4 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
April 2014
Maplewood coffee shop’s historic setting harkens to a simpler time
THE COUNTRY STORE
called Chesskers – a mix of chess
and checkers. Local musicians
strummed on guitars to a standing
room only crowd.
Oh yeah, and they serve coffee,
tea, and chai. The pastries are gluten
free; coffee is Stumptown; and the
tea is Firefox.
There’s even playdates for moms,
dads and children 5 and under, on
the first and third Mondays of each
month at 10 a.m. According to Boyd,
the next music night is Saturday,
April 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Maplewood Coffee & Tea is locat-
ed at 5206 SW Custer, near Maple-
wood Elementary School. It’s open
Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. Weekends, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. Visit them on the web or on
their Facebook page. Don Snedecor
contributed to this story.
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
If you walk or ride your bike
along the main road, just before you
reach the grade school you will find
yourself in front of what looks like
a country store. It’s easy to imagine
your great-grandparents stopping
by to pick up some groceries or mail
a letter.
Maplewood Coffee and Tea is a
hidden treasure in, you guessed it,
the Maplewood neighborhood.
Built in 1911, the building was a
general store with a small post office
in the back.
“Customers say they remember
being little children,” Boyd said,
“and coming to the store to get
penny candy, soda, and ice cream.”
Visiting is like taking a trip back
to the turn of the century when ev-
eryone knew your name. It seems as
if the business fell from Manzanita
but left the ocean behind.
Manager Liz Boyd said every time
she enters, “It feels like I’m stepping
back into a simpler time. We don’t
have any ghosts…”
Chelsea, the other barista/man-
ager chimed in, “But, there was an
old, dark dog that slinked into the
A guitarist entertains the audience on a music night in March at Maplewood Coffee and
Tea. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
store one day. We kept putting him
outside, but he kept coming back
into the store even though the door
was closed.”
Boyd continued. “None of the
customers recognized him and he
had a ghostly and nostalgic manner
about him that was a bit unsettling.”
Well, you’ll need to come in to
hear the rest.
The owner, Jo Whitsell, an acu-
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puncturist, bought it in 2011 to
restore it to its original design and
opened for business in May 2012.
Maplewood Coffee also serves as
a local community center and yoga
studio (every Wednesday evening
from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.).
On this night, Sequoia, 5, was
reading The Gingerbread Man, while
Gabriel, 9, created a new game
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Water Main Construction Scheduled in
SW Hillsdale Neighborhood
The Portland Water Bureau will
begin construction on two Capital
Improvement Program projects in
the Hillsdale neighborhood in early
summer 2014.
Phase 2 of the SW Carolina Mains Project is scheduled to start in May-
June 2014. Contractors will install 3,400 feet of new 24-inch diameter pipe
from the intersection of SW Burlingame Avenue and SW Chestnut Street,
north along SW Burlingame Avenue, then turn east on SW Burlingame
Terrace down to SW Terwilliger Boulevard. Once on SW Terwilliger
Boulevard, the construction will continue north until the traffic island at SW
Capitol Highway where new underground vaults will be installed. The project
will take approximately 8-9 months to complete.
The Bertha Service Area Improvement project is scheduled to start in
May-June 2014. Contractors will install approximately 2230 feet of 8” main
and 375 feet of 4” main from the intersection of SW 14th Avenue and SW
Westwood Drive down to SW Martha Street, across Martha Street, and up
SW 18th Drive until just past the intersection with SW 18th Place.
Typical work hours for both projects will be 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday
– Friday, with the option of working on Saturdays. The project will take
approximately 4-6 months to complete.
Please contact Terry Black, Public Outreach, at 503-823-1168 or terry.
black@portlandoregon.gov with any questions. For updates and maps visit:
www.portlandoregon.gov/water/swcarolina or www.portlandoregon.
gov/water/berthaarea
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Get to know the trees in
your neighborhood
Ever stop to think about that tree
in front of your house? How about
those trees that shade the school-
yard or your walk to the bus stop?
Every day Portlanders walk, bike,
bus or drive past thousands of trees.
They shade our streets and homes,
filter water and air, and provide
habitat to urban wildlife.
Portland is Tree City USA, home
to a diverse and growing urban
canopy. Do you know their names?
How or why they were planted
here? What will they look like in
the fall or in the winter?
Get on a first-name basis with the
urban forest in this fun session with
your neighborhood tree stewards.
We’ll teach you how to use a tree
identification book, and then you’ll
take your new skills for a walk.
The first half of this program will
take place in the library; the second
half will be a short walk exploring
the neighborhood’s trees.
Registration is required. Register
online, in the Capitol Hill Library,
10723 SW Capitol Hwy, or by call-
ing 503-988-5234. This event takes
place on Saturday, April 19, 10:30
to noon.
Breakfast Special!
$1.50 Two Eggs,
Hash Browns, and Toast
Open daily for breakfast at 8:00 a.m.
Happy Hour food menu
3-6 p.m. + 8:30 p.m. to midnight
7 days a week.
Homemade Soups daily
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