Fodor's Expert Review McMenamins Kennedy School

In a renovated elementary school near Northeast Portland's trendy Alberta District, Oregon's famously creative McMenamin brothers hoteliers created a quirky and fantastical multiuse facility with guest rooms that feature original schoolhouse touches like chalkboards and cloakrooms and literature-inspired themes, a movie theater, a restaurant, a warm outdoor soaking pool, a brewery, and several small bars. This may be one of the most unusual (and fun) hotels you'll ever encounter—the casual Courtyard restaurant, "a school cafeteria like no other," has mahogany booths, an outdoor space for warmer days, decent pub food, and ales brewed in-house, and you can enjoy cocktails and classical music in Honors Bar, or play billiards and shuffleboard in the Boiler Room Bar—depending on your mood. Guest rooms occupy former classrooms, and each has tall windows and a hand-painted mural depicting a nursery rhyme or teacher.