Dockside Saloon exterior at golden hour
Portland, Oregon · Est. 1986

A Portland Original

A building from 1925. A restaurant since 1986. A story nobody expected.

January 30, 1994

When the Dumpster
Made History

63
Media Interviews
1994
Year It Happened
FBI
Called Immediately

On January 30, 1994, owner Kathy Peterson was doing what she did every morning — taking out the trash. It was a routine she'd repeated thousands of times. But on this particular Monday morning, she noticed something unusual: several bags of garbage that didn't belong to the restaurant, left by strangers in the Dockside's dumpster.

Curious, she looked inside. What she found would make international news.

Evidence Found in the Dumpster

📄

A $10,000 check stub from the U.S. Figure Skating Association made out to Tonya Harding — evidence linking her to the organization at the center of the investigation.

✉️

An envelope with handwritten notes — later confirmed to be in Tonya Harding's own handwriting — detailing Nancy Kerrigan's practice schedule at her home rink, the Tony Kent Arena in South Dennis, Massachusetts.

🚕

A Detroit taxi receipt and an envelope addressed to Jeff Gillooly (Harding's ex-husband) from the Associated Press — connecting the web of conspiracy.

Kathy Peterson called the FBI. The evidence she'd found became pivotal to the federal investigation into what had become known simply as "the incident" — the brutal attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan with a police baton just weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Tonya Harding had publicly denied any involvement. The handwriting in that envelope proved otherwise. She was ultimately stripped of her U.S. figure skating title and banned from competitive skating for life.

In the weeks that followed, the Dockside Saloon gave 63 interviews to newspapers, magazines, and television shows from around the world. A modest neighborhood diner on NW Front Avenue found itself at the center of one of the most sensational sports scandals of the 20th century.

To their knowledge, neither Tonya Harding nor any of her associates had ever visited the restaurant. The theory? They spotted the dumpster and decided to save themselves a five-mile trip to the local transfer station.

What a mistake that was.

"We joke that we're best known for our garbage, but we think our food is pretty darned good — and we hope that you do too."

Please remember this: be careful where you dump your trash. You never know who might find it.

Where It All Began

A Holdout on
NW Front Avenue

Stand at the corner of NW Front Avenue and look at the Dockside Saloon & Restaurant. Around it, everything has changed — new apartment towers, modern office buildings, the gleaming Field Office complex. But the Dockside hasn't budged. It stands today much as it has since 1986, wearing its weathered wood and its neon OPEN sign like a badge of honor.

That's not stubbornness. That's soul.

The building dates to approximately 1925, when it first served as a commissary for the railroad workers who moved freight along the Willamette River waterfront. In those early decades it fed the working men who built Portland. It has never stopped doing that job — the faces have changed, the menu has evolved, but the spirit is identical.

Prior to the Dockside era, the space was home to "What's Up Doc" and before that, "Dot's Sternwheeler." Each iteration served the neighborhood. Each left its mark in the walls. The Dockside has been here the longest — and intends to keep it that way.

Dockside Saloon exterior with covered patio and wooden signage

Come In

Your Regular Table
Is Waiting

Open every day from 7 AM. 2047 NW Front Ave, Portland. The hashbrowns are ready.

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