I often feel like I’m in the Wild West here on East Burnside Street. It’s a bit lawless at times - with the close proximity to downtown Portland and several homeless shelters, a certain amount of petty crime is inevitable. (Not long ago, we were unfortunate victims of a window smashing from a drunken bar brawl.) We get our fair share of sketchy characters sidling out of the nearby strip club mid-day, and a veritable parade of people who walk down the middle of the road yelling at invisible spirits. When the Burnside Bridge is closed, the occasional tumbleweed blows by and completes the scene.

But not for much longer.

We’re relative newcomers to Bside in comparison to the pioneers at Denwave and the Doug Fir. Joining the ranks of these ambitious and forward-thinking individuals, there has been a bevy of businesses cropping up in our ‘hood in recent months. Around the same time Lille opened, the lovely Stand Up Comedy boutique sprouted just behind Moshi Moshi and Bombshell Vintage. Then, just a block down, the beautifully renovated Rock n’ Rose Vintage arrived. With the opening of the Burnside Rocket and its eponymous restaurant atop a platinum-LEED certified building, the bustling East Burnside district officially stretched its wings. And now, just a bit further up the road in the former Tire Factory at 17th and Burnside, Destroy Store and Life and Limb pave the way for a unified strip, all the way from Rontoms to Moxie!

These are the tell-tale signs of a neighborhood on the rise. A recent New York Times Style Magazine article confirms it. Yet the frustrating reality of existence here on Burnside is somewhat bleak. The street simply cannot sustain the kind of foot traffic that they boast about in the Brewery Blocks of the Pearl District. The aforementioned bridge closings, coupled with constant delays on the Burnside Bridgehead Development Project aren’t helping matters much. I have high hopes for the bside6 complex, slated to open next Summer, and I’m waiting with baited breath for the Eastside Extension of the Portland Streetcar, but we all know how slow the city moves.

In the meantime, there’s something to be said for the gritty, industrial feel of the street that is not unlike Dumbo, Brooklyn a few years back. It cultivates the same ambiance as so many of my favorite streets in the world - Blood Alley in Vancouver, for example or Shomben Yokocho (Piss Alley) in Tokyo. Scrappy and irreverent, these are the places where you find atmospheric wonders. A little shady, sure, but I’m not ready to give it up for an American Apparel, and I might have to kill someone if a Starbucks opens on my block.

Besides, it just wouldn’t be the same without that lovable schizophrenic talking to her coffee cup.