Creston-Kenilworth

A break in the January winter weather had me walking on a Wednesday with Jo Ellen in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood. The Kenilworth neighborhood was platted in 1889 and is named after Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth, written in 1821, a romantic novel set in Elizabethan England. Many of the streets in the neighborhood take their names from this novel and other novels by Scott. Though a very small neighborhood, it boasts two parks, Creston and Kenilworth, next to Grout Elementary School, and a real jewel, the Community Music Center housed in a historic firehouse. Community Music Center, Inc. was founded as a non-profit association in February 1960 by a group of parents and interested citizens who played a vital role in the remodeling of a beautiful 1912 firehouse - the oldest in Portland and designated a Portland Historic Landmark - which became the permanent home of the in 1969. Affordable music lessons and recitals are offered through Portland Parks and Recreation to almost 1000 students a year! Walking up Gladstone we found The Gladstone Pub and Tony’s Antiques. Walking in Tony’s was a walk down memory lane with so many nostalgic toys and other items from my youth. On the corner of 42nd and SE Gladstone we saw the cozy Creston Café. The neighborhood boasts lots of charming older homes.

Sabin Neighborhood

On Saturday, January 24, liz, Sarah and I went to the Sabin neighborhood. A smaller neighborhood we started on NE 10th and walked many of the numbered streets up to NE 23rd. Along the way as you can see in the pictures we saw a lot of interesting things. Sabin School had its own school garden. Up on theridge near Prescott is the Sabin Hydro Park. Around the corner from this we found one of the highlights of the walk. Sabin Green Cohousing is an incredible group of four structures on a 75 x 100 ft. city lot. It was colorful and inviting. We were able to talk to one of the residents who told us the residents get together once a week for a group dinner. Walking down the hill back towards Fremont we caught spectacular views of downtown Portland. We stopped in at Whole Foods where liz got a 3 minute chair massage. From there it was on to Poppy and Ivy's on Fremont where they were having their 2 year birthday party-St. Cupcakes and mimosas. Life doesn't get much better than this!!! Next door we checked out the great fashions at Sofia's. Another great walk

King

January 17, 2009.
I let Dick pick the neighborhood this morning and he decided on King. Seemed very appropriate since Monday we will be celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Once predominantly black, the neighborhood has rapidly gentrified since the 1990s and attracted more young residents. Dick, liz, Bonnie and I met Annie at The Reflections Coffee House at 446 NE Killingsworth. Great place to have some coffee and browse the bookstore attached.
Here are Bonnie and Annie. Which way shall we go?


We headed east on Killingsworth and began meandering through streets seeing lots of very old homes and new ones as this area becomes gentrified.



We found our way to King Elementary and loved the map of the US on the playground. Everyone jumped into the state they were born.



From there we headed towards Alberta and found St. Andrew Parish. It was magnificent.





Crossing Alberta and heading back towards where we started we were struck by what an interesting and old neighborhood this was. Unlike other walks so far, not one of us had spent any time walking in this neighborhood before today. Across MLK was a new complex, Vanport Square. Home to Horn of Africa, Old Town Pizza and the Curious Comedy Theater.





I have to say this was my favorite walk so far because everything was so new and different. The King neighborhood definitely has it's own distinct ambience.

Multnomah

On Sunday, January 11, lizzie, Dick and I went to Multnomah in SW Portland. We had all been to the shops in the village many times and decided to concentrate on the neighborhood instead. Multnomah is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of Portland, Oregon, centered around the Multnomah Village business district]. The community developed in the 1910s around a depot of the Oregon Electric Railway of the same name. It was annexed by the city of Portland in the 1950s.
Multnomah lies between SW 45th Ave. in the west, SW Capitol Hill Rd. in the east, SW Vermont St. in the north, and I-5 in the south. Exceptions are the area north of SW Nevada Ct. and east of SW 26th Ave. (part of Hillsdale), an area south of SW Multnomah Blvd. and north of SW Dolph St. where SW 48th Ave. is the western border, and an area south of SW Marigold St. where SW Capitol Highway is the western border. The neighborhood is bordered by Maplewood, Ashcreek, and Crestwood on the west, Hayhurst and Hillsdale to the north, and South Burlingame, Markham, and West Portland Park to the south and east.


lizzie and Dick in front of the Lucky Lab.


One of the wierdest mailboxes I've ever seen!



So many cute homes-old and new. Except in the village, there were no sidewalks to speak of and many of the side roads were unpaved.

Definitely not into upkeep!!!

Incredible staircase that looks like it was built during the WPA projects because walking up it leads to an unpaved road. The stairs to nowhere.


The community garden was picturesque.

Can anyone please tell me what these hanging bags at the garden are for?
Below more pictures of Gabriel Park.





While walking through Gabriel Park, we hooked up for a short time with a monthly walking group from the Southwest Community Health Center. They do monthly walks in the Multnomah area. They provide quality health care to low income residents in SW Portland. As you can suspect there needs are greater than ever as more people become unemployed and lose healthcare benefits. We finished up our walk with hot chocolate at the Starbucks on Multnomah Blvd. It was definitely a great afternoon!