Downtown on a Friday night isn’t what it used to be.
I took a stroll through downtown last night, shocked at how quiet it was. I’m down there at all hours, used to hustle and bustle. During the weekday it’s office people; at night it’s the same people unwinding amongst the students and other colorful types that inhabit the area. Weekends bring a party crowd. (Woohoo!) There wasn’t much of anything going on last night.
It was a bit early for the Greek Cusina to be hopping, if indeed they do hop anymore. Repeated clashes with the city have left the Papas clan stinging from the OLCC restrictions and fire inspections. Kitty-corner across the street, the City Nightclub has shuttered. Numerous attempts to comply with the OLCC’s demands were unsatisfactory.
The Rialto was doing a hopping business, although it seems weird to have everyone standing outside smoking. It’s like running a gauntlet sometimes. Are smokers the new social pariahs?
Another happenin’ place was Voodoo Donuts. I’ve recently become addicted to Memphis Mafia fritters. The first time I had these, they were made with apple fritters instead of banana fritters. After getting irritated at the counter girl becasue she never had them in stock, she confessed that my first exposure, the apple variety, was an accident. (Talk about first impressions and happy accidents!) I think they should offer both. Maybe they could call the apple variety the Johnny Potseed, or a Humboldt County Cowpie. I’m casting a spell for this, as soon as I get ahold of my witch cousin.
Perhaps the biggest sign of recession is the rapidly increasing disappearance of longtime mainstays downtown. I ran into Doug Peterson of Peterson’s Newsstands the other day. After doing battle with the city to stay open, he now has to face the looming recession and everyone’s lack of spending money, so has decided to close two of his stores during the late hours. The city-mandated security had been crippling his bottom line, and lack of business has forced him to do this. (The hotels nearby are being hit hard as well, part of the Peterson problem. Peterson’s is a destination-spot for the hotel crowd; unfortunately the hotels are low-occupancy of late.) He’ll be open until the bars close, but finding cigarettes and candy at 3 AM just became a little harder.
Not to be kept completely down, Mr Peterson is keeping his 4th Avenue store open 24/7. It’s that hole-in-the-wall between the Greek Cusina and Doner Kebab. If Voodoo Donuts doesn’t have a Memphis Mafia or MayOral Cock & Balls, you can always load up on Little Debbie’s for a tenth of the price!
I sure hope the hot weather comes soon, and brings the happy wanderers back downtown. All those nice wide sidewalks with nobody on them is a depressing site indeed. Come on downtown and have some fun, people! Let’s keep Portland the City of Roses, not the City of Tumbleweeds.
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The other night, @TheSquare floated a question about a proposed rule that would extend the pay-to-park hours to 9 PM and raise the per-hour fee to $1.50. Apparently, the goal is to raise funds to fix the roads.
While I agree that funds need to be raised in some way, it seems to me that something like this would only hurt the downtown economy even more, as people would be increasingly less likely to go out to eat, see a show, etc.
I try to do my part and go out, despite the troubling economic times – here’s hoping that downtown survives!
I think the weather is the main culprit here. At least, I know it is for me and my family. Once the warmer weather makes a return, I see many more wanderings downtown. We even take the kids. The people watching is really fun and getting a doughnut each at VooDoo and adding snacking to our wanderings really makes for a fun night.
I agree that the recession has really hit the area hard, but I think Portland will recover quickly from this. We have a vibrant community that works hard to ensure everyone is supported.
I live and work downtown. I’m in total agreement that it needs a booster shot. It’s a complex issue. During the work week, aside from the food carts – there are no great lunching spots. The sidewalks are crowded with pan-handlers and chuggers (charity muggers.) The shopping choices are just Meh – nothing you can’t find at the mall, where you can park for free and won’t get accosted by people asking you for change. There aren’t a lot of family friendly things to do downtown either. If you are not into the bar scene – is there any reason to go downtown?
I hope someone in a Portland leadership position has a plan for downtown that does not involve more condos or streetcars…
I attempted to stimulate the downtown economy last week. I needed to pick up several picture frames. In the ‘burbs I would’ve headed to Michael’s, but the nearest one was in Clackamas. On my lunch hour I went downtown and walked to three different stores (two chains plus one local).
I walked around for about 30 minutes. One store didn’t have what I needed. One didn’t have enough of what I needed (I needed six identical frames) and seemed overpriced. The third store was WAY overpriced. I was harassed by several people to sign up for whatever political agenda they were pushing and got to dodge a bunch of panhandlers.
After work, I drove straight to Michael’s, where I could park (for free), walk in the store, walk out with six frames for the price of what two would’ve cost me downtown, and be on my way in about 10 minutes.
I’d love to buy things downtown, if it wasn’t so hard and expensive.
I remember Peterson’s being a mainstay of my late night social meanderings as a youth. If it weren’t for Peterson’s being open all hours, in fact…well I probably would have smoked a lot less. :/ But I’m all for supporting local businesses.
I agree that downtown is pretty quiet, but it has been like that for awhile. When you tear up whole streets, it makes it difficult for people to venture down…but I digress.
What is the definition of downtown? Some argue it is the area surrounding Pioneer Courthouse Square – all the tall buildings. Others would extend that south to PSU and North to the Fremont bridge and include NW (23rd and 21st etc.) Some even extend the definition of downtown Portland across the river to include the Lloyd business district. If you go that far, then downtown is pretty thriving IMHO.
Yeah, the quirky dive bars and places of yore like Hamburger Mary’s and The Metro and the original Virginia Cafe are gone, other locales for a different population have thrived – Henry’s; Silverado; Kell’s; Low Brow lounge; Saucebox. I just think the demographic has changed, not necessarily what is being offered.
For me, after 5pm, unless it is happy hour, I choose to stay in my neighborhood because they offer what I need within walking distance. If I were 20 again? Hmmm. Maybe I would be a regular at Barracuda or The Dixie…..maybe.
I think of “Downtown” as Fareless Square on the west side of the river, bordered by the 405 freeway, PSU, sowhat district. Lloyd Center is its own entity.
If you live east of Gresham, anything west of 82nd is downtown. Yeehaw!
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