The Roxy
The diner's interior in 2013
Restaurant information
Established	1994 (1994) (30 years ago)
Closed	March 20, 2022 (2022-03-20)
Owner(s)	Suzanne Hale
Food type	American
Street address	1121 Southwest Harvey Milk Street
City	Portland
County	Multnomah
State	Oregon
Postal/ZIP Code	97205
Country	United States
Coordinates	45°31′21″N 122°40′57″W / 45.5225°N 122.6826°W / 45.5225; -122.6826
Website	theroxydiner.com (archive copy)

The Roxy was a diner serving American cuisine in Portland, Oregon. Located on downtown Portland's Southwest Harvey Milk Street, the restaurant was established in 1994. The Roxy was popular as a late-night food destination and had a diverse clientele. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the diner operated 24 hours a day, except on Mondays. The Roxy has been described as "iconic" and a "landmark", and was known for being an LGBT-friendly establishment because of its employees' community involvement and its location within the historic hub of LGBT culture and nightlife. Following a forced six-month closure due to the pandemic, the diner opened under new public health and safety guidelines in November 2020. The diner closed in March 2022.

The Roxy was a diner on Southwest Harvey Milk Street in downtown Portland. The restaurant's small storefront neighbors were the gay bar Scandals and a residential hotel.^[1][2] The Roxy served American cuisine,^[3] including breakfast all day,^[4] and was described as having a "funky avant-garde theme".^[5] The interior featured a jukebox and a sculpture of Jesus.^[1] Depictions of nude women appeared on an overhead mirror.^[6] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the diner was open 24 hours a day,^[5][7] except on Mondays.^[6][8] Scandals patrons could order food from The Roxy and consume from inside the bar.^[9][10]

Jason Kaplan of Oregon Business described the diner's clientele as "a diverse bunch" and wrote: "There is usually a surge in business after 2 a.m. when the bars close. The Roxy is a popular spot after a night of clubbing."^[11] In 2020, Thom Hilton of Portland Monthly described The Roxy as a "gay diner", a "neon dive", and an "all-ages queer haven".^[1] Eater Portland's Brooke Jackson-Glidden has called the restaurant a "quintessential Portland hangout—especially among teenagers, partiers, and night-shifters".^[12]

The Roxy was established in 1994.^[1] Suzanne Hale (nicknamed "The Lovely Suzanne")^[1][13] owned the restaurant since c. 1995.^[5][14] In 2013, Eater Portland published Hale's "dish on what 24 hours is like at the open-all-day diner", giving readers an overview of typical shifts and The Roxy's clientele.^[7][14] The diner had a few longtime employees. April Shattuck served as general manager since The Roxy opened.^[5] As of 2018, one waiter had served patrons for 23 years, including 18 on the night shift.^[11] Hale's daughter April also served as a waitress at The Roxy.^[14]

Hale and The Roxy had a history of supporting Portland's LGBT community. She participated in an annual drag pageant presented by the International Sovereign Rose Court, Oregon's oldest LGBT nonprofit organization,^[13] and spoke at local gay–straight alliance meetings.^[1] She and other employees of the restaurant collected signatures for the Harvey Milk Street Project, an effort to name a part of Stark Street after LGBT rights activist and politician Harvey Milk.^[15] Hale said Stark Street's namesake, Benjamin Stark, "did not represent the city well".^[16]

In 2018, the stretch of Stark Street in front of The Roxy was successfully renamed Southwest Harvey Milk Street. As a sign of gratitude for the diner employees' contributions, the Harvey Milk Foundation presented The Roxy with a portrait painting of Milk. On behalf of the foundation, activist and politician Nicole Murray-Ramirez called the artwork "a way to honor the community and Portland residents who gathered signatures and helped make the city the third in the country to have a street named for Milk".^[15] In 2018, The Oregonian's Andrew Theen described Scandals and The Roxy as "the most-prominent gay businesses" still operating in the historical hub of local LGBT culture and nightlife.^[16]

