One of the most noticeable things about John Henry’s is that it doesn’t look like it belongs in the middle of downtown Eugene. This is one of its most appealing attributes. The dimly lit bar bleeds atmosphere all over and, despite the fact that the current location opened after the indoor smoking ban took effect, still smells like stale cigarettes and cheap booze. (It’s a smell that never goes away. It infects the furniture. In thirty years, the place will probably still smell like the Marlboro Man just finished a three-day-long hoe-down.) The decor is concert posters, road signs, T-shirts with naughty words on them and abstract art. No, I’m not
kidding.
There are really only a few things you need to know about John Henry’s: It has Pabst on tap (ah, Oregon, my Oregon), free pool most nights and plays lots of hard-edged rock ‘n’ roll (ladies and gentlemen, The Cramps!). I realize this might make the place sound like a dingy biker bar, but there is balance. Its theme nights are some of the best times to be had in Eugene, some of the coolest rock acts in town play and the booze selection is large enough to meet the needs of any member of the community’s population of social and/or problem drinkers.
According to the staff, the bar’s biggest draws are the theme nights, particularly ’80s Night every Thursday, which packs the crowd to the rafters (all the more impressive in as much as the building does not, in fact, have rafters). Not to be overlooked is the Sunday night Broadway Revue, which is like a strip show, only more fun and without the pathetic mix of pity and guilt.
“One of the best things about this place is that there is always something different going on,” head of security Jason Cronk said. “But it’s not a scenesters club.”
The bar itself has undergone a wide variety of changes. Opening in 1992 at a West 11th location, the place was practically built by Eugene’s underground music scene and spent much of its time supporting a wide array of comically named punk bands throughout the 1990s (personal favorite: Portland’s The Sweaty Nipples). By the end of the decade, St. Vincent de Paul’s took over the property and decided to build low-cost housing on the site (weak!), and John Henry’s moved to its current Broadway location.
“I’ve got my name carved in the concrete outside of this place,” Cronk said. “I helped build this place.
Employees were in here re-painting and working on the place because we wanted our jobs back. It’s been doing a lot better than it was before.”
For all the theme nights and its
punk-rock shows, John Henry’s manages to maintain a relaxed atmosphere.
“We’re a pretty straightforward bar,” bartender Molly McKeown said. “I think the craziest thing we’ve done here is pudding wrestling. By the end of the night, I was the only person not covered in pudding.”
Despite being pretty straightforward, the place does have its points of interest. The bathrooms have a wide range of reading material and the list of bizarre drink orders is interesting. One is the Cement Mixer, a drink involving Baily’s, lemon juice and a few other choice ingredients. I’m not too sure how this works, but apparently the drink curdles in your mouth as you drink it. While vomitting is not guaranteed, it is a likely prospect.
The other was the wonderfully named Irish Car Bomb, which involves placing a shot glass full of Jameson and Baily’s inside half a glass of Guinness. To illustrate, the man drank two of them while I was there. I stuck with coffee, which was about as heroic, given what the
coffee tasted like.
Overall, the bar is one of the best hangout spots around. Business doesn’t pick up until around 10 p.m. and until then, things stay pretty quiet. Prices are decent, the pool tables are in good repair and the lighting is dim and moody. You can’t expect it to get better than that.

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