Portland Coffee Hangouts

Sandino at the Mercado is a no frills shop with stools in the shop, plus lots of indoor seats in the central arcade, plus access to outdoor picnic tables and benches.   Usually the interior arcade on Sunday mornings is pretty slow, but we wanted to catch the flavor of the community coming out to watch Mexico play in the World cup, so there was a healthy crowd this morning.

Compared to watching the World Cup, our outside discussion at the picnic table was academic and dry: A comparison of Oregon’s property taxes with California’s and Colorado’s; A’s ability to teach on-line classes for Oregon State from Viet Nam for the next two years via skyping and video streaming; and H’s comparison of his nephew’s graduation ceremony for 500 from Camas HS, with his niece’s  ceremony for 70 HS graduates from a small PCC program: each Camas graduate received 4 seconds of acknowledgment before the next name was called, while each PCC grad had 10 seconds.

7238 SE Foster                                          Sandinocoffee.com

It’s been a while since we’ve visited Water Avenue and were pleased with the tweaks that’s made it visually more interesting, increased its bike parking, and increased its seating capacity.  The stools are not any softer, but grabbing the big table on the right side made it cozy for the seven of us to communicate with each other for over an hour and enjoy a wide-ranging conversation; free refills no doubt helped as well.    

Today’s seven included long-time friend W who was visiting from Mosier, and E’s daughter O, so we had a lot to share.   E  told us he was immersed consulting for AARP on regulations that encourage “accessory dwelling units,” and speaking at their regional gatherings; G relayed that the NE Sacramento house he used to own is being torn down, and they once experienced a poltergeist-like experience there;  W is volunteering as a translator at the the Dalles jail where many Spanish-speakers are being held; and D is just back from his Utah trip, while on tap are the Redwoods, 3 Sisters, and the Wallowas later this summer.

1028 SE Water Ave.                                                    wateravenuecoffee.com

This Sellwood teashop caboose and its attachments, is a favorite destination for its unique variety of interesting, out-of-the mainstream, seating options: in a railroad car, or a comfy parlor, or an atrium.    They always seem to aid in making discussions more stimulating.

And yet despite such juicy seating opportunities, we humbly sat outside at the neighboring Grand Central picnic tables, because two of our three bicyclists were in need of their coffees.  Today’s discussion was juicy nevertheless: D and H comparing their entries into step-parenting, and later experiences as their children grew; D’s journey from the Marines to being a hippy living off the land in British Columbia, and ultimately being deported for foolishly not filling out the paperwork that would have qualified him as a landed resident;  G’s humorous anecdotes about his two-year old grand-daughter who is witty with puns.

7893 SE 13th                                               http://www.teachaite.com/pages/sellwood-caboose

On a clear, crisp spring morning three of us sought out this newly opened shop on SE Foster, which a few years back used to be severely lacking in meeting places for its residents.  So it’s heartening that the owner of this relatively small shop is giving it a go, with his rock collection providing a theme.  Because of its limited size, Carnelian will some day feel crowded, which in turn limits how comfortable patrons will feel hanging out for extended periods of time.  Nevertheless, the owner’s earnest desire to make a contribution to the health of this neighborhood, to aid in creating bonds of friendship and reducing anonymity in what used to be an iffy neighborhood, is worthy of support.

Our discussion this morning was pinball-like re what’s going on in our lives.  D, in  helping his Buddhist community look for a site for a new home, was super frustrated trying to get building/planning information from overwhelmed City staff; Family-wise he’s proud of the New Yorker’s positive review of a new French restaurant in Manhattan that his son – not academically trained – co-designed; G’s son in NY is surviving so far as the NY Daily News website editor, after a similar gig in Denver;  for his garden G scored a batch of new plants at the Sandy High School FFA sale, and Grocery Outlet, where he likes to go to compare wine and cheese prices; and H touted the great prices surprisingly at Rite Aid for certain craft beers.

6923 SE Foster                                                   http://www.carneliancoffee.com

On a great spring morning for biking, our sextet descended on this recently opened Seven Virtues shop after first navigating through the pre-opening bustle of Saturday Market and Cinco de Mayo vendors, plus an organized run along the downtown waterfront.   Noticeable off the Seven Virtues bat was how much smaller in seating capacity this shop is than its sister/brother shops on NE Glisan and Sandy, how bike parking was a challenge, and that its menu was vegan and gluten free.  We cheer the menu, and suggest improvements to the other two.   We also cheered the free refills after being stung by other shops that were charging $2.00 for a refill, definitely a turn-off to those like us who enjoy extended conversations.

Discussion topics began with the upcoming ballot measure to create a Portland Clean Energy Fund to assist low income residents with their housing burden as the City grows more unaffordable; theorizing that the Mayor isn’t currently supporting the measure because of fear of upsetting the Business Alliance who is supporting his proposed tax increase to fund more police; wondering how much the police struggle is one of unsuccessful recruitment vs money; and comparing the historic displacement experiences of Alberta and Mississippi vs what’s occurring now in Cully, and unanimously agreeing that today’s non-profits are more sophisticated, work together better, and deservedly are taking leadership roles. 

3528 SE Hawthorne         http://www.sevenvirtuespdx/hawthorne