Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Head east on NE Alberta. Wander up a block or so until you reach NE
10th Ave., where on your left you'll see The Bye and Bye, a great bar
and restaurant with awesome mason-jar drinks and a menu of Southern
comfort food that just happens to be entirely vegan. The space is beauti-
ful, and the crowd tends to be as well.
At NE 15th Ave. is Green Bean Books, an excellent children's bookstore
the likes of which every kid ought to have the chance to explore at some
point. There are all kinds of nooks and crannies to cozy up in, plus fun
little gifts, a summertime garden and deck, and regular events, includ-
ing author readings, crafts nights, and multilingual storytime sessions.
Continue up the street until you reach about NE 20th Ave., at which
point you'll begin to smell the heavenly sweetness that is Salt & Straw.
This newish artisan-ice-cream shop (which started out as a tiny mobile
cart, like many other successful Portland food ventures) has quickly be-
come an obsession for locals and tourists alike; you could call it the new
Voodoo Doughnut (but no Crunch Berries on anything, as far as we
know, and nothing anatomically shaped). People stand in line for ages to
get their hands on a scoop or two of the salted caramel, or the balsamic
strawberry, or the honey lavender. At first glance this seems ridiculous,
lining up around the block to wait for ice cream, until you taste the
stuff. OK, even then it's a little bit ridiculous, but we dare you to try
walking blithely past the front door once you catch a whiff of this place.
(Another location, on NW 23rd Ave., has equally long lines.)
Across the street from Salt & Straw is one of the more under-the-radar
clubs in Portland: The Know. It's a divey, no-frills, Pabst-in-a-can type
of place with pinball and live-rock shows and cool bartenders. There are
about a thousand other places on Alberta to get a drink, but this is
probably the one where you're least likely to worry about what label
you're wearing or whether you can afford a second round.
At NE 27th Ave., duck around the corner to the left to find Monograph
Bookwerks, a fine-art bookstore owned by a couple of artists, one of
whom also owns Le Happy, a crêpes restaurant in the Northwest Port-
land neighborhood of Slabtown. The shop sells rare and small-press art
books, plus a carefully chosen selection of prints, objects, and supplies.
Across NE 27th Ave. from the bookshop you'll see the revamped North-
western Electric Company Alberta Substation, built in 1931 but drastic-
ally renovated in 2005. What was once an unvarnished concrete
