The Off Beat in Portland’s Kenton neighborhood is an alcohol-free music venue that gives local teens access to the city’s live music scene.
PORTLAND, Oregon — An old Portland strip club is now an all-ages music venue.
“The Off Beat,” located in Portland’s Kenton neighborhood, hosts alcohol-free performances that give young people greater access to live music.
The venue, on North Interstate Avenue, previously operated as the strip club Dancin’ Bare.
“The Off Beat” manager, Andre Middleton, said he jumped on the opportunity when he saw the location was available.
“When we got here it was an empty shell,” Middleton said. “The buildings were boarded up with plywood.”
Middleton is also executive director of Friends of Noise, a local nonprofit that gives kids the opportunity to explore the music scene.
He said when the group started in 2015, there were no all-ages concert spaces in Portland.
“Most all-ages spaces can’t sell alcohol,” Middleton said. “Without that consistent source of revenue, they end up closing in a couple of months or a couple of years.”
As a nonprofit, the organization was able to apply for grants and accept donations to help get The Off Beat up and running.
Now, more than 10 years later, the group finally has its own space. And it’s not just for a young audience but also for young performers.
“We’ve got people who are starting at 9, 10, 11, and we’ve got adults performing well into their 60s,” Middleton said. “Most of our shows are multigenerational, so we want young people to see themselves on stage as well as see the adult bands they wish they could see at other clubs.”
While other all-ages venues have opened since the group started, Middleton said this one is the biggest in more ways than one.
“This is the largest at a 400-capacity room, and this is the only one that is a job-prep program where we teach young people how to run sound, how to make flyers, how to book bands, how to be a production manager,” Middleton said.
Middleton said serving as a workforce development training center for young people interested in the music industry also acts as a form of violence prevention.
The city’s Office of Violence Prevention is one of The Off Beat’s funders.
“If you envelop a young person in a community where they feel they belong, where they feel they can contribute, they want to protect that community. They don’t want to see it destroyed by themselves or by anybody else,” Middleton said.
A list of upcoming shows at The Off Beat can be found here.