Hotel of the week: Jupiter Hotel
Posted by Sarah on October 9th, 2009
The skies are grey, there’s a discernible chill in the air, and our trek to work this week has been peppered with sightings of commuters snarling at each other. A key-cutter at Victoria station was heard to bark at his customer, ‘Listen love, I’m just not a morning person’, to be met with her wail, ‘Neither am I’. Well, neither are we, and quite frankly we’d rather don our jeans and Converse, to snuggle up in a laid-back bar with a bottle of beer and a live band to sing away our sorrows. Which is why we’re directing our hallowed ‘Hotel of the week’ spotlight towards the Jupiter Hotel, a classic roadside motel and the best place in town to catch Portland’s next big (musical) thing.
Style Mid-modern motel
Setting Portland pitstop
Why this week? Banish the October blues with a holiday that’s sure to nurture your creative side – Portland has a bounty of art galleries, museums and live music venues. Add to that the hotel’s ‘save 25 per cent’ offer, and you’re looking at a seductive autumnal break with a budgetary conscience.
Our favourite bits: Rooms are more cool and casual than lavish luxe, and you’re not far from home when you want to stay for the encores and party with the band. Plump for the Dreamsuite and you can lounge on retro leather sofas sipping a self-made martini from your own bar. All the bedroom doors have been coated in blackboard paint – check out your neighbours’ nocturnal creativity on your way to breakfast.
The Doug Fir Lounge has a Fifties diner feel, with its cosy red leather booths, but there’s no greasy spoon menu – the food is all fresh, local and served in mountainous portions. Carby staples such as banana and hazelnut pancakes, grandma’s meatloaf and mac-n-cheese are served along with bottomless Stumptown (a local roaster) coffee all day. There’s also a late-night menu of alcohol-absorbing munchies available until 2.15am. Then there’s the Doug Fir Bar, with its space-age-meets-cowboy decor. Futuristic dome shapes are made out of chunky logs and bathed in softly glowing light. Sample the Cowboy Coffee cocktail – a mix of Kahlúa, Tuaca and Frangelico that will keep you going even after the band have gone to bed.
Mr & Mrs Smith say: ‘Motels may have originated as roadside stopovers for the travel-weary but Jupiter, in a rock-fuelled rebellion, has bucked that idea and become a destination in itself. With live gigs almost every night, and off-beat film showings on the others, the buzzing Doug Fir Lounge is the main attraction. The bar pulls in music-lovers from all over Portland, and Jupiter Hotel, with its crisp, modern decor and dedicated staff, happily tends to those who come from further afield.
At the heart of the hotel is the communal courtyard, which, with its breezy bamboo, leafy Japanese maples and black and white hanging lanterns, is a great place to exchange groupie-gossip with the other guests. The bedrooms are designed to be easy on a sleepy eye, with minimalist and neutral furniture. However, shots of colour are injected by the wallpapered photomurals and the bright blankets in canary yellow or forest green that top the large beds.’
Read the full review here.
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