Tag: Businesses downtown

Books with Pictures Pop Up!!

November 8, 2025

Dear Liza,

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Auntie Katie has a new Pop Up shop for Books with Pictures in Portland! It is part of the PDX Pop Up Program to encourage more foot traffic and shopping in the core of downtown, where there are too many vacant store fronts.

As excited as she is to have 2,000 square feet of prime retail space free for two months, it hasn’t been easy. She got the keys to the place just 8 days before opening, and there was lots to do.

The floors were filthy, walls needed patching and painting, and the enormous windows were covered with adhesive film and city grime. Still, Katie is not one to flinch at hard work. And she had some help.

She cleaned floors and windows, I sanded, and Cecily painted. Friends and neighbors offered rugs, tables and chairs to “homey up” the big empty space. Twelve hour days paid off, the day before she opened, it was looking pretty nice.

And opening day, folks came in to look around and buy things! I am currently recovering from Covid, so I couldn’t go, but Grandpa Nelson headed down to say Hi and take pictures.

And as they were chatting, folks started coming in! First a few, then more! The theory is that a crowd draws a crowd, and I guess it’s true. I hope they stuck around and bought lots of books.

The Books with Pictures Pop Up will be open 12-6 PM, Wednesday through Sunday, until January 6th. It would be lovely if you could come visit.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Going Downtown

Dear Liza,

We haven’t been to the Portland Art Museum since early February. That’s when we visited the Volcano! Show, about art and science from the Mt. St. Helens’ eruption. Then we got sick, then the city shut down, then the riots started, and we haven’t been downtown since.

Our beautiful Willamette

Saturday, we went. We had booked an hour time slot (They are limiting visitors to maintain social distancing) at PAM for the three of us, got the car out of the garage, and crossed the bridge. The river was bright in the early Fall sunshine, and I realized how much I have missed being out in the city.

We drove through downtown, noticing some damaged and boarded up buildings, mostly high-end shops, but also a lot of open businesses. Killer Burger and the food carts were doing a good business.

There are more homeless folks than before, napping in their tents. Many streets had a sort of down and out vibe, and it made me sad. I feel bad for the folks who have no other place to be, and also for the folks who are scared to walk down the street where they have lived for years.

As we walked to the museum we saw construction cranes and buildings making progress. When we had used up our hour time slot we sat outside in the plaza for a while. We heard flash bangs and chanting from down toward the Willamette River, and knew enough not to head in that direction. We drove north to cross over a different bridge to head home.

Seven blocks that direction, people are throwing rocks at each other…

I checked the news on my phone and found that we had heard (And just missed) a clash between a far right group called The Proud Boys and an anti-fascist group, who were throwing rocks and insults at each other. This has become a common theme here in Portland, and it also makes me sad.

Violence only begets violence, and people seem to be aiming their hatred at each other instead of the powers that be, who have created this mess.

Patient, happy lines at Powell’s.

But don’t get the idea that all of Portland “is in flames”. People are jogging, eating, and visiting. Our iconic bookstore, Powells, opened up for the first time since March, and there was a line around the block to get in. To buy books! Sizzle Pie Pizza had folks waiting for their goodness.

Such are the strange times we live in.
Love,

Grandma Judy