Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SE 23rd Ave., is Grand Central Bakery, with a handful of locations
around town and in Seattle; its rustic Como bread debuted in the late
1980s and basically educated Pacific Northwesterners about artisanal
baking.
At SE 20th Ave. is yet another classic movie house, The CineMagic, a
single-screen theater that opened in 1914. It's famous today for its
teeny, adorable 1950s bathrooms and the awesome gold-lamé stage cur-
tain (and, to some of us, for showing
The Secret of Roan Inish
for what
seemed like decades but was really only about a year).
Continue down Hawthorne. On the left at 18th Ave. you'll see Oui
Presse, an impeccably curated magazine store, gift shop, bakery, and
coffee/tea/wine bar next door to the highly regarded restaurant
Castagna. Ask about the bunny slippers!
Take a right onto SE 17th Ave. for one block. At SE 17th and Madison
St. is the Miao Fa Temple, designed in 1926 by architect William Gray
Purcell, who—not too surprisingly when you look at the building—once
worked with Louis Sullivan, as well as other prominent Chicago archi-
tects. The building was originally a church but became a Buddhist
temple in 1996. The more recently added Eastern-style embellishments
(like bamboo roofing and the concrete lions guarding the entrance), jux-
taposed with the clean-lined cube of the original building, make for a
slightly trippy but somehow very pleasing sight.
At the corner of SE 12th Ave. and Hawthorne is one of the original
trendsetting food-cart “pods” that have made Portland a destination for
street food. Mainstays here include the great Potato Champion (in a
word, poutine; in several words, late-night postbar poutine) and Whif-
fies, a fried-pie cart.
From here, it's a straight shot through lower, industrial Hawthorne to
reach the Eastbank Esplanade. To get there, cross SE Grand Ave. and
walk up onto the Hawthorne Bridge ramp as if you were going to cross
the bridge. Just before the river, take the stairs leading down from the
bridge onto the esplanade. (You could also simply walk toward the river
at street level, underneath the bridge, but it's more fun to take the high
road.)
To return to the starting point, retrace your steps across SE Grand Ave.
and hop onto TriMet Bus 14, at SE Hawthorne Blvd. and 6th Ave.
