- WORLD FAMOUS FOR A REASON: In 2009, Portlandâs World Famous Cannabis Cafe became the first cafe in the United States for state-authorized medical marijuana cardholders to socialize and safely medicate. The cafe quickly became legendaryâit really was world famousâbut after an upgrade to its Montavilla location, it closed in June 2014 after the city requested costly seismic improvements, and new laws eliminated the ability for patients to medicate onsite. Now that Measure 91 has passed, and anyone 21 and older will be allowed to consume marijuana on private property, the World Famous Cannabis Cafe is reopening. The new building will be on Southeast Foster Road, and founder Madeline Martinez, former executive director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Lawsâ Oregon chapter, hopes to make it the best version yet. âThird timeâs a charm,â she says.
- FRY GUYS: Portland will soon have its first sit-down restaurant dedicated to frybread, the deep-fried Navajo dish with a painful origin in 19th-century reservation rations. The 2,500-square-foot Bonanza, at 135 SW Taylor St., will be opened by the owners of Barlow and Picnic House as a fast-casual restaurant with a loose Old West theme. Planned menu items include chipotle chicken- and beef brisket-topped frybread and Southwestern scones. âArizona has a James Beard restaurant serving frybread,â says co-owner Aaron Grimmer. âPortland has nothing like that.â
- BRUNG LOW: Bungalo Bar, the North Mississippi Avenue party house known for its strange backyard full of clean-room plastic sheeting and crocheted Xenomorph pods, may soon be no more. If city applications go through, itâll make way for a new Southwestern-themed bar called the Rambler, with chili, Frito pie, burgers and a bocce court in the backyard. The Bungalo has had a checkered history with state officials, drawing Oregon Liquor Control Commission citations for selling alcohol to minors, serving while intoxicated, and allowing disorderly conduct. It was also the site of Gossip singer Beth Dittoâs 2013 disorderly conduct arrest after the bar cut her off.
- WHOâS GOING CHICKEN HUNTINâ?: As the burning of Confederate flags becomes a popular form of protest following the mass murder at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., our news partner KATU reports there is still a Confederate flag flying high in the Portland metro area. Itâs at Jefferson Davis âParkâ in exurban Ridgefield, Wash. The âparkâ is on private property, owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that invited an American who fought for the cause of Rhodesiaâthe racist former nation whose flag adorned the jacket of Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roofâto speak to their group at Milwaukieâs Bomber Wings of Freedom restaurant in 2013.
WWeek 2015