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.