Neighborhood:
Alberta In the past dozen years, the Alberta-Concordia neighborhood has transformed from one of inner Portland’s last black neighborhoods, first into a refuge for fringe artists and finally into a less hippie, more hipster version of its Southeast Portland relative, the Hawthorne District. (read more) Alberta is still diverse, but gone is the heyday of the Clown House (a communal, bike-strewn freak-out home that once stood on Alberta), and the street’s gift shops and eateries seem increasingly targeted at a less colorful, more moneyed crowd. That’s not to say Alberta is a big co-opted bore à la the Pearl. Food is the top draw here—from the gigantic, Southern-fried breakfasts at Francis (2338 NE Alberta St., 288-8299) to the golden-brown, slightly spendy fish and chips at Halibut’s (2525 NE Alberta St., 808-9600). Alberta also has some of the city’s best taquerias, like neighboring La Sirenita (2817 NE Alberta St., 335-8283) and La Bonita (2839 NE Alberta St., 281-3662). There’s also more Thai food than you can shake a stick at, from bomb-ass red curry at Thai Noon (2635 NE Alberta St., 282-2021) to banana-roasted pork at upscale Siam Society (2703 NE Alberta St., 922-3675). For the full and the dieting, Alberta offers quaint gift shops galore, flush with silkscreened tees and crafty knickknacks. It also has one of Portland’s best new and used music stores, Trade Up Music (1834 NE Alberta St., 335-8800), and the very cool Community Cycling Center (1700 NE Alberta St., 288-8864), where you can cop a refurbed ’80s road bike on the cheap. If there’s a complaint to be made about Alberta, it’s that the entire street all but shuts down at 11 pm (unless it happens to be Last Thursday (artonalberta.org), when leftover revelers from Alberta’s monthly Art Walk often stick around well into the night). Even Alberta’s trendy bars generally close their doors early, making packed houses out of two cool, down-and-dirty watering holes, The Know (2206 NE Alberta St., 473-8729) and The Nest (1801 NE Alberta St., 282-0230). —Casey Jarman.
Featured in Drink 2008
It was once Joe’s Place, the last black-owned bar on Alberta, but owner Joseph Benjamin got tired at 73 and in 2005 sold his tavern to the new kids invading the block. Now that gentrification hostilities have cooled, the Nest’s smoky environs serve as ground zero for laid-back kids of all hues aiming to get laid. The white boys sport bike-messenger bags, and the black men kick ghetto-stylin’ cross-trainers, and while the clientele enforces its own segregation early in the evening, a late-night DJ can pack the floor, while a couple of Laurelwood Reds ($4) or Bacardi Cokes ($5) encourage cross-culture bull- and pool-shooting. Meanwhile, the Joe’s Place sign (with its red, white and blue peace symbol) still hangs proudly over the billiards table.
Perfect Patron: Anybody who looks sexy in a hoodie. (AWM)
HAPPY HOUR 3-7 PM MONDAY-FRIDAY: $1 PBR, $2.50 WELL DRINKS.
GAMES, OUTDOOR SEATING, JUKEBOX, DJs, LIVE MUSIC, OPEN MIC.
Aaron Mesh
