Lola's Room

The dance floor below the Crystal Ballroom's spring-loaded, floating hardwood, the sister venue's namesake is Lola Baldwin, Multnomah County’s first staff policewoman—and a reform-minded leader who crusaded to rid public halls (and more specifically, “jazz dancing”) from the city. Stifling regulations were passed and dance steps were banned. Baldwin even tried to impose a standardized dance position from which no one was permitted to stray. A dance hall inspector made the rounds of all the city’s public ballrooms to ensure no funny business was happening. Years later, McMenamins named one of its drinking and dancing spots after her, in a cheeky homage to her mission.