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There’s a bit of Willy Vlautin in both of the main characters from his upcoming eighth novel The Left and the Lucky (Harper, April 14): 8-year-old Russell, who lives in St. Johns with a stripper single mom and bullying half-brother, and his broken but bighearted 42-year-old neighbor Eddie Wilkens, who has the same profession (house painter) that Vlautin did as both an unknown musician and struggling known musician. They also live in the same house.
“Eddie’s house was my old house but bigger,” says Vlautin, who now lives in Scappoose, but with a writing office in St. Johns. “Mine was 425 square feet, so I gave Eddie a bit more room, and made his place have all the things I wish my place had: a carport, a garage, a real living room, and a big bathtub.”
As with Vlautin’s 2021 novel, The Night Always Comes, Portland bars, restaurants and retailers—both long gone and extant—are a big part of the action. We first meet both Russell and Eddie in the coffee aisle at Fred Meyer, and as the boy begins to latch on to his neighbor as a father figure, they visit or go past such nearby spots as Signal Station Pizza, The Twilight Room, Marie’s, The Fixin To, Tienda Santa Cruz, the Portway Tavern and, of course, Burgerville. Vlautin also tips his hat to non-NoPo locales like Byways Cafe, the strip club Calico Cat, and Joe’s Cellar.
“The thing with me is, I fall in love with places,” Vlautin says, “and writing takes so long that I figure I might as well surround myself with places I like.”
Some of the settings came up naturally, while others were self-conscious shout-outs. “I put in the Byways Cafe and the St. Johns Theater because I wanted Russell and Eddie to be in those beautiful places,” Vlautin says. “When Eddie is with the painters, I just put the places that I’d go to when I painted. I’d always eat lunch at Overlook if I could. I had a crush on the same waitress there for years. The band I’m in, The Delines, loved that place as well.
“Sometimes I put in places that are closed just so I can think about them. I mention briefly Jowers clothing store, just because it was so cool. The old ladies who ran it could tell your shoe and waist size just by looking at you. They were the best.”
