Half of our extended bike group worked in the community development field in the 1990s, seeing first hand drastic changes – good and bad – that various Portland neighborhoods experienced. This group feels a certain deja-vu buzz when we see a long-neglected neighborhood starting to rejuvenate, with our lens now being the vitality of a new coffee shop in a disadvantaged area. (On Alberta in the early/mid 90s when 2/3rds of the buildings were vacant +/or abandoned, the first investment on the street in 20 years was the rehabilitation of a vacant storefront for a coffee shop.) And that buzz is what we felt this morning at Fillmore Coffee at Glisan and 72nd.
We saw three couples with young tots rendez-vousing, with some of them old enough to play with the shop’s communal toys, and elsewhere two other couples had congregated. All of the members of these couples looked under 35 and excited about connecting, setting off a vibe that this neighborhood has rarely seen. Not only did Fillmore provide playthings and games for young ones, they also had art from a local artist on its walls, a variety of seating options, a bulletin board, and beer/wine. In other words they are trying to become a go-to place for meeting multiple social needs of local residents.
After talking about our community revitalization experiences throughout the City, the central topic of this morning’s discussion became the variety of book groups with which each of us was involved. DM participates in a group that discusses New Yorker articles, G is involved with his Buddhist center’s spiritual reading group, M with his synagogue’s group that meets with participants from Muslim backgrounds, and H with a group that is mostly couples who started meeting 35+ years ago, though P and he have only been attending for 20 years.
7201 NE Glisan fillmorepdx.com
Portland Coffee Hangouts 