Stanich's Burgers in Portland, Saturday at 6 p.m.

The first thing you notice are the penants, hundreds of them, covering almost every inch of the wood-paneled walls, spanning as many years as Stanich's has been business — 65 to be exact. They're a colorful peek into the past. But with penants from as far away as Trinity College in Dublin, they also offer a clue into what keeps this neighborhood tavern going strong year after year: Everyone is welcome here, no matter where you're from.

And so, on a typical Saturday night at 6 p.m., the red vinyl booths and swivel chairs at the bar are starting to fill up with people who come from all over town to dig into juicy old-school burgers made from freshly ground chuck and overflowing baskets of hand-cut fries. There are families with kids, older couples grabbing dinner after a busy afternoon of errands, single guys fueling up. And in the banquet room in back, there are about 60 family members hugging and laughing, celebrating something.

Sure, celebrities have come and gone (it's a favorite among Blazers), little league teams have grown up, but, really, not much has changed at Stanich's since George and Gladys Stanich first opened the burger joint in 1949. And in a way that's precisely how it's always been able to keep up with the times. The kind of authenticity and sense of community you find there never goes out of style.