The Roxy was forced to close for approximately six months in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5] Plywood covered the diner's windows, and a sign was displayed, saying, "The Roxy is closed until this is over ... take care of yourselves, stay home, and Washie Washie!"^[1] Following a remodel, The Roxy reopened on November 8, operating under new public health and safety guidelines.^[5] Two parking spaces outside the restaurant were converted to outdoor seating areas per a "healthy business permit" issued by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). Five structures resembling greenhouses built by nearby Cheryl's on 12th nearly doubled The Roxy's temporary capacity.^[5]

The remodel saw improvements to the diner's bathrooms and kitchens as well as the installation of plexiglass to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, porcelain tile and stainless steel replaced some interior finished wood features for easier cleaning. The Roxy closed at 10:00 p.m. daily as of November 2020; COVID-19 precautions included socially distanced tables, temperature checks for patrons and staff, and regular disinfecting.^[5]

The diner closed permanently on March 20, 2022. The Roxy's owners attributed the closure to financial losses during the pandemic. In February 2021, during planned reopening efforts, a fire and resulting water damage forced another four-month closure. When the city later announced it would rehabilitate the building the Roxy was operating in, Hale said the Roxy was forced out, prompting the permanent closure.^[17][18][19]

The Roxy has been described as "iconic" and a "landmark".^[5][7][13] Willamette Week said in a 2015 bar guide:

Whither the Roxy, so goes a whole culture of the teenaged, the goth, the gender-idiosyncratic, the deeply drunk and Ecstasy-enamored and otherwise merely nearby—Portland's joyful late-night fringe that seemingly, mostly, needs an insane amount of egg, biscuit, bacon and especially gravy; a bottomless 4 a.m. cup of joe; and a 5 a.m. heart attack. This ode to camp and days gone by, in the 'heart of a glamour district' that has mostly faded around it, does not change and does not fade. It never should.^[20]

A 2017 article in the newspaper stated: "The Roxy is the only thing in Portland seemingly immune to the ravages of time, with DayGlo-yellow gravy, omelets thick as thighs and tables full of teens conceived on Molly who also take Molly. Long may it ruin the digestion of the drunk and high."^[8] The Portland Mercury's Santi Elijah Holley wrote:

If you're looking for a taste of Old Portland, no matter what time of night or day ... look no further than the Roxy. For more than two decades, this 24-hour diner has been a destination for late-night carousers in need of a 4 a.m. fix, or a before-work hangover meal. Breakfast at the Roxy, like any good diner worth its salt, is served anytime, in large portions, and naturally, named after second-rate actors or classic B-movies.... Mind you, this isn't food meant to be savored, shared, or Instagrammed; it is meant to sop up booze—and in that, the Roxy triumphs.^[4]

In his 2018 overview of "the best in LGBTQ+ nightlife, bars, parties, comedy, and more", the newspaper's Andrew Jankowski described The Roxy as an "after-party drunk food oasis".^[9] Jason Kaplan of Oregon Business wrote in 2018: "ince Portland's halcyon days of the 1990s when things were still weird, The Roxy has been a late-night oasis for revelers of all stripes. After the bars kick you out you can come here and drink coffee until you're sober, or fight a hangover with pancakes."^[11] In his 2019 "ultimate guide to Portland's 40 best brunches", The Oregonian's Michael Russell called The Roxy an "old-school Portland diner with an all-day breakfast menu and 24-hour service" and a "dim downtown haunt".^[6] The newspaper's Lizzy Acker ranked The Roxy number 20 on her 2019 list of the city's top 25 corned beef hash entrées. She also said the 24-hour service and "vibe", reminding guests they ate in "Portland F---ing Oregon", were the "best things" about the diner.^[21] In 2020, Portland Monthly's Thom Hilton said: "The Roxy is the meeting place of kids who want to be weirdo grown-ups and weirdo grown-ups who might become ghosts.... This is a joint where you might pick up a cute bear's number as you chat about Twin Peaks and lighten up your coffee with milk from a baby bottle."^[1]

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the LGBT community
• List of diners

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roxy Diner.

• Official website, archived by the Internet Archive
• "The Roxy". Tripadvisor.