Today Sarah Mirk tipped me off to a blog post from last summer on ediblegeography.com concerning gentrification and cupcakes. The post focuses on the work of Dr. Kathe Newman of Rutgers University who, while trying to find data sources related to urban change, stumbled on the fact that recently gentrified neighborhoods seem to have one thing in common: cupcake shops. Or, as Dr. Newman explained in an interview with cakespy.com, “…a fantastic little place to get cupcakes. I’m always dragging home very pretty little cupcakes for my children while on research trips.”
It’s an interesting idea to track the way a community changes by marking the evolution of food venues. However, I don’t think cupcake shops work for Portland. When I was living on Alberta Street back in the day, I watched places like the punky Chez What? give way to places like mannered Ciao Vito, but there was nary a cupcake joint in sight. The community was moving swiftly towards gentrification, though not necessarily to precious bite-sized baked goods. Today there are artisan bakeries on Alberta, including Petite Provence and Random Order, but they sell fine pastries and pies respectively… Does that count?
Aside from cupcake shops and little Italian joints, I’m interested to know what food venues you, Blogtownies, would use to mark our city’s patterns of gentrification? Coffee roasters? Brunch Spots? Cart Pods? Give us your wisdom.
Taco joints run by non-Mexicans.
$9 eggs
Once you’ve got a fancy dog food/toy store, you’re there. You know, those ones that all seem to sell the same mix of products and brands, where you can get a 6 oz bag of duck chews for $16, or a $80 goretex dog vest.
So I’d say follow the dog food, not the people food.
Just to clarify.
Restaurants that gets buzz because of the head chef’s reputation instead of the actual food.
White liberals in one of the whitest cities of the USA complaining about gentrification. Ha ha, life is good!
I agree with Commenty Colin: fancypants dog shops are what I look for. Also, gelato.
I miss Chez What?… Was it as good as I remember it?
It seems finding places that show a place has been gentrified are easy. Anything that speaks exclusively to upper middle class white America. What I’d like to know, is what places portend gentrification. Then I’d know where to buy my next house.
DLS 3.0 – Yes, it was. Not perfect food, but just what was needed.
Thanks, Patrick, for mentioning it, brings back good memories. We made a point of going there at least once a month for breakfast and just taking it easy.
We went to the “replacement” restaurant shortly after it opened just to see what the fuss was about and, though crowded, found the service downright rude. Could have been an anomaly, but given the fact that one of our favorite places was already gone, it wasn’t worth going back again to find out.