18 Best Tips for McMenamins Kennedy School

McMenamins Kennedy School is hands down one of the best McMenamins locations! This old converted school is nestled in Northeast Portland and offers up so much for locals and visitors! McMenamins Kennedy School was the first McMenamins I ever visited so it holds a special place in my heart. I also will never get over the original chalkboards and drinking in detention.

McMenamins Kennedy School, located just down the road from the Alberta Arts District, first opened as a school in 1913! Between the tiny water fountains, endless chalkboards, active gym, and theater auditorium, you will feel like you are back wandering your elementary school halls during your entire visit. Kennedy School closed its doors as an elementary school in 1975, but thankfully McMenamins purchased it and saved it from being leveled.

Kennedy School is actually a pretty small property, but it has so much! You will find a brewery, movie theater, six restaurants and bars, an event venue, lots of hotel rooms, and my favorite amenity, an outdoor soaking pool! McMenamins Kennedy School is a great place to spend a Friday evening, or wander around for a day, but I really recommend an overnight stay, even if you live 15 minutes away like me!

Rightfully earning the number 5 spot on my list of the Ultimate Ranking of Every McMenamins hotel, Kenney School is worth visiting over and over! Whether you are heading over to explore for a few hours, take a soak, or spend the night, here are my 18 Best Tips for McMenamins Kennedy School!

18 Best Tips for McMenamins Kennedy School

Don’t Book the English Wing

The English Wing at McMenamins Kennedy School is a new addition and the rooms are not old classrooms. If you are looking forward to sleeping in a classroom or playing with the old chalkboards in the rooms, do not book the English Wing.

When you book your room online, it will clearly state if the room is in the English Wing. If you want a classroom, ignore those rooms. If you decide to call and book, be very clear about what room you want, or don’t want. The descriptions on the online reservation system always state if the room has chalkboards and/or cloakrooms, so just read the description.

My 2 cents – don’t book the English Wing if you want the full Kennedy School experience.

Book the Soaking Pool in Advance (For Now)

McMenamins Kennedy School overnight guests have unlimited, and free, access to the soaking pool during their stay. The soaking pool is also open to visitors for $8 per person (adults).

Due to the weird times we are currently in, you must book the soaking pool for access, even if you are a hotel guest! This is to allow for social distancing and capacity reduction so you are also assigned a “zone” when you check in for each soak and you are asked to remain in your zone. You can currently book 7 days in advance and it does fill up quickly.

The soaking pool only has 8 zones – this means that only 8 groups can soak at once. Accordingly, book your soak in advance. For soaking visitors, you can book up to 7 days out. For hotel guests, you can also call and book ahead so I recommend doing that 7 days before you want to soak and booking the spots before check in!

If you wait until check in, you may not get a spot, as many spots as you want, or you might be forced to take times you don’t want. You will still need to check in for the soak just before your time slot starts, but that is just to let them know you are heading in or, for soaking visitors, pick up the key.

Bring Sandals, Actually Bring Two Pairs of Sandals

Due to the soaking pool, number of rooms with shared bathrooms, and based on the property having all of the amenities under one roof, I strongly recommend you bring two pairs of sandals.

While you absolutely must bring one pair of sandals, as you do not want to be exiting the soaking pool and putting your wet feet into sneakers or boots, I recommend two pairs of sandals because once the first pair is wet from the pool, you won’t want to use them for the shared bathrooms and/or to wander the halls.

If you are staying in room with a shared bath, this recommendation is even stronger. I recommend a soaking pool/shower pair of sandals and then another pair to wear while you venture through the halls and in and out of the various bars, brewery, and theater.

Bring a Robe

Oddly enough, your room at McMenamins Kennedy School does not come with any robes. This will result in you walking to the soaking pool in your clothing, which you can store in a small locker, or a towel. I recommend if you have the space in your bag, bring a robe along.

This might be a bit harder for out of town visitors, given that a robe can take up a good chunk of packing space, but local visitors should definitely listen to this tip.

If you cannot bring a robe, or don’t want to lug one along with you, bring something easy to wear to and from the soaking pool like a zip up. Also, see my next tip!

