- HEADS UP: Dora: A Headcase by Portland author Lidia Yuknavitch has been optioned for a movie. Katherine Brooks, whoâs worked on a few feature films and a slew of MTV reality showsâincluding The Real World and The Osbournesâwill adapt the novel, which is a contemporary retelling of Sigmund Freudâs famous case study of a girl diagnosed with hysteria. Yuknavitch isnât sure if sheâll be involved in the screenplay, which must be written in the next 12 months. âI very much hope so, if only to smile like a dork and nod my head âHell, yesâ several times,â says Yuknavitch, who sees Dora as a story of love and liberation. âI hope the cinematic version contributes to the hard work some of us are doing daily to represent the stories of women and girls as vital and interruptive of the woman-as-object trope.â
- GROWLER WAR: The Fred Meyer on Hawthorne is getting growlers. On Jan. 27, the store cleared out its organic beer space to make room for a 16-tap beer growler-filling station, just in time to compete with the new Growlers, a 48-spout fill-to-go spot at 3343 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Growlers officially opens next week as Portlandâs first âdedicated, single-purpose growler fill stationâ and, apart from samples, wonât serve any booze onsite.
- BIKE MALL: The massive 657-unit Lloyd District apartment complex Hassalo on Eighth will have parking for a minimum of 1,200 bikesâmaking it the largest bike-parking project in North America, according to bikeportland.org. More than 500 of those bikes will be valet-parked, outpacing the 300 valet parking spots at Oregon Health & Science University, currently the largest valet bike-parking lot in North America. Just less than 1,000 car parking spots are planned for the apartment project, most of which are intended for offices and an anticipated (but unconfirmed) grocery store.
- YAWâS REFRACTED: Two iconic Hazelwood neighborhood businesses that closed last year seem to be consolidatingâsort of. Jason Kindle, former bar manager of the Refectory, a 40-year-old nightclub that shut down last February, has applied for a liquor license to open a 135-seat bar called Bridge City Taproom in the former Yawâs Top Notch location (11340 NE Halsey St.). Mitch Stanley, who owned the Refectory for 30 years, had also expressed interest in opening a bar in Hazelwood after his nightclub closed. He told the Mid-County Memo community newspaper he would call it Stanleyâs Taproom.
- DIDJA EVER NOTICE...?: Jerry Seinfeld apparently learned what itâs like to try to dine in Portlandâs popular West End. According to former WW staffer Byron Beck, the comedian tried unsuccessfully to find a seat at Rick Gencarelliâs pasta restaurant, Grassa, while in town Jan. 24. In a zany inconvenience that seems ripe for humor, Seinfeld and his entourage had to trundle their carbonara to neighboring Lardo instead.
WWeek 2015