Neighborhood Familiarization

After walking to Otto’s for a lunch of grilled hotdogs, spicy pork sausages and chicken sausages (yes, we ate a lot!), we were feeling very positive about the neighborhood and doing local things. We spent some time driving around, marveling at how many classic Craftsman-style homes there were.

Dinner time neared and we decided on pizza. Our pre-trip research had turned up 2 “serious” pizza places. Earlier in the trip we went to Ken’s Artisan Pizza (http://www.kensartisan.com/pizza.html) and today we tried Apizza Scholls (http://www.apizzascholls.com/). We liked Ken’s better. If the decision were only about pizza, Ken’s would have won, but just slightly. However, Apizza Scholls has got attitude. Not “I work hard to make good pizza and hope you enjoy it” attitude, but “I know I make good pizza and if you think otherwise, you should go somewhere else” attitude. Maybe it is good pizza. But, especially with the prices they charge, they’re a restaurant and need to realize it.

After dinner we spent an hour at the Eastmoreland community meeting learning what sorts of issues the residents of our neighborhood are concerned about. We also learned that the city of Portland has a deep attitude of community involvement – there are 25+ neighborhood associations for Southeast Portland alone.