"Old School"

My new work in Philadelphia is going to consume me for quite some time.  I'm on day 4 and I'm already putting in 9 hours there and coming home and working.  My wanderings, therefore, are limited to reading about places. 

I read in this morning's Metro newspaper (Philly edition) about a hotel in an old school.  I made a mental note, as I have for years and years when I read of something of interest, as a possibility should I be in Portland, Oregon again someday.

The McMenamins-Kennedy School Hotel features 35 classrooms-turned-hotel-rooms.  These rooms all have the original chalkboards and cloakrooms.  (Gosh, "cloakroom" is a word I haven't heard in a very, very long time.)  Each room has been retrofitted with a private bath.

The rates - at what I would consider this boutique-type hotel - are reasonable by city standards. Well, at least as compared to hotel rates in Northeastern cities.  The queens run from $109 - $125 and the kings from $114 - $130.  I'm not sure if the rate includes admission to the on-site movie theater, which is showing current movies now (Crazy Heart and Avatar).  There is also an on-site brewery.

A blurb on the hotel's website references this brewery...and smokin' in the...well, not exactly boys' room.

Remember when the worst thing you could imagine was being kept after class? My, how things have changed! At Kennedy School, you'll never want to leave. Here you can have a pint in a classroom, enjoy an aged whiskey and a cigar in detention, enjoy a movie in the old auditorium.... The possibilities here are endless. (Just don't run in the hallways, please. You might spill your beer.)

The school was a former elementary school that opened in 1915.  More of the school's history, and information related to the artwork throughout the hotel, can be discovered in the former principal's office.  With this history and the other features of the hotel, it is, according to the hotel website,

No wonder why in March '10, the Kennedy School was named the #1 Quirkiest Hotel in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.com -- an A+ for us!

The website also indicates the McMenamins organization has several other hotels.  Haven't done my homework (ha!) to see if these are in the Pacific Northwest or are in similarly "re-purposed" buildings.  (Most appropriate to mention as this is Earth Day.) 

As I daydream, I think this is one old school (for someone proudly "old school" and a former teacher-for-an-ever-so-brief-time) that requires a visit.