Long a Kerns community pillar – founded in 2004 – Crema recently opened a satellite in the brightly painted iconic Fair-Haired Dumbell building at NE Grand and Couch.   As opposed to having a mostly residential community nearby, this site comes with the opportunities/challenges of being in a mostly commercial and automobile-centric area at the entry to the Burnside Bridge, and not pedestrian friendly.   According to the friendly barista, their mid-week patronage is quite healthy even with access challenges and two other quality shops – Space and Bar, and Ristretto – nearby.

Today’s three riders think Crema did a good job of adding visual variety to their outlet.  Even though within the brightly painted Dumbell whose exterior cries out “look at me,” this brand new spot tempers the exterior a bit.  There is a modernistic subdued mural of Portland’s bridges, with those elements captured in framed pictures elsewhere inside, plus an ingenious sculpture hanging from the ceiling of older wooden pieces tied together like an outdoor mobile.   So visually we were satisfied, but furniture-wise we would have also appreciated a soft couch option instead of solely hard wooden seats and tables.

Today’s discussion topics started with how our NE neighborhood streets have changed in the last three decades – all of us having lived in our homes from 31 and 35 years: H is tickled that a batch of young kids are finally overflowing his street even with housing prices ironically unaffordable for most young families;  B’s very pleased that his street has melded with two others to put on yearly street parties; and on the other hand, M and wife J are moving from their street in part because newcomers to his are wealthier and less sociable than his former neighbors.  We then moved on to the advances that have occurred in ancestry research, and the joy that B receives from sleuthing his family’s background, so much so that he’s considering starting a blog.

390 NE Couch                                         cremabakery.com