PORTLAND, Ore. _ Once, as a tourist some dozen years or so ago, I took a wrong turn from downtown and crossed over a bridge to the east side of town. Let me tell you, it didn't take long to realize I wasn't in the posh Pearl District anymore.
With boarded-up windows and rundown warehouses, the Central Eastside Industrial District looked soulless. The only dude I encountered that night signaled for me to roll down my car window and inquired if I needed drugs.
Now, that drive east over the Willamette River is very much my intention, and that industrial area very much my destination.
Look at it. Warehouses all gussied up and looking like Tribeca. Restaurants and cocktail dens all shiny and new.
East of the river is where one of the city's best cocktail bars (Rum Club), sits next to one of the city's best dives (The Slammer Tavern), which sits next to a tofu house, which all sound so "Portlandia."
