For most of the people who pass Hazelnut Grove on a regular basis, it is a fenced off, ever-shifting mystery.
The organized tent camp on North Greeley Avenue often emits a clatter of saws and hammers. Structures pop up, and grow. Tents abound.
We've written a lot about Hazelnut Grove (see: here, here, and here, for example). Some of its neighbors still fume over its existence—the Overlook Neighborhood Association is participating in a lawsuit against the city largely due to its ire over the encampment.
But here's another side of the camp, shot recently by Portland filmmaker Kevin Neidorf and uploaded to Vimeo earlier today.
It's a sympathetic, beautifully shot portrait of some of the folks who live at Hazelnut Grove, and the reason they're so keen on staying.
"I wanted to do my best to show something different," Neidorf writes in a Facebook post on the video. "It didn't come out anywhere near the way I originally planned, but I'm happy with it because I can very, very honestly say that this is, to the best of my ability, the essence of this community, and why it exists, and what makes the residents passionate enough to make it continue to exist."
Hazelnut Grove from Kevin Neidorf on Vimeo.