Flip 6--NE 9th and Alberta St.

6/3/2007 10:25 AM Sunday
Location: NE 9th Avenue and Alberta Street, vicinity


It is already uncomfortably warm by the time I park my car on Grand. Some older cars, a Volvo and a Chrysler, catch my eye.




From speakers inside a tent sale at the nearby Adidas outlet drifts the soul melting voice of D'Angelo, and it feels right on a hot weekend morning in Northeast Portland.

I walk east on Alberta and arrive at St. Andrews Church, a striking tan-brick structure featuring ornate twin spires.




Standing on the front steps, I hear snatches of the service ongoing inside. Though the church is Catholic, a woman is giving the homily, and at one point a peal of laughter rings from the congregation. Then I hear a murmur of voices, and one man says to another, "Peace be with you."





Out on the street, Tri-Met buses come to slow stops, then reluctantly roll ahead again with a deep, lugging rumble.















I walk across the street to the Alberta Market, kitty-corner from St. Andrews, to buy some water. A black man behind the counter loads taquitos into the warming case, while an Asian man--who seems to be the owner--rings me up.






I find some shade beneath an oak tree in front of the parish office and rectory. I sit on the steps. Some families with young children have escaped the service and play on the lawn. The little girls wear darling, though their fathers are in shorts and open-collared short-sleeved shirts.

A group of hipster-looking kids walks by. One of them is wearing a black Ramones t-shirt. There are three men and one woman. The men, one shirtless with Robert Plant-like locks, try to convince the skeptical girl that they had seen the world's largest sitka spruce tree the day before (a perfectly acceptable claim for anyone who had driven Highway 26 to the coast from Portland). "Where?" the girl asks, disbelievingly, and I am reminded that Portland is a city of newcomers.