Back to the building. The building in question housed Lush, a upper scale hipster restaurant/bar. Next door was Level, a DJ club that brought national and international DJs. This was a significant change for old town. Skid row was moving up in the world.
Now? Well, a few years later, Level is still running strong, around the corner is BackSpace and Fords. Lush? Well, beginning last month, WW and The Portland Mercury began running large ads advertising Lush as Portland's premier 2 level strip club. Yes, a strip club. I'm no prude and don't have an opinion on where strip clubs end up, but I think to myself- how would I feel if I dropped $150,000+ on a cool new condo in an up and coming neighborhood only to find out a couple years later that my downstairs neighbor has decided to become a stip club- albeit an upscale club - still a strip club. Then again, in stumptown, maybe that raises property values. You never know.
On a side note, I walked home a little bit today. The rain is really cramping my style with afternoon walking. My walk took me from work up to 10th via Pioneer Courthouse Sq. and then over to Burnside and up to Whole Foods for some shopping. After shopping, I cruised down Couch to the park blocks and discovered Lush/Level and thought I would photog it. By the time I reached 1st ave and MAX, it had begun raining a little harder, so I decided to hop the train for home.
11,900 steps so far.
