Free Enterprise in the Gorge

Buff Daddy’s Place: Open for Business

By Dan Richardson, 11-24-06

In the long-running battle between the owners of the Viewpoint Inn and, oh, seemingly every official in the Gorge, we have a winner: the Inn is open for business.

A Multnomah County hearing officer approved a conditional-use permit for the historic Corbett inn earlier this month. Owners Geoff “Buff Daddy” Thompson and partner Angelo Simione say they’re taking summer wedding reservations, and could have the restaurant portion of the inn open in several weeks.

The saga of the Viewpoint Inn is a decade-old now, and included any number of twists and turns as the hard-headed Thompson and allies struggled with, defied and gradually overturned molasses-like bureaucrats. There were charges of bullying from both sides: foot-dragging planners who resisted Thompson and Simione’s enterprise, on one side, and the partners’ rule-breaking and mob-like supporters on the other.

Fortunes turned when Thompson — returned from exile in Los Angeles to re-open the Viewpoint Inn with Simione — convincing the Columbia River Gorge Commission to change Scenic Area policy to allow re-development of historic buildings like the Viewpoint. It probably didn’t hurt their cause, either, to have the support of Multnomah County Chairman-elect Ted Wheeler, who promises his own tilt at the county’s bureaucracy.

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