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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2007)
8 JUStiQUt MARCH 16. 2007 E squire M otors , inc . Sfav ♦ northwest COMPLETE FOREIGN CAR SERVICE & REPAIR EUROPEAN & ASIAN* New Mixed Bar Opens • Quality Services Guaranteed • Serving Downtown Portland Since 1968 503.226.6269 www.esquiremotors.com 1853 SW Jefferson • Portland watch In/Visibility: Lesbian Lives in Mexico Travel to Cuernavaca, Mexico and study Spanish while learning about gay and lesbian life in Mexico today. EDUCATE Call Now! 503-238*5790 full immersion EXPERIENCE! www.educateya.org R ealty T rust CROUP C AS YOUR AGENT I WILL: • Cell 5O3/3>9-4O57 Office 5O3/294-IIOI L.isten to you • Communicate throughout the process • Be present through closing and beyond Email hddavis@realtytrust.com www.realtytrust.com/hdwaynedavis Let’s talk about your needs and create a strategy for your future. * S £ I LINNT0N FEED & SEED 10920 NW St. Helens Rd • Portland, OR 97231 • Phone: DAY OLD CHICKS GARDENING SUPPLIES HARDWARE POULTRY SUPPLIES ORGANIC FERTILIZERS FENCING ORGANIC FEED BEDDING PLANTS PLUMBING The unique shopping experience A KAREN M. SWEIGERT, MD Obötfftricö and Gynecology Donor Insemination (2W\1 k Who better to open a new bar for a mixed queer Connie and Joanne Perkins opened the d<x>rs of crowd than a lesbian and gay power duo? Joanne Utopia Café on Southeast Belmont Street and 33rd Stahl, a Portland dweller for more Avenue 12 years ago. / --------------- - -------------------- > than 20 years, and her longtime Joanne described a very friend David Lewis, who is new to different neighhorhcxid than town, plan to open Bent Bar at the one that is there now. 633 S.E. Powell Blvd, in mid “The Belmont Dairy was just March. an empty building. I think “We’ve been friends for a mil the homeless were using it to lion years,” said Lewis. “[Joanne) is live in. That was '94- There .the one who talked me into coming to Portland, really wasn’t much on that street going on.” and we’ve both been in the industry, so we thought The street that is now home to more than a let’s do something together!” dozen restaurants in only a tew hkx:ks was, at the Bent Bar, a treestanding establishment with time, only spotted with Utopia Café and It’s a a big parking lot and an enclosed patio, sits at the Beautiful Pizza. Utopia began as a dessert and cof foot of the Ross Island Bridge. The owners said feehouse and later added the breakfast menu, they like the location because it provides another which has earned it the reputation of having the alternative business for gays to go to on the east best breakfast in Portland last year by 105.1 FM side of the river. The Buzz, and a reputation in almost every They also expressed a desire to make the bar as Portland restaurant guide. open and friendly to everyone as possible. “A lot of With a guiding principle of treating their employ places you go you’re not welcome if you're a guy or ees and customers well, the Perkinses built a thriving a gal," said Lewis. While they might eventually business in an area where there wasn’t much. Their hold a ladies night during the week, Lewis and presence helped form a neighhorhcxxl and won them Stahl said they hope people will come in, check the many gixxl friends in the community. place out and feel comfortable—whoever they are. The lives these women have touched exceed the The strip bar turned intimate nightclub will not borders of the Northwest. When Hurricane Katrina only offer affordable options for lunch and dinner, struck the Gulf Coast, they donated 10 percent of hut video poker will he available and DJs will spin their profits for an entire month to a school affected dance music on the weekends. The crowd-pleaser,’ by the disaster. They donated directly to the school however, is sure to he the dance pole, which the to ensure that the money was received by the people owners retained and plan to use in contests. they wanted to help. As a result, they were not only “We want people to leave their attitudes at the largest donor to that school hut also inspired home and enjoy a space without it,” Lewis said. He other Portlanders to make donations. and Stahl imagine that people will stop by for cock Jan. 15 was the last day they owned Utopia. tails with their friends and that the neighhorhixxl “We’d done all we could do there. It was time to do bar will come to feel like Cheers. something different,” remarked Joanne. For more information call 503-2 30-BENT. The Perkinses held posts working beside their employees, building relationships with their staff. Connie added: “We made sure everyone [st111J had jobs. That was important to us.” For now, they are enjoying not having to work, agreeing they miss the clientele but not the hours and promising that they will let their old customers know if they decide to return to rhe restaurant business. business Coming Out: The Gay (Men's) Experience in Mexico June 16th - July 6th Neighborhood Cafe Sees Change Phone 503 274-9936 k Merger Brings Transformation 1040 N.W. 22nd, Suite 330, Portland, OR 97210 Big City Produce Local Folks, Local Produce BBST ÄgS &Vood sy^ Little Store . . . Big an Diversity. 722 N Sumner (at N Albina) • Portland • 503-460-3830 David Lewis and Joanne Stahl will greet you with smiles at Bent, Portland's newest gay bar. Aaron Yeagle and Roh Patton, the two men behind the Internet marketing and design company Transmutation Sciences, are ‘turning Web sites into gold. Transmutation pndes itself on working with small businesses to educate them on build ing a Web presence. “We’re not only a designer or a search
