Æl’e | J n r t l a t t ò © b s c r u e r
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December 22. 2 0 0 4
M etro
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Last Thursday on ‘fllbprta
o ni ni u n i t y
a le n d a r
Business Meeting
Join North/Northeast Business
Association meetings on the
first Monday of each month from
6 to 8 p.m. at Albina Community
Bank. 2002 N.E. Martin Luther
King BI vd. Morning networking
meetings are the third Wednes
day o f each month from 7:30 to9
a.m. at the Blazers Boys andGirls
Club, 5250 N.E. Martin Luther
King Blvd. For more informa
tion, call 503-249-0487 or visit
www.nneba.org.
Volunteer for Hospice
Kaiser Permanente offers train
ing for tri-county hospice vol
unteers Tuesdays and Thurs
days from 12:30 to 4 p.m. from
Jan. 18 through Feb. 3 with one
Saturday session on Jan. 29.
V o lu n te e rs fro m T ig a rd ,
Tualatin, Gresham and Sandy
are especially needed. For more
information or to register, call
503-499-5285or503-499-5408.
Get Schooled
Leam how to improve schools
and jobs at a forum with State
Superintendent of Public Instruc
tion Susan Castillo and President
ofOregon’sAFL-CIOTim Nesbitt
at7p.m .Jan. 13 at the Hollywood
SeniorCenter, 1820N.E. 40*1. Free,
sp o n so red by M ultnom ah
County Democratic Party.
Learn in London
Portland Community College of
fers a learning opportunity to
earn credit in London. An infor
mational meeting is from 6 to 7
p.m. M onday, Jan. 10 in the
Spruce Room of the CC Building
at the Sylvania Campus, 12000
S.W. 49,h Ave. The London trip
is set for March 31 through June
11. For more information, call
503-614-7151.
Get Fit, Stay Healthy!
Sankofaa Health Institute offers
a free diabetes support group
from 6 to 7:30 p.m. every third
Thursday at Alberta Simmons
Plaza, 6707 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd. For more informa
tion, call 503-285-2484.
Creative Space For Dance
Aurora Dance Studio, 5433 N.E.
30th (at Killingsworth), offers an
array of classes forchildren, teens
and adults at all levels of ability.
Call503-249-020lorvisitonlineat
www.hevanet.com/auroradance
for additional information.
Work For Change
Com m unity Advocates invites
those interested in protecting
children from abuse to become
an event volunteer, event out
re a c h , te c h n o lo g y e x p e rt,
graphic artists or office support
team member. For more informa
tion, call 503-280-1388.
Home Improvement
The Com munity Energy Project
holds free w orkshops on water
conservation and w eatheriza
tion. For more information, call
503-284-4962.
R. Lyne Martin (right) stops on Alberta Street to look for the perfect wine to complement an evening meal and gets some help from Everyday Wine shop
owner Beth Boston.
Galleries engage
in multi-cultural
neighborhood
n e ig h b o rh o o d d e s p ite th e flig h t o f
gentrification.
“I was here before the punk rockers,”
Donna Guardino said proudly, sitting at the
several sculptures o f women are scattered
throughout the front space.
Originally from Illinois, Guardino arrived
in Oregon and acting on a long-cherished
M artha S. F i . etchf . r
F or the P ortland O bserver
by
Alberta Street has experienced phenom
enal changes in the last decade. The trans
formation o f a vice al ley to an arts district has
skyrocketed rents and pushed out some
lower-income residents, including some long
time members o f the local African-American
community.
Two gallery owners, Donna Guardino and
Reggie Petry, have different approaches to
making Alberta work for them and build pride
in a multi-cultural neighborhood.
While Guardino em braces both the new
and old community, which has poured money
into blossoming Alberta Street businesses,
Petry makes an effort to engage the original
com munity more by hiring locals and en
couraging them to keep their money in the
Alberta Arts Pavilion owner Reggie Petry
front desk of G uardinoGallery, agallery and
frame shop at 2939 N.E. Alberta. Smallquilted
and appliqued pieces made o f sparkling
metallic silks are displayed on the walls, and
dream of ow ning a print shop and living
above it, she and her husband Sal pur
chased her Alberta site in 1996.
Much o f the other enterprises on the
street at that time were churches and crack
dealers. Other properties had been aban
doned and boarded up. Real estate prices
were so low that people could pay for prop
erties with their credit cards.
But McM enamins had just purchased the
Kennedy School building on Northeast 33"*
Avenue and N ature's was building a grocery
store at 15,h and Fremont. Guardino felt that
these would be good “anchors” for her busi
ness.
“We had some vandalism at first. Som e
one broke our window, she said. “They spray-
painted the anarchy symbol, ‘Gardens not
galleries’ and ‘Yuppies go hom e.’ A police
man told me that home-ownership would turn
the neighborhood around.”
In 1997, a real estate broker friend o f the
Guardinos suggested that they begin a “ Last
Thursday” art walk.
At first only a few artists and businesses,
such as the newly opened Videorama, partici
pated. Unfortunately, the week before the
event was scheduled to occur, there were a
rash of shootings on the street.
continued
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Birth Ready
W hether you need childbirth
preparation classes, or just a re
fresher, Providence Health Sys
tems has a workshop for you.
Prepare for pain, take a weekend
seminar or prepare big si sters and
brothers-to-be throughout the
su m m er
by
v isitin g
www.providence.org/classes or
call 503-5746595.
Love that Pooch
Problem pooch classes are a must
take for anyone who may be new
to the world of pet parenthood
or is interested in considering
adopting a new friend. Come to
the Oregon Humane Society to
find out why your dog does those
silly little things. Meetings are
every first and third Saturday o f
the month at 11 a.m. For more
information, call 503-285-7722.
Observations from the art walk
M ar tha S. F letcher
F or the P ortland O bserver
by
My Last Thursday walk started
on a dark an d w in d y n ig h t
sprinkled with rain. 1 began at
Everyday W ine, al 1520 N.E.
Alberta. Upon entering, I was
greeted by a friendly black lab,
who did his best to make me feel
welcome. Everyday W ine has the
ambiance o f a family TV room,
with gentle Enya music playing in
the background, sturdy square
tables, and soft cushy chairs ar
ranged around a large-screen TV
and baskets o f childrens’ books
The wine is displayed on shelves
and the place is well lit by halogen
track lights. A few couples occu
pied a table: another table was held shop ow ner gossiped with friend
by w e ll-d re s se d m id d le -a g e d as I fingered a $300 handmade
women, discussing the importance shantung silk dress and sipped
o f owning an emotional issue. I thei”com plimentary wine.
downed my wine as quickly as pos
I entered a building that had a
sible and headed out into the night. large event room, classically re
I wandered up Alberta, stopping stored, on the first floor. Upstairs,
in at 1627 Studios, 1627 N.E. Alberta, a man gave an entertaining slide
a gallery and studio space shared lecture on the Second Law ofTher-
by several artists. I noticed people modynamics. The next room was
o f different ages, octogenarians and a tattoo and piercing studio. O p
babes in arms co-existing with art tic Nerve Arts, with a notable
students and collectors. The art buffet o f salmon on rye, baklava,
ists com mented on the slowness of and spinach pastries. After eat
the night; the trickle o f participants ing my fill, 1 ran into a friend and
were only a fragment o f the hun proceeded to Jo e’s Place, where
dreds that usually show up for Last we spent a comfortable hour drink-
Thursday. Further down the street,
continued
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at Guardi no Gal lery and T o o t' s, the
A passerby is in motion near Star E Rose Café on Alberta Street.
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