Bring a Towel

If you plan to just visit the soaking pool for an hour soak, be sure to book in advance and bring a towel! You do not get a towel with your soak so for the pool visitors, you really need to bring your own towel.

If you are staying at McMenamins Kennedy School as an overnight guest, your room will come with towels. However, you should still bring a towel in my opinion. The white towels provided for the soaking pool are very small – like very small for all humans over the size of a 5 year old. So while you get towels for your stay, I still say bring a larger towel along.

Of course, you can wrap yourself up in your towel so that may knock off the need to bring a robe – although I say bring both if you can. I also highly recommend a larger Turkish towel if you have one.

Bring Your McMenamins Passport

McMenamins Kennedy School has a lot of passport stamps and you can also get so many more based on the property amenities and activities.

McMenamins Kennedy School is found on page 13 of the McMenamins Passport and there are 7 stamps for this location. You can also get all of these stamps at Kennedy School any time:

See a Movie
Play a Game
Soak in a Soaking Pool
Stay the Night
Try a Distillery/Wine/Beer Flight
Tour one of our Breweries (limited hours)

Of course, if you attend an event at McMenamins Kennedy School you can also get event stamps!

Don’t forget your passport, because this location really has what you need to stock up on stamps and prizes!

Bring a Plastic Bag (or Two)

This goes back to the soaking pool too – you will want to bring something to transport your wet bathing suit(s) home. Whether you are visiting overnight or just for a bit, if you plan to soak, you will have a wet bathing suit at the end of it. I recommend bringing a plastic bag, or waterproof bag, to throw your wet suit(s) in after you change.

There is a changing area located in the soaking pool vestibule, but there are also numerous bathrooms with large changing stalls and showers just across the hall.

I also recommend bringing a plastic, or waterproof, bag to bring out to the soaking pool to keep your phone and any other items dry during your soak! This will protect them from the rain or just splashes from the pool. I usually bring a ziplock for my phone and a waterproof bag to hold a few other items (room key or credit card, watch, etc.)

Bring Two Drinks to the Pool

You can most definitely drink in the soaking pool, in plastic of course, and this is why McMenamins soaking pools in Oregon are the absolute best.

The obvious tip is bring a drink to the soaking pool, but that’s not even a tip. My tip – bring two drinks! You can legally buy two drinks per person/per ID. You will definitely want two drinks for a one hour soak. So avoid having to get out of the pool, wrap yourself in a towel, put on the sandals, walk back inside dripping wet, and having to stand at a bar soaked and chilly while you get a second drink.

Bring two drinks in and you will not regret it!

Mini Tip – If you order wine, you can ask that they pour both of your wines into a larger plastic cup so you can also avoid two cups. Note – this only works with wine because the largest cup only holds one beer or cocktail.

See a Movie

McMenamins Kennedy School has the Kennedy School Theater which is located in the old auditorium. You will find old vintage couches and tables instead of theater seats (huge perk to me) and second run movies.

The Theater Bar is where you will pick up your tickets, drinks, and food, which you can bring into the theater with you. Hotel guests can go to the movies for free during their stay too. If you aren’t an overnight guest, a ticket will only run you $5 per adult.

Mini Tip – Watch out for day time movies. McMenamins Kennedy School Theater hosts parent-kid special showings during the day and it can turn into multiple small kids running around during the movie. Of course, if you have a little one, this is a great way to see a movie and not be scared your little one will break down, need to run around, or get distracted.

Play a Game in the Boiler Room

The Boiler Room is located on the backside and in the basement of the Kennedy School and is full of fun! From pool tables to shuffle board to darts, you will find plenty of fun activities inside this 21+ bar.

The pool table is located on the main floor, but walk down the stairs and you will find a massive bar and a labyrinth of rooms full of tables and games.

The Boiler Room is located in the school’s former boiler room and serves up a full food menu – calzones, salads, pizzas, and more!

Enjoy a Cigar at the Fire

While you used to be able to enjoy a cigar in Detention, those days are no more. But you can still buy a cigar in Detention and head out to the front of the school, where a large fit pit sits, and enjoy a cigar on property.

