Three of us took off 30 minutes earlier (7:30) today due to the morning Mothers Day activities that some of us had.   The 30 minute difference results in a notably quieter time for traffic, while the colors and scents are just as strong and invigorating.

We chose the SE Press outlet to do a compare/contrast with the “mothership” which we visited last week.  While this site incorporates the same basics as N. Albina’s, they have different feels. This in part may be due to our visiting at a slightly earlier time, in part due to N. Albina expanding incrementally while Hawthorne was one full scale rehab, and their having different socioeconomic and aged clienteles.  We liked the openness and central barrista area of Hawthorne, as well as its larger windows, but Albina felt like it had been lived in longer and ultimately was more comfortable.       5012 SE Hawthorne