Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Follow the path around the lake and on through the middle of the park
until it bumps into SE 33rd Ave.; turn right onto 33rd. At the top of the
short hill, turn left onto SE Ankeny St., then right at SE 32nd Ave.
Where 32nd meets E. Burnside St., you'll find Music Millennium, an in-
dependent record store that has been a vital piece of the Portland music
scene for decades (it was founded in 1969). Its larger outpost in Northw-
est Portland closed in 2007, but this location (the original) is still kick-
ing, hosting frequent in-store performances and an annual Customer
Appreciation BBQ.
Turn left on E. Burnside and head down the hill. At NE 28th Ave., take
a right. Between E. Burnside and NE Glisan Sts. along 28th is a strip of
bars and restaurants of surprising range, from a small-plates wine bar
to upscale diner food to gelato and gourmet chocolate. At the corner is
Pambiche, whose vivid color scheme means you can't miss it; it's an
always-packed, extremely cheerful Cuban restaurant.
At NE Glisan St., turn left. For an incredibly glamorous version of the
street you're now walking down, seek out indie-film director Aaron
Katz's movie Cold Weather, shot in Portland; it makes Glisan St. and
various other parts of the city seem lit from within, despite (or maybe
because of) the gray skies and damp asphalt. The big brick apartment
building on your left, called the Rasmussen, plays a pivotal role in Cold
Weather (though it appears under an alias).
There's a little curl at the end of Glisan St. where it meets NE 22nd Ave.
and Sandy Blvd. Note the pawn shop at this corner. Until noise com-
plaints from neighbors forced it to close in December 2000, this building
held one of the all-time great rock clubs, EJ's—a grimy little den that
rivaled Satyricon and LaLuna for the allegiance of the city's music
scenesters in the 1990s. (EJ's was a strip club until 1994, when the own-
er switched to live music; neighbors made remarkably little fuss over
that transformation.)
On the other side of NE Sandy Blvd., at 21st Ave., you'll see a small,
turreted stucco building that might once have been occupied by Smurfs.
This is Club 21, where you'd go for cheap drinks between the bands at
EJ's. It remains one of Portland's true dive bars, although new owner-
ship has made a few improvements (the food is now far better than it
needs to be, especially the burgers, and pinball has shoved aside the
video-poker machines), taking care not to spoil its charm.
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