March 2, 2012

The Pioneer Log features

From industry to art: a look at The Pearl District

BY ALICIA KROELL
Staff Writer

Last night, Portlanders piled into various converted warehouse spaces in northwest for a peek at emerging art sanctified by the monthly tradition of First Thursday. The appeal of these elevated galleries, restaurants and alley-like streets is about all that remains of the blue-collar lifestyle that dominated the area, now coined The Pearl, in the first half of the 20th century. Galleries started popping up in the area north of Chinatown in the 1950s after the demand for road transportation overpowered rail and business provided by Union Station began to diminish. As people once associated with the dominating railway commerce began to transfer to other areas of Portland, rent dropped and artists took over the abandoned warehouses, forgotten industrial sites and bluecollar cafs. Previously nicknamed the Warehouse District, it is the balance between art and work space that inspired a local gallery owner to name it The Pearl. The warehouses are a crusty shell for the aesthetically appealing pearls of artist lofts and galleries. Diane Faville, owner of the Attic Gallery, was right on board with the art boom of the 1970s. She originally opened her gallery in her own attic after seeing her friends work being presented

Deschutes Brewery and an old industrial building parking garage on 10th and Davis

Wieden+Kennedy on NW 11th

PHOTOS BY ALICIA KROELL

poorly in another gallery. While the gallery has moved several times since then, she was right in the middle of the Pearl on NW 10th and Hoyt when First Thursday started in September 1986. At a time when there were only a few galleries in the area, the mass opening was started by a collection of gallery owners who simply wanted people to engage in their curated spaces, a mission accomplished, and evidenced by the streets closed specifically for sum-

mer First Thursdays today. However, Faville notes that art may not be the main draw for some. More people are interested in going to First Thursday for the bars and drinks. It seems like more of a party scene, she said. Many Portland residents are proud to drop the most microbreweries per capita statistic, establishing the city as a beer haven. Many of these breweries, such as Rogue, Deschutes and Blitz, call the Pearl home. But it was Henry
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Weinhard who established precedence with over 100 years in the Pearl, even withstanding prohibition by selling near-beer (a 0.5% alcoholic brew that even Salt Lake City Mormons would be happy with). After several merges with brew-houses such as Blitz and Pabst, Weinhard closed in 1999. While First Thursday dynamics may have shifted a bit, the layout of the Pearl is relatively the same as it was in the 1980s, according to Faville.

It hasnt changed too much. There are more galleries, more condos and more restaurants, she said. According to the 2000 census, of the nearly 6,000 people living in the Pearl, just over 50 percent were renters, filling the high-rise condominiums and apartment buildings of the district. Johanna Dooley (12) works at one such complex, The Metropolitan, which houses 19 stories of luxury rooms. Dooley cites the residents as a friendly group representative of a general Pearl demographic. You find lots of well-groomed dogs and lots of single middleaged men. You also find a lot of very successful couples, but typically not families, she said. Confirmed by the census, men hold the majority of the Pearl population, and 60.9% of households are defined as families without children. Along with upscale housing development has come an emphasis on parks, of which there are 15 in the 285-acre district. The Pearl District is recognized as a place of urban renewal, and Tanner Springs Park may encapsulate that concept most clearly. The park, located at NW 10th and Marshall, provides green space and manicured wetlands framed by paved paths and art where the once-bustling Hoyt Street Railyard stood, but ran its turn with the rest of the 1950s warehouse district.