Articles by Chad Walsh

April may be the cruelest month for grouchy poets, but it shone an awful lot of sunlight on Portland upstarts last month. These scrappy entrepreneurs opened spots in five of the city's "quadrants," including, but not limited to, several retail outlets specializing in gifts, home design, new and used fashions, and one-of-a-kind rediscovered treasures, as well as a nursery, a pizzeria, three cafes, two more...

This is the first in a series about how landlords and their current and potential commercial tenants, as well as business and neighborhood associations, can work together to create vibrant, livable neighborhoods and business districts. Whether they realize it or not, landlords have the power to actively or passively shape and restrict a neighborhood's commercial success. There are plenty of success stories, but more...

Judging by the restaurants, bars and food carts that line our streets, we Portlanders sure like dining out. But when you consider the many successful urban farms and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) cropping up all over town, we sure like dining in too. If you and your family are thinking about joining a CSA, how can you tell which one works best for you? Do you choose the one that empowers underserved youth, more...

This is the first in a series of articles that will cover the basics of land use in Portland. Let's face it. You might not notice when a six-story apartment building is being constructed just a few hundred feet from a cluster of single-story homes—unless one of those homes is yours. Developments happen all the time, in every city. Some residents are grateful when a grocery store opens just a few blocks more...

You can boil them hard, or boil them soft. You can pickle, devil, scramble, flip or fizz them. What can’t you do with eggs? They bind our soufflés and nearly all baked goods. And when we think of breakfast, we almost always think: eggs. But the industrious men and women who populate Portland's many kitchens know that eggs aren't just for morning meals; they can be dolled up in a variety of more...

Whether it's intended or not, Portland's newest indie business owners seem to be collectively trying to tell us something: Get fit, eat right and choose the right threads to show it all off. March brought with it the opening of a new yoga studio, a roller sport store, a bicycle repair and parts shop, and an athletic shoe store. Also opened were a new juice and smoothie bar, an urban farm and garden store, as more...

The Happy Cup Coffee Company is more than just a coffee roaster. The beans they roast have been ethically traded, meaning the farmers who harvested them were fairly paid. But Happy Cup's mission is to employ some of Portland's developmentally disabled adults and provide them with not only a safe and productive working environment, but also something they aren't always used to receiving: a competitive more...

Before the rise of the craft beer industry, the pint by which the world measured a good stout was a cascading draft of Ireland's black stuff, Guinness. But that was then. With Portland now considered one of the, if not the, beeriest of cities, there are plenty of local alternatives to the old beer-so-thick-you-need-a-knife-and-fork-to-drink-it. Here are five Portland stouts we think are worth the quaff. Bryan more...

Some come dry, some with sauce. They'll always have cilantro and pickled vegetables (generally radishes and carrots). They'll sometimes come with chiles, and whether you order it with or without meat, its ingredients should always be bundled in fluffy-as-cotton-candy French bread. If you're not familiar with the bánh mì, the 20th-century concept of serving Vietnamese ingredients on French more...

While new restaurants and bars ruled the business landscape of early and midwinter, late winter in Portland belonged to consignors, refurbishers and providers of vintage threads. While February brought new businesses specializing in baked sweets, cotton candy, authentic Iraqi cuisine, and chicken and waffles (plus fitness classes to work it all off), it also brought retailers of jewelry made from found fossils, more...