 East Burnside) at some point or another. It's a pretty great bar. I'm not going to say it's my favorite but it provides a reliable mix of random people, decent music, strong drinks, and weird interactions. You can play ping pong there. They have a patio. You hear it all there. Guys in little beanies ramble on about the healing powers of fixed gear bicycles on bad knees (yeah right), people from the Northwest apparently don't get sarcasm (okay smug guy from New York with your gold chain), random really drunk girl tells me, "I'm wearing my slut shirt", adults in nice clothes from the outer ring (Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego) come into town to get drunk and drive home, men come in wearing suits, cool kids come in wearing costumes on days that are not Halloween, it's pretty much a free-for-all. It's loud and seating and flow and the line-up for the bar always feel kind of haphazard but that's okay. I feel like it's a good place to take someone from out of town if the Sandy Hut would bum them out. Not that I actually associate with people like that.

I was digging around in my photos today. I never post photos directly after the fact, but I'm working on it. These photos are from last fall a few days before Kale and Rachael got married in September. We braided Kale's hair in french braids and drank shots of tequila and celebrated celebration.

Celebration, kind of. There is one really sad face in this collective.

Jocelyn and I demonstrating our french braiding skills

Kale is notoriously bad at smiling for photos. I'm not sure what happens.

That guy in the leather jacket is not someone anyone knows. First he was the photographer, then we made him join in. Ron Toms is a great place for picking up people for group photos so it looks like you have more friends than you actually do. I like this photo because of Kale's joyful smile.