Jarbidge to the Oregon Trail

Don & I have a tradition: every Christmas season, we drive into Portland and up to the “Nob Hill” area of NW 23rd Street. We park blocks away because there is no parking anywhere near the area and we stroll past historic old homes now converted into boarding houses. NW 23rd is an old narrow street with parallel parking, numerous unique stores and eateries. West Burnside borders the south and Good Samaritan Hospital is the border of the north.

We walk until our feet hurt, toss coins to the street musicians when there are some, and we browse antiques, collectibles we can’t afford, collectibles we can afford, Christmas tree ornaments, toys, trinkets, baubles and dozens of practical items. We dodge old beater Volkswagens, brand new Lexuses, Tri-Met buses and the Trolley as we cross the many streets.

We shop stores like Urbana, Three Monkeys, the Kite Shop, Smith & Hawken, Dazzle, Twist, Rejuvenation Hardware, Zucari’s, and Christmas At the Zoo. There’s a crowded little toy store on one end, World Market (Cost Plus) on another end, Urban Outfitters, Noah’s New York Bagles, Kornblatt’s, the Laurelwood Public House and Rose’s. Sometimes we stop at Starbucks half-way.

Last year, we did not get to NW 23rd at all: we headed out, but the snow started falling. We made it five miles, to the nearest Toys-R-Us. By the time we came out of that store, it was obvious that Portland was going to shut down: five inches of snow and still coming. One place you do not want to drive when there is that kind of snow fall is the narrow hilly streets of NW Portland. We turned around and drove back up the hill to Oregon City. In the end, we had 19″ of snow over the weekend and Portland fell silent. The Christmas season that promised so much produced so little for the small shop owners.

This year: no snow! The east coast got the storm this year.

We started out by stopping in Lake Oswego which is where I took the only photographs I took the entire shopping trip. And I had such great plans of taking photos. Oh well, you can use your imagination.

The strange sculpture along the banks of Lake O reinforced my anticipation of a day of eclectic shopping (and window shopping).

Except Smith & Hawken’s is gone. Zucaris changed tack when they moved from a basement store to a high rent street-level store and is no longer fun to go into. Urbana is gone. Three Monkeys consolidated and has half the inventory as before. The Kite Shop gave up a couple years ago. Many of the unique little antique stores were gone this year, as well as some of the artsy places.

And Noah’s Bagels is gone from that location! We were so sad! It was always a challenge to get in and out of there, find a seat, and enjoy a Kosher lunch while staring down at the street where the stilt walkers were ambling along.

No stilt walkers or street musicians this year, either.

The atmosphere has changed and it isn’t good. The economy and the three weeks of being snowed in last winter took its toll. The dachsund antique store was gone. (She sold everything dachsund and a good lot of it was antique or antiqued.)

We settled for lunch at the Laurelwood (great service, great food, good atmosphere). After lunch, we talked briefly with one of the lovely employees there. He’s watched the changes first hand and doesn’t like them, either. “It’s pretty much all chain stores now,” he said: Urban Outfitters, World Market, Pottery Barn, Kitchen Kaboodle, and even Rejuvenation Hardware (which used to be over-filled with cheap goodies and interesting toys) has gone up-scale and sells more bedding and decorating items than hardware.

We’re not sure we’ll do this again next year. But the toy store is still there and Christmas at the Zoo, so possibly we will. Lunch at the Laurelwood Pub sounds good for next year.

While we did find everything we were looking for, our shopping date felt a little like this scene along the shore of Lake Oswego. Urban mallards, swimming around artificially placed rocks and artificial cattails. Yes, those cattails around the rocks are sculptures. Not real at all.

At least we know that Noah’s Bagels still exists in other locations around town. I’d be really sad if the chain went away.