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In 2008, the housing market bubble burst and Portland food carts podded up. Those two events are more related than they seem: The Great Recession led to empty lots that, in more robust economic times, would have gone condo. Instead, they became food cart pods.
The market turned shortly after former Portland Timber Roger Goldingay purchased land on the corner of North Mississippi Avenue and Skidmore Street. The bank declined to finance his construction project.
“I was kind of sweating bullets there as to what to do with this unproductive land,” Goldingay says.
Owners of a food cart across the street asked if they could park on his vacant lot. He said sure, and an idea was born. One food cart wouldn’t prevent him from foreclosing on his loan, but 10 might. Cartopia at Southeast 12th and Hawthorne had opened in 2008, but Goldingay’s Mississippi Marketplace (now Prost Marketplace) was the first city-approved, fully permitted food cart pod when it opened in 2009. He opened Cartlandia on Southeast 82nd Avenue in 2011. The concept was fed by relaxed government zoning laws that allowed food trucks to stay in lots overnight rather than having to drive home at the end of the day, as in other cities.
Of course, there had been food carts and informal pods in town for decades (shoutout to OG’s Honkin’ Huge Burritos and downtown’s Alder Street pod), but Portland soon became famous for the branded and marketed permanent food cart pod as established in the late aughts. Where else could you find so many diverse food offerings coexisting —waffle sandwiches, sushi burritos and Tibetan dumplings, all steps from each other—with plentiful seating, handcrafted cocktails, and perhaps heat lamps and a little playhouse for the children?
Growing pains followed, chiefly related to the state and city figuring out how to regulate sanitation standards, such as with trash and graywater disposal. But Portland’s now 500-plus food carts have become a major draw for locals and tourists alike.
Up next: Food cart pods continue to thrive, including newcomers such as Heist in Woodstock and Wonderlove on Southeast Main Street. In an ironic twist, the Alder Street pod is being redeveloped into…the Flock food hall at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Next Story > 2009: Timbers Army
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