Oui for the shop having some French traits, and Presse for devoting limited space to two racks of magazine, OP has an attractive quirky feel that’s developed a long-time devoted following.  Even though it’s relatively small and not flashy on a busy street like Hawthorne, and doesn’t have some homey features that have worked well elsewhere – i.e., a soft couch for example – Oui Presse has obviously succeeded.  We visited 6 years ago when it had a different, less effective layout, and wondered how it’d do with all the splashier competition; now we know the answer: very fine thank you.

Discussion-wise, M told of his illuminating volunteer activity surveying a group of Prineville residents re their views on climate change: he found they had a strong desire to share information, generally believed man has played a contributing role to its worsening, but as-a-rule were not supportive of government instituting new regulations.  Then D talked of his experience working with Portland citizens on the residential in-fill project; he sympathized with neighborhood residents who didn’t want their neighborhoods negatively affected by rampant growth, and were worried that their children could not afford to live in the areas in which they were raised; but he asserted that the only way to make a dent on neighborhood affordability is to increase the number of residential units each neighborhood possesses, not freeze availability.

1740 SE Hawthorne           http://www.oui-presse.com