Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Start the walk from NW 11th Ave. and Couch St., where there's a Port-
land Streetcar stop. Walk east down Couch for a block, noting the rear
entrance of Powell's topics on your right—don't worry, we'll come back
to Powell's—then turn left on NW 10th Ave.
In a courtyard between NW Everett and Flanders Sts., on your right,
you'll find the installation of the two remaining Lovejoy Columns.
These columns, which held up the ramp from NW Lovejoy St. onto the
Broadway Bridge before it was demolished, were rescued by a hard-
fought civic battle. Artist Tom Stefopoulos, who was a watchman at one
of the nearby train yards in the 1940s, had embellished the columns
during slow nights at work, and his paintings had become a favorite loc-
al landmark. When developers decided to tear down the Lovejoy Ramp
in the late 1990s to make room for more of the Pearl, there was huge de-
bate over what to do about the columns. For a while they lay in an
empty lot, wrapped in tarps, awaiting their fate. Finally, developer John
Carroll offered to install the two main columns in the plaza outside his
Elizabeth Tower apartment building, and there they stand today.
Whatever you make of the artwork, the inspired effort that went into
preserving it—not to mention the awesome spectacle of those massive
columns ripped free, their rebar guts exposed to the air—is damned im-
pressive.
From NW 10th Ave., turn left on NW Flanders St., then right on NW
12th Ave. If, like us, you're a sucker for fancy paper shops, stop in at
Oblation Papers & Press, on the right-hand side of the street. (Of
course, there are galleries and shops throughout this area; let your curi-
osity guide you.)
At NW Hoyt St., turn right. At Hoyt and NW 10th Ave. you'll find one
of the few entirely unpretentious bars (maybe the only one?) in the
Pearl—the Low Brow Lounge. It has somehow held out against the
forces of commerce and fashion, sticking to its supercheap guns. It's im-
penetrably dark when you first walk in, but you'll adjust. Once you do,
look around for the tiny “makeout booth” in the far corner. Plus: black
lights!
Continue along NW Hoyt St. and, at NW 9th Ave., turn left to pass be-
hind the Ecotrust Building (corner of 9th and NW Johnson St.). Turn
left on NW Johnson St. The Ecotrust Building, formally known as the
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, is a hundred-year-old warehouse
