Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
humongous paintings on the walls, red wine in little jelly jars, and the
swan and other animal-shaped tinfoil packages your leftovers would be
wrapped in. (Most of which is still true, but fashions change; Montage
no longer seems to be the place where everyone must appear after the
bars close.)
Turn right on SE 3rd Ave., then right again on SE Belmont St. to walk
on the cobbled streets underneath the bridge ramp, between the
columns. This part of town seems built for a Hollywood car chase. At
SE Water Ave. turn left to pass the Hair of the Dog Brewing Company,
home of one of Portland's first and still most highly regarded micro-
brewers. Stop in for a taste or a tour. Just ahead you'll see the Eastbank
Commerce Center, another attractive and newish, or at least newly ren-
ovated, warehouse building. Across the street, its sibling, the Water Av-
enue Commerce Center, is home to the excellent Water Avenue Coffee.
(The small roastery-café's alluring blue neon COFFEE sign beckons the
undercaffeinated at all hours; the coffee can also be found in several
Portland cafés and restaurants.)
Turn left on SE Taylor St., then take a right on SE 2nd Ave.
Follow SE 2nd through a few industrial blocks; at SE Clay St., take a
right. When you get back to SE Water Ave., turn left and follow Water
to the parking lot of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
(OMSI).
OMSI sits perched over the river at the southern end of the Eastside In-
dustrial district. It's a great resource for anyone with kids, partly be-
cause, like a good Pixar movie, it's also fun for adults. The building,
transformed from an old power plant, opened in 1992, but parts of the
collection are much older, having belonged to the Portland Free Mu-
seum before being moved to OMSI at its old location near the zoo.
These days, the museum hosts a number of permanent and rotating ex-
hibitions, most of them with hands-on elements and all of them educa-
tional in a nonintimidating, science-is-fun kind of way (a regular install-
ation on snot is a big early-winter draw). There's also a planetarium, an
IMAX theater, and the submarine from The Hunt for Red October.
To get back to your starting point, retrace your steps to SE Hawthorne
Blvd., turn right, and catch MAX Light Rail at SE Grand Ave. Get off
at E. Burnside St. and walk back up to NE 12th Ave.
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