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A day in portland
By Terry Currier
Down the street about a mile and a half
is book heaven, Powell's
the biggest book store in the country. We could get lost for hours in
this giant multi-storied building of both new and used books. Some even
written by Portland's own, like "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn,
a both delightful and disturbing story about a different kind of family.
We can find a great selection of books on the city and state along with
about any accessible book you could ever imagine. Their color coded rooms
are bigger than most book stores ... I’m not saying big is better
but it's a book 
reader's
fantasy and always worth the stop.
Now it's time to hit the matinee over at Cinema
21 just about 3/4 of a mile from Powell's
on NW 21st. This theater is one of those relics from the first half of
the 20th century and has been showing art and classic films since the
70's. It was the first place Portlander's got a chance to see the Rocky
Horror Picture Show. The films change weekly in most cases with some showing
only a few days. They print up a great handy Dandy Program quarterly with
gives you a chance to mark your calendars way in advance as well as find
out about some wonderful movies you might otherwise not know about.
Now it's time to grab lunch. We take a drive back to the East Side of
the river to Esparza's
Tex Mex Cafe, 
better
know as Tex-Mex heaven. On the way we pass the Crystal
Ballroom, a ballroom built in an early first decade of the last century.
It lay dormant from 1968 until about 6 years ago. The McMenamin Brothers,
who own a ton of micro-brew pubs in town, bought it, restored it, and
brought music and dancing back to the great room. Gary Ewing, Portland's
own light show genius from the 60's was part of the grand re-opening.
He spent some time in the building in the previous decade keeping the
vibe alive. The main ballroom has a ball bearing floor, one of only four
left in the world. It would have been easy for someone to tear it down
and build a high-rise but thanks to the McMenamins,
this room has become a great re-addition to our lives.
We are now approaching Ezparzas, located right next to another long time establishment, Holmans. They serve all three meals and good affordable drinks. However, we are here to have Tex-Mex, next door. Joe Esparza came to Portland some 10 odd years ago to try and locate a building for his restaurant. He found it in a building that had been the Blue Goose. A bar with 2 major brewery regular beers and 2 light beers, a wall of books the patrons rarely read and a clientele that seemed very glued to their bar seats…maybe for the past 40 years or so. Joe brought with him his wife and the recipes of his mother from Dallas. In no time the news spread of the fine dishes. The smaller front room transformed into an old curiosity shop type place, complete with a great 45-RPM jukebox. Great music from 6 decades could be found on it. However, it was the food that really brought in the customers. To accommodate Joe knocked out the back wall and enlarged it within few years. Lunch you can get into pretty easily but the lines for this non-reservation establishment can be long at dinner, especially between 6 and 8pm on Friday and Saturday. Well worth the wait as we downed the Oregon Trail enchiladas and a couple of shots from the famous Tequila shrine.