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- ADDRESS: 5832 NE Glisan St.
- YEAR BUILT: 1912
- SQUARE FOOTAGE: 2,820
- MARKET VALUE: $533,000
- OWNER: TTM Tran LLC
- HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: 3 years
- WHY IT’S EMPTY: Pandemic hangover
In a city that loves tacos, Los Taquitos Taqueria carved out a comfortable spot in the North Tabor neighborhood for 15 years before it went dark in the waning days of the pandemic.
It was a Portland version of a diner: no frills but reliable.
“There used to be a couple of people working here now it’s just the one woman, very friendly,” said a Yelp reviewer in 2021, not long before Los Taquitos (literally “the little tacos”) went dark. “Ten o’clock in the morning till 10 o’clock at night seven days a week she’s always there, amazing.”
The bite-sized restaurant always punched above its weight on a busy commercial strip of Northeast Glisan Street that funnels traffic onto Interstate 84 from the busy cross-town arterial 60th Avenue.
It did so in part because of the winning combination of large portions and low prices, but also because of its eye-catching tangerine paint job. Alas, the kitchen, once helmed by Gloria Lidia Paredes Cruz, is now dormant.
Neither Paredes Cruz nor representatives of the building’s owners, TTM Tran LLC, responded to requests for comment. Although the LLC, whose members live in Salem and Vancouver, Wash., is a couple of years behind on its property taxes, there are no pending demolition or alteration permits on file.
On an otherwise miserable recent day, a mail carrier who delivers along Glisan Street daily offered some hopeful news as he paused in front of the restaurant.
“I’ve seen people there working,” he said. “It looks like they are planning to reopen.”
Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.