Neighborhood:
East Burnside Once a gritty, industrial thruway, now a hotbed of consistently rotating boutiques, East Burnside is a stomping ground for wayward hipsters, traveling music-makers and thrift-store junkies. (read more) At the strip’s nucleus is the makeshift-modern Jupiter Hotel and its conjoined indie-rock venue, the Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside St., 231-9663), which Playboy called one of “America’s 10 Best Rock Clubs” in 2007. The Doug Fir’s epicurean equivalent might have to be innovative and unconventional Le Pigeon (738 E Burnside St., 546-8796)—try its namesake bird garnished with cherries, frisée and foie gras. At the nearby and unassuming Rontoms (600 E Burnside St., 236-4536), you’ll find a sizable bar hosting high-quality local acts in a setting not unlike an overgrown suburban ’70s living room. Just across the street, a cluster of shops beckons. For hard-to-find issues of Purple Fashion and Dot Dot Dot, Stand Up Comedy (811 E Burnside St., Suite 119, 233-3382) is the place. Indulge a fetish for saccharine, pricey underthings at Lille Boutique (1007 E Burnside St., 232-0333), and scour the infamous architectural maze that is Hippo Hardware (1040 E Burnside St., 231-1444) for all the knobs, hinges and assorted hardware doohickeys you could ever need. Or drop by Bombshell Vintage (811 E Burnside St., 239-1073), Hattie’s (729 E Burnside St., Suite 101, 238-1938) or Rock n’ Rose (616 E Burnside St., 239-3901) for some of the best-preserved vintage threads in the city. —Elianna Bar-El.
Featured in Pocket Shop 2009
Splashed with lurid colors and lined with haute cartoon artwork, Grass Hut feels a bit like stepping into one of the illustrated zines that stock its shelves. Run by artists Bwana Spoons and Justin “Scrappers” Morrison, GH is proof that serious art can still be goofy.
