Brian McNamara is a busy man.
He’s known around town as the owner of Brian’s Pourhouse, a Hood River staple since 1998, and for his terms on the Hood River City Council and budget committee. He has a young son with fiancée Christine Remmer, and enjoys many outdoor activities in the gorge.
He’s embarked on a new venture showcasing his background in Taekwondo.
McNamara is from Pottstown, Penn., which is an hour from Philadelphia. He graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science degree in business and finance in 1988, and, fresh out of college, purchased a bar in Pottstown.
He found Hood River while visiting the brother of a longtime friend Scott Reynier, of Hershner & Bell. After that trip, McNamara frequently came back on vacation, until finally deciding to make Hood River his permanent residence.
“I figured I’d move here and vacation in Pennsylvania,” he said. “It’s a change of life; I moved here for the quality of life, and (Hood River is) more my personality.”
Once here, McNamara worked at Sixth Street Bistro and on Mt. Hood and “knew all the restaurant people in town,” he said, as he looked for space to open a restaurant or bar. “I didn’t hide I was looking to open my own place.”
He found that place in what was then a breakfast and lunch eatery called Purple Rocks. He liked the building and the location, and before long had worked out a deal. The first thing he changed was the menu.
“I wanted dinner and a bar,” he explained, although that looked a little different in the beginning than it does today.
When McNamara opened Brian’s, his main competition was Sixth Street Bistro and Big Horse downtown, the old Big City Chicks on the Heights (now Thai House), and local hotels.
“Andrews had food, but that was pizza,” he said. “I was trying to give a different option to downtown.”
These days, his competition is everywhere, be it downtown, the Heights or the waterfront, and whether it’s in the form of a food cart, restaurant, winery, brewery or even bike shop selling alcohol. The biggest change, he said, has come from the explosion of the wine and beer industry in recent years.
But if Hood River’s food and beverage scene has evolved with time, so has Brian’s. A few years ago, the restaurant expanded, adding a basement bar and outside area.
“The big thing is I definitely want the building to evolve and move forward … to reinvent ourselves or stay up with the competition, to give everybody what they’d like,” he said. Brian’s accomplishes this by “blending the Northwest’s finest ingredients with great service,” he said. “We try to keep a very polite, friendly staff, and everybody’s welcome,” he added, likening Brian’s to the “Cheers” television show. “Locals are our best customers, and if you can satisfy the neighborhood, it will take care of itself or grow.”
Despite his busy restaurant schedule, McNamara ran for and was elected to the Hood River City Council in 2010, and is currently finishing his first—and last—term. But his work with the City of Hood River dates back to 2008, when he served on the budget committee. He got involved, he said, “when they were having all the problems in town with our finances,” and, while on the committee, he was approached to run for City Council.
“I fought it, but I was persuaded by council members at the time,” he said. He is finishing up his four-year term and is not seeking reelection because of other endeavors—and because he feels the city is in a better place.
He’s most proud of “the turn around of the financial system of the city,” he said. “The council did a really good job. (Mayor) Arthur (Babitz) did a great job putting the city in the right direction.”
And now that he has a son, Nolan, who will turn four in October, he feels it’s time to step off the council. “I just feel someone else can dedicate more time,” he said. “Between the restaurant, starting the Taekwondo school and having a four-year-old, my time will be more wisely spent.”
He recently opened his Taekwondo studio on the Heights, at 1016 11th Street, in the former Pistil location (and before that Hood River Plumbing Supply building) which has now been remodeled.
McNamara has been practicing Taekwondo for 33 years, starting freshman year of high school. He taught classes in college and was on the U.S. team, competing both around the country and internationally. Even as he ran his first bar, he still taught classes. And that continued when he moved to Hood River.
“Scott (Reynier) had a small class that I helped with when I first moved to town,” he said, casually adding he became the Oregon State Director for the U.S. Taekwondo Federation in 1999 and would help at the USTF school, teaching instructors, running tournaments and holding black belt workouts. Two years ago, he left to become vice president of Original Taekwondo Federation.
To make a long story short, “basically, I’m certified and I got my masters last year in Jamaica,” he said. “I’ve been to quite a few international seminars and instructor courses”—10 in the past 15 years.
He’s still teaching Taekwondo because “I like to train myself, like to learn myself,” he said. “I think it’s a good experience at any age, and it’s a lot of fun,” he added. “For me, it’s been a good experience, of traveling and meeting people from all over the world and having a common interest with them.”
Not only that, but he finds the exercise both calming and useful. “It kind of mellows you out, gives you some self-confidence. It’s my joy, it’s good exercise, but it’s practical exercise—one of those things similar to dance; it’s an exercise you can play with on the street.”
He likens Taekwondo training to the military: “It’s who you come up under, and who your instructors are,” he said. He was lucky enough to train under a lot of well respected, high-ranking instructors, he said, like the founder of Taekwondo, General Choi Hong Hi, and USTF President, Senior Grand Master Charles Sereff.
“I definitely think I have a different view on the martial arts and more of it — an international view — because I was directly involved in the Federation,” he said. “For myself, I’ve definitely been involved at the international level at a young age, and have been lucky enough to have a lot of good instructors around me at a young age.”
Part of getting his masters degree last year was an agreement that he “dedicate and open a fulltime school,” he said. He started teaching classes at Big Gym before opening his studio on the Heights. He teaches a class for children 7-12 years old, and another for adults (12 and older). The studio is open three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday, from 3:30-6 p.m.
Those interested in signing up for classes can check out McNamara’s website (Taekwondohoodriver.com; currently under construction, but it should be finished by next week), call him at 541-490-4344, or stop by the studio during business hours.
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