One opens, another closes

Mt. Hood Pizza & Grill had its ribbon cutting on Feb 29, 2016. It will be four years before they can celebrate the anniversary on the actual date.

The owner, Mark Craig Davisson, operated a business with the same name for nine years in Portland Oregon. The menu of the Rensselaer restaurant is the same as the menu of his Oregon restaurant.

Inside much of the decor is the same as it was when Slice of Pie was located here. One difference I noticed immediately is that the counter in front of the kitchen is gone. New also is the Elvis lamp; the main room is called the Elvis Room.

Completely new is a second room that was once a pool room and before that was used for dry cleaning when this business was a laundromat/dry cleaner. The room needs new dry wall, but for now the old walls are hidden behind sheets sewn to make a tent. In addition to providing additional seating, this room can be used for special events and parties. (It is called the Lincoln Room.)

I was surprised to learn that Mr Davisson has rented the whole building from the Donnelly estate. I expected him to be subleasing from Steve Marzke but transactions were made and issues were resolved. The part of the building that was Ayda's is now used for storage.

Below is the menu. Click for a larger view.


The restaurant has rented a search light, which as I write this is visible in the night sky.

As Mt Hood Pizza & Grill opens, Noble Roman's and Blockbuster are closing. A bit more than a year ago they were celebrating with a ribbon cutting. The purpose of opening the pizza business was to get more people in the store and provide a second source of revenue. Apparently it was not enough. The sign on the door and on Facebook blame the Internet--Netflix, Redbox, Hulu. It is sad and it represents the end of an era, the age of video rentals.


If you want to purchase their DVDs and whatever else they will be selling, be there at noon on Friday.

(Notice the lack of snow. The warm weather of over the weekend melted most of it.)