Neighborhood:
Lower East Burnside The busy stretch of street between the east end of the Burnside Bridge and the terrifying Burnside Asterisk, where the street intersects lethally with Sandy Boulevard and 12th Avenue, was until not that long ago known primarily for its high concentration of vagrants, day laborers and car dealerships. (read more) These days it’s one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in the city, with a dozen independent fashion boutiques, several popular bars, two cafes, a trio of excellent restaurants, including Le Pigeon (738 E Burnside St., 546-8796, lepigeon.com), and two music venues, the Bossanova Ballroom (722 E Burnside St., 206-7630, eastburnside.com) and the excellent, retro-futurist Doug Fir Lounge (830 E Burnside St., 231-9663, dougfirlounge.com), home to one of the city’s best sound systems. Traces of the old days remain in the United Finance Company’s enormous neon sign, offering loans to the evening barhoppers. Don’t miss the bright red Rocket Building, now home to venerable wine bar Noble Rot (1111 E Burnside St., 233-1999, noblerotpdx.com), and the glassy bside6 building, both of which were built with the street’s characteristic arcaded storefronts—a relic of Burnside’s expansion from four to six lanes, which required landlords to cut several feet out of the first floors of their buildings. —Ben Waterhouse
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.
