The exact origins of the term hipster may be unclear, but there’s no doubt that Portland is full of ’em: bearded, bike-riding, wallet-chain-swinging, mildly employed young adults who know their craft beer, coffee and street food. And the newest locus of hipster culture is the Eastside Industrial District. Until recently a scary place of factories, empty warehouses and post-industrial ruin, the Central Eastside, as it’s know, is undergoing a slow renaissance. Lured by cheap rents and riverfront real estate, brewpubs, coffee shops and other harbingers of Portland sophistication are setting up shop. I checked out the area for The New York Times.
A Culture Moves East in Portland, Ore.
By Remy Scalza for The New York Times
The east bank of the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., shows up on few tourist maps because, until recently, not many tourists went there. Unapologetically industrial, the area, Central Eastside (part of the Inner Southeast), stretches a dozen blocks from the water to Southeast 12th Avenue, with few residences and little green space in between.
But in the shells of old factories and brick warehouses, staples of Portland culture west of the river — coffee roasters, brewpubs, locavore restaurants and one-off boutiques — have begun to take root. Cheap rents and riverside real estate, walking distance to downtown, and an honest-to-goodness grittiness have enticed young entrepreneurs and restaurateurs, as well as plenty of bicycle-riding Portland tastemakers, into the former no man’s land. A streetcar line that made its debut in September, Portland Streetcar, promises to open up the neighborhood even more, bringing the Central Eastside firmly into the orbit of downtown Portland.
Read the full article on The New York Times website here.
