From outward appearances, Cascadia’s Garlington Center rests quietly along today’s lively Northeast Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard. But inside the center’s front doors is a bustling lobby where every week, hundreds of people go to get the help they need to deal with challenges ranging from mental illness to recovering from drug or alcohol addictions.
Continue reading Brief History of Cascadia’s Garlington Center
Back in 2006 Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare moved the Garlington Center into Eliot Neighborhood at 3034 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Soon they hope to transform the property with a new mixed use building that will include existing services as well as affordable housing.
If you’re age 60 or older and looking for a great place for lunch with a fun group of people, plus interesting activities, why not stop by the Meals on Wheels People/Loaves and Fishes Center at 5325 Northeast MLK Blvd? They serve delicious, nutritious lunches with a choice of entrée every weekday from noon until 1:00pm. The suggested donation is $3, but no one is ever turned away.
This April one of Eliot’s staples, The Waypost, stopped serving brunch, but fortunately for residents of the neighborhood, we’ve still got some great options for Portland’s favorite meal! We asked for your input and now here are the top three!
I don’t want to be selfish and want to be the best person I can be”. This is a quote from a new neighbor you may not have met yet. You also may not be familiar with at least 50 other new neighbors who want you to know how much they appreciate being in this neighborhood. They reside in the building at MLK and NE Sacramento, which is the home of the Volunteers of America Men’s Residential Center. It is the place that 52 men call home for 6 months while overcoming addiction and working on recovery. They are our neighbors and they would like Eliot to know a little more about them, how they are helping our neighborhood and the program that they are going to be graduating from.
A letter from the Land Use Chair…
Vacant land in Eliot has been one of my biggest annoyances since moving here in 2008. I realize many of you have lived here longer than I have and some of you have even gotten permission to use the vacant land that you experience around you every day. However some of the bigger pieces really leave holes in the urban fabric that surrounds us. Some of the vacant land is used for parking, but at its worst some of our land is used for nothing at all.
Union (MLK) and Knott 1929
These twin houses on the corner of Union and Knott were built in 1900. By 1929 Union had already become a busy street and the houses had started the transition from residential to commercial. “Dr Muck Dentist” occupied the second floor of the house on the corner. Over the course of his dental career Dr Earl C Muck had his office in different nearby locations on Union.
Over the past 3 years, a construction project at the corner of NE Monroe and NE Martin Luther King, Junior Boulevard (MLK) has blocked the sidewalk on the west side of MLK. This has created a situation where people can either walk 1200 feet out of direction by going to Rodney and back, cross MLK twice or just walk in the road.
Mod Physique opened in Eliot September 2013. You may have spotted them on the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Graham Street with the A frame sign of a girl in a ballet pose. Mod Physique is a fusion class of high intensity cardio, weights, ballet barre, and Pilates exercises. Their classes work every major muscle group in your body creating long lean muscle vs. bulk. Each week the class changes to keep the body challenged and prevent people from getting complacent. The class also works your heart, coordination, balance, and endurance. The owner, Jessa Freeman created it to keep herself and her Zumba® Fitness students in shape. “I can walk into a ballet class and keep up even after 7 years of not being in the studio,” one customer said. What attracts people to the studio? The challenging classes for a variety of fitness levels with personal attention and the fun environment. You may find yourself working muscles you didn’t know existed.
By Annie Rudwick
Walking around Eliot, there is a wide range of restaurants, coffee shops, and retail, everything from barbershops to the Nike Outlet store. There are parks and a first rate hospital, even a brand new grocery store. With first rate bike lanes, great bars, and public transit, what more could you ask for? Ah, but what about a place to work out? When I moved into Eliot in March 2008, I was hoping for a fitness studio close to my house. Luckily, Portland Team Fitness arrived on NE MLK right across Fremont in the King Neighborhood Area in May 2008.
There will be a Tree Lighting Community Gathering at the MLK Gateway on Saturday 11/30. The N/NE Business Association (NNEBA) in collaboration with the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN) is pleased to announce this event as part of their annual Illuminating the Soul Holiday Campaign.
Dreamers Marketplace started out with a big dream of having an open outdoor market in the Summer, an indoor market in the Winter and a pod of Food Carts. Within a year or so most of the vision had vanished. 3 years later it fully came to an end when the final food cart – Pepper Box – packed up.
During the great recession of 2008, many construction projects nationwide halted. New project proposals slowed to a rate that has not been seen in recent memory. Property values fell nationwide, but some interesting trends were associated with those changes. More Americans are starting to value walkable, close-in neighborhoods, like Eliot, over more car-dependent areas. And these preferences are not just with their hearts but also with their dollars. This was a trend that has been going on in Portland for quite a while, but it is having some real results on the ground in Eliot in the ‘10s.
A few weeks ago while running an errand to Hankins Hardware, my wife and I noticed a new restaurant had opened on the corner of Fremont and MLK. Technically, that particular corner is just outside of the Eliot Neighborhood, but it is close enough!
I’ve lived in Eliot for 5 years now, and Martin Luther King, Junior Boulevard (MLK) is less than half a block from my house. If I had to use one word to describe it I would say ‘highway’ probably. The traffic is what defines MLK, slow and busy at rush hour, and fast and sparse throughout the rest of the day.
Eliot Neighborhood 