If you are a cigar person, I recommend giving it a try. It is not as cool as smoking in Detention, but a whole lot safer for guests and employees and it’s still cool to smoke a cigar at school!

You can also bring your own cigar if you just want to take advantage of a fun space to have your favorite cigar.

Head to the Gym for an Event

The gym at McMenamins Kennedy School is actually an event space – it is not open daily and does not have its own bar or restaurant. That all said, the space is so cool. I mean it is an old elementary school gymnasium, basketball hoops and all.

If you can attend an indoor even at McMenamins Kennedy School it will be most likely be in the gym, or at least involve the gym space. I highly recommend trying to attend one of these events so you can see the space and go to a fun event!

Explore the Concordia Brewery

Like so many McMenamins locations, McMenamins Kennedy School has it’s very own brewery – the Concordia Brewery! If you have had a McMenamins beer or two, you have probably had a beer brewed here.

Located in what used to be the girls bathroom, the Concordia Brewery brews over 2,000 barrels of beer a year. This brewery also brews a lot of the McMenamins beers – check out the full list here!

While it has limited hours, you can tour and visit the brewery so be sure to check out the hours before you go. You can also catch free tastings from time-to-time so that is always a fun treat if it works out.

Honors Bar is the Closest Bar to the Pool

If I didn’t mention it enough, you can drink in the soaking pool (plastic only!). Accordingly – it is critical to know where the closest bar is and that is Honors Bar! You can grab your drinks before you head into the soaking pool – and may I suggest you grab two – but if you run out while in the pool, you can do a quick towel off and run over to Honors Bar for a refill.

Honors Bar is just inside the hallway, towards the main entrance, but it does operate on limited hours so watch the schedule. If Honors Bar is closed, you can always grab drinks at the Courtyard Restaurant bar.

You Definitely Want Detention

I don’t know about you, but detention at my school growing up was not very fun. Kennedy School detention is way better! Detention Bar at Kennedy School is a bar! And a cute tiny bar at that.

Detention Bar is the old detention room and has a small bar, tiny tables and seats, a few sweet giant hand seats, and a big wood burning stove. It is perfect for a whiskey and playing a game of cards or just relaxing in the dark space. Detention Bar is 21 plus so no minors at any time.

McMenamins Whiskey Club member? Detention Bar has a special Whiskeys in the Shed menu for Whiskey Club members!

Detention Bar used to be a cigar but, but that is sadly gone. You can still purchase a cigar, but you’ll need to step outside to enjoy it.

Write on the Walls – Well, the Chalkboards

Who doesn’t want to write on the walls?! One of the coolest things about the Kennedy School property is all of the original chalkboards in the rooms and hallways. You have to take advantage of the chalk and write on the walls!

Play some hangman or tic-tac-toe, or just draw and doodle, on your walls. This is one place you will not be in trouble for writing all over the walls. Be sure to take some pics and enjoy the welcome note left for you by the staff.

Enjoy Alberta Arts District

While there is a lot to do at McMenamins Kennedy School, if you want to venture out during your stay, NE Alberta is just a few blocks away. Take a quick ten minute walk over to Alberta and explore the Alberta Arts District.

On Alberta you will find so many amazing restaurants, local shops, bars, a co-op, food pods, and a whole bunch of great street art! While exploring Alberta be sure to check out some of my favorites – Tin Shed, East Borough, Tiki Tea, Random Order, Bollywood Theater, and Bye and Bye.

Drink in the Halls

McMenamins Kennedy School has a mobile drink policy. This means you can bring your drink anywhere on the property with you! Take full advantage of this and drink in the hallways and wander around with your McMenamins 50/50 blend of choice.

There are lots of cute seating areas and benches in the hallways to relax with your drink. How often do you get to have an alcohol beverage in a school hallway and not get in trouble? So grab that drink and go drink in the halls.

Extra C0v1D Tip!

McMenamins allows fully vaccinated people to not wear a mask on property with proof of vaccination! At McMenamins Kennedy School you need to check in at the Front Desk and show your proof of vaccination – you will receive a bracelet to wear while on the property and this shows you are exempt from the mask mandate. Of course, you can still wear a mask even if you are fully vaccinated – that is entirely up to you!