I think everyone born in Oregon is an environmentalist by birth.
Phil Knight
America is more than Escalades and Dollar Trees. More than Arby’s and Hampton Inns or glass towers and corporate public art. America runs on the formulaic, but when something original emerges, we Americans perk up. It doesn’t take much, just an honest attempt at something handmade, created with the sole intent of making people happy.
One such place is the Suttle Lodge, a quirky lakefront hideout in the 1.6 million acre Deschutes National Forest, just outside of Sisters, Oregon.
Sisters is the home of the Sisters Rodeo, “The Biggest Little Show in the World” and the Sno Cap Drive-in where they’ve been making world-class milkshakes since 1954. But the thing that makes the place are the trees: giant Ponderosa and Lodgepole pines.
In true Asphalt Jungle fashion, Robert Sacks and Dave Schrott at A&R Development bought this implausible rural Oregon location for $1.5 million and created something wonderful.
Tucked up against Suttle Lake, under the giant pines, are $5 drafts. The sign leaves no doubt about the available beverage:
Details make the difference, and one of Suttle Lodge’s more ingenious (and low cost) ones is a thumbtack wall of dog visitors, captured in Polaroids:
A WOOD-burning fireplace anchors the Skip Bar - in a way gas logs couldn’t.
Fun merch, with vintage earnestness:
Simple cabins, but with style. These cabins have a Traeger grill but no plumbing. There’s a communal bathhouse with toilet, sink, and shower. Green, but not Forest Service-green.
Recycled VFW chairs and a mix of midcentury styles.
The Skip Bar has a terrific vinyl collection. If Suttle Lodge had a theme song, Seals & Crofts’ Summer Breeze would be a contender.
If for no other reason, the “Famous Potato Chip Crusted Idaho Rainbow Trout Sandwich” with fishtrap sauce, cabbage, onion, and pickle, justifies a Suttle Lodge visit.
Suttle Lake - the star of the show - and the boathouse rents boats, canoes, and kayaks:
The developers other projects include Portland’s Ace Hotel, Cooper’s Hall Winery & Taproom, and the redevelopment of a defunct bowling alley into the first indoor mountain-biking park in the West.
Thank you for reading Asphalt Jungle - if you’re passionate about transformative real estate development, apply to join AUTOMATIC - a gathering for real estate developers interested in making wonderful places and the innovative retail & hospitality brands, designers, contractors, and capital providers that bring those places to life.
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Oh, please say there’s archery!
I relish in the proportions for the “Famous Potato Chip Crusted Idaho Rainbow Trout Sandwich." It's also ironic that the trout resembles the shape of New Hampshire rather than Idaho.