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A day in portland
By Terry Currier
Portland has a great bunch of self-contained bohemian communities within the city. Hawthorne Street still keeps itself weird with a great mix of local business. Looking for clothes? There’s The Red Light, specializing in cutting edge, retro and even cheesy fashion. The Cats Meow offers a great array of items for your cat as well as items that have a cat motif. The Hawthorne Street Café has been a staple on the street for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. The Bread & Ink is a longtime resident to this street and a fine one indeed. They always have the best bialys. Portland Wine Merchants always has a wonderful selection of great import wines at really affordable prices. It's nice to fine $10.00 good bottles of wine. There are a lot of regular street characters on Hawthorne, much reminding us today of our major hippie culture. The evidence of the late 60's exists on the street as well as in a few shops. The Third Eye is a great place to re-visit the culture or add to your existing culture. McMenamins owns a couple properties on this street, one being the landmark old theater, The Baghdad. They saved it and enshrined it to it's original past … almost. There are some tables and chairs in there and you can drink beer, eat pizza and watch second run movies for cheap, on a big big screen like the old days before the metro plexus. And sometimes they show classics from the past. The McMenamin Brothers first theater/pub located on NW Glisan was a success some ten years ago. They also bough some other properties, such as Kennedy Elementary School, and have turned them into hotels with restaurants, theaters and a variety of other fun things to do.
It's 6:00 PM and most of the shops are closing up on this Saturday downtown. The sun is starting to set and lights on the signs and marquees are glowing. Downtown doesn't stop when nighttime arrives in Portland. It stays viverant with people walking down every street. We decide to stop into Stumptown to grab a coffee and look at the movie section of the Willamette Week, a weekly newspaper that has been here over 30 years. We decide to go see a showing of an all-time classic, "The King of Hearts" at the Hollywood Theater. This theater was bought in recent years by a group who plans to restore it to its original splendor. It was built in the 30's and has an elegance to it that is beginning to show again as restoration in some areas has taken place. As we drive up Sandy, you can see the great old 7-Up sign as you approach the Hollywood area. It's a landmark now, as the bottling company no longer occupies that building.
After the film, we decide to take in a light dinner and a beverage or two. No better place than The Horse Brass Pub at 46th and Belmont. The Horse Brass Pub has been going since 1975, when brothers Bill and Don Younger opened its doors. The special thing about the Horse Brass, other than its authentic British Pub feel and charm, was the extensive array of beers it carried from around the world. It opened the pallet and minds of many Oregon beer drinkers and paved the way for Portland to be known as the beer capitol of the United States. The Horse Brass serves British Pub grub as well as a few American Pub Favorites. Their Ploughman Lunch and bangers were never equaled in quality during a recent trip to England. Their cast conditioned ESB is one of the finest beers in the world.
It's time to call it a day. We are all lucky to live in this great city. It's these and other locally owned business's that help keep Portland unique (or weird). It's important that the people in this city don't take it for granted. There is not another City in America like Portland. To keep it this way, we must patronize and support these local entrepreneurs. Remember that next time you explore a Portland neighborhood, decide to go shopping or even go out for a meal. You'll be happy with the results years down the road.