Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
talking books, mystery and crime-writing fans will want to take a mo-
ment of silence for Murder by the topic, down at 32nd Ave. This much-
loved used-and-new-book store has sadly announced plans to close
(though the owners were still hoping, at press time, to find a buyer)
after several years of struggling to get by in a tough market. There's a
chance it will have been rescued by the time you read this, but for now
its future looks bleak.
At SE 37th Ave. is a favorite Portland landmark, the Bagdad Theater &
Pub, which more or less anchors this neighborhood. Built in 1927,
partly funded by Universal Pictures, it's now owned by the local McMe-
namins chain and shows second-run movies in addition to hosting vari-
ous events, readings, lectures, and more. The onion-topped neon sign is
a good indication of the awesome Mediterranean-style interior; few
movie palaces from this era retain their original glory, but this one does.
(A plus: if you duck around the corner of the theater on 37th Ave.,
you'll find two more bars in the same building: the adorable and tiny ci-
gar bar Greater Trumps and the big, boxy, echoey Backstage. Both are
worth checking out.)
Continue wandering down Hawthorne Blvd., investigating the various
shops and restaurants as you see fit. Just past SE 32nd Ave. you'll come
to Hawthorne Boulevard Books, a cute little used-book shop inside a
small white house. On the next block is Hostelling International's
Hawthorne Portland Hostel, a Hawthorne-ized bungalow from 1909
(dorm beds are $20-$24). The building has an ecoroof, a weird little
clay-pagoda thing, and a stage in the huge backyard; it consistently
wins sustainability awards, and it hosts a number of community-build-
ing events throughout the year (a bike-in movie night, travel-writing
workshops, and the like). In contrast, a bit farther along, at SE 28th
Ave., you'll come to a brand-new Safeway supermarket building that
sticks out like a sore thumb in this bohemian neighborhood. The huge
suburban fortress replaced a mid-1960s Safeway that had 20,000 fewer
square feet and was certainly no beauty, but at least didn't impose itself
on the surrounding blocks like an obnoxious beige-and-terra-cotta
bully.
Moving quickly on, walk down the hill past the Holman Funeral Service
building (from 1901 and very nice-looking) to reach Excalibur Books &
Comics, one of the city's best comic-book shops. A few blocks down, at
