august 18. 2000 >
J-* -.
Will Portland’s gay bar district vanish
or will it succumb to Pearl envy?
o some Portlanders, Southwest
Stark Street— the central corridor
o f what now is being called the
“Burnside Triangle”— is colorful,
funky, diverse and fun.
It illustrates quintessential urbanism: a place
where you can see someone pop out of his
$60,000 Jaguar, then sit next to a stripper and
sip a Heineken. In many ways, Stark does not
abide by the rules about money, beauty, sexual
orientation, style, gender and power that typi
cally divide a community.
But to others, this street— so well-known for
its gay bars and nightclubs, a famed seafood
restaurant and historic hotel, drug dealers and
users, the tired and disenfranchised and drag
queens looking for breakfast at 3 a.m.— is run
down and in desperate need of a facelift if not an
entire renovation.
Some want to see that transformation; others
hope the area stays the same. But almost every
one sees serious change ahead.
“You know the wave is coming. G et on your
surfboard and ride with it,” advises Rob Mawson
of the Association for Portland Progress. “This is
a destination!”
Portland residents are used to neighborhoods
beautifying. It is part of the experience of living
in this city. In general, we like things to look
nicer, and we aren’t particular about the process.
But the Burnside Triangle might he different.
Some say this particular street is the closest
thing Portland’s gay community has to a “living
room,” so it should play a vital role in planning
the area’s future.
Stark Street is no Greenwich Village, Castro,
Capitol Hill or West Hollywood. Few would dis
pute that. But it is the place old and new friends
meet to talk, dance, drink and find any number
of other pleasures.
Stark Street is dripping in hedonism yet
has a relatively
wholesome,
small-town
appeal to it.
C hange might
be fine.
But
others
think the immi
nent metamor
phosis
could
mean the end of Southwest Stark Street as we
know it. Will those rainbow flags be coming down.7
M oney C hanges
E verything
he Burnside Triangle is a small patch of
1 property hounded by West Burnside Street
on the north and Southwest Washington Street
on the south. The east-west borders are South
west 10th and 14th avenues.
T h e triangle is but one neighborhood in
what city officials call the “West End,” which
stretches from West Burnside to Southwest
Market streets between Interstate 405 and
Southwest Ninth Avenue. Most of the property
within those boundaries is zoned “central resi
dential,” an attempt to create a residential area
within walking distance of the downtown office
core, preserve affordable housing and help cre
ate a 24-hour city populated by downtown
workers.
The concept of making the West End a “res
idential enclave” is not a new one. But critics
now are asking whether this 30-year-old vision
has helped the area live up to its potential. Two
fairly recent changes have brought this concept
under scrutiny and the debate to the forefront
'You know the wave is coming. Get on your surfboard and ride with it. "
— Rob
Mawson, Association for Portland Progress
BLO CKS
BREWED
KKOFVEI OPMENT
Reltri It* » * " * ? '
503-299-6000
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J O N K CT LOO G
within urban plan
ning circles.
:W.
X>
Development in
Northwest
Port
land’s nearby Pearl
District has e x
ploded during the
past five years. The
gallery spaces, lofts,
retailers and restau
rants are hip and
expensive, and de
velopers
have
flocked there to in
vest. Secondly, the
city center also fin
ished out the dec
ade booming, as
new hotels and of
fice
buildings
quickly rose.
Then
came
along an experienced investor, the Gergin/Edlen
Development Co., with enough capital and
vision to take a risk. Its $200 million project at
the former Blitz Weinhard Brewery will sit across
the street from the Burnside Triangle.
Suddenly, developers are seeing gay-central
Stark Street as a link between downtown and
the burgeoning artsy neighhorhcxxls of North
west Portland. In a matter of months, the area
went from near obscurity to center stage. “This
should be the bridge between the Pearl and
downtown,” Mawson says.
The Burnside Triangle will
stand between the Brewery
Blocks— what many expect to
he “Yuppie Central” (and like
ly “Guppie Central" as well)—
and the high-rise offices where
its residents are employed. To
get to work, commuters from
the north side of Burnside will
he walking and riding through
the heart of the closest thing
Portland has to a “gay district.”
Not only that, at least some
of the 65 market-rate condo
miniums planned for the Brew
ery Blocks literally will look
across Burnside toward the for
mer Majestic Hotel. A view of a
majestic hotel doesn’t sound had.
But what residents likely will see is the four
floors of not-so-majestic red boarded-up win-
dows of what now is called the
C ontinental Hotel Club and
Baths, better known as Club
Portland— a men’s bathhouse
complete with a military-
themed sex club in its basement.
Some say the club is an unlikely,
if not unheard of, neighbor for
condominium dwellers with
enough money to afford a city-
lights view.
T h e entire project is expected to he fin
ished by June 2002, but some blocks will be
completed next year.
A P lan
or the past several months, the city’s Bureau of
Planning has been working on a proposal for a
West End Development Plan. The process has
included interested developers, community mem
bers, retailers and building own
ers in addition to planning pro
fessionals and activists. The
Burnside Triangle is part of this
larger plan.
Mawson says all of the prop
erty owners and many of the gay
bar and nightclub owners with
in the district were contacted
and invited to participate in the
process. The consensus supports
a mixed-use vision for the area,
dominated by residential use
and active retail and building
on existing diversity— includ
ing the night life.
Mawson says that people
seem to like the idea of an
entertainment district but that
prominent business owners— McMenamins,
F
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