Tag Archive for 'daily grind'

Silver Lining Around the Closing of the Daily Grind

Published
by
Dawn
on June 6, 2008
in food and drink and southeast
. 6 Comments

I moved to Hawthorne just a few blocks away from the Daily Grind in March of 2007. One of the big advantages of the neighborhood was the ability to walk to everything: restaurants, Powells, groceries, bubble tea, coffee shops, and … an awesome health food store with a deli. I loved the vegan deli food, desserts, and the convenience of running out to pick up missing ingredients. Then, sigh, the Daily Grind closed. I was back to driving to New Seasons on Division to buy my health food.

We speculated about what might replace it, but we feared the worst. What if they put in yet another Starbucks? or Subway? or *shudder* McDonalds. Even worst, would they turn it into another condo building? Then yesterday, I got some amazing news.

New Seasons, another locally owned health food store, announced yesterday that they would be moving into the old Daily Grind location. Rejoice! I’ll have to wait until 2009, but then I will be able to walk to a great, local health food store with a deli. Awesome.

Evolution of Hawthorne

Published
by
Dawn
on April 12, 2008
in food and drink and southeast
. 9 Comments

I’ve been a fan of Hawthorne for a long time: loads of vegan food options, bubble tea with coconut milk, shops for almost anything I might need, a Powells branch, and so much more. A year ago, I was lucky enough to find a great house to buy just 2 blocks off of Hawthorne.

I’ve been really surprised by the changes happening on Hawthorne in just the past year. Some of the changes have been good, while others are disappointing.

The disappointing:

  • The Daily Grind went out of business after 20+ years on Hawthorne. I miss being able to walk there for my groceries.
  • Pho Green Papaya opened on Hawthorne and closed less than 2 months later due to lease issues.
  • Pix Patisserie closed.
  • Hawthorne Coffee Merchant moved to a location just off of Hawthorne.

The encouraging:

  • The Cup & Saucer is expanding into the space left by the Hawthorne Coffee Merchant
  • Pastaworks is moving into the space left by Pix
  • Albina Press opened a new coffee shop on upper Hawthorne

These are a just a few examples, and there are plenty more. At this point, I’m not sure whether the end result will be better or worse, but I worry about it a little. All of the cool, independent shops are what gives Hawthorne it’s charm. I hope that we are able to keep them during these changes to avoid ending up with too many chain restaurants and big corporate businesses.