Portland, Oregon, is experiencing an economic rebirth led by BIPOC entrepreneurs.
Celeste Noche
The backstory of Kann, a wood-fired Haitian restaurant, is not your typical rise-from-the-ashes tale.
His Caribbean-meets-Pacific Northwest cuisine immediately found a following.
The Portland skyline.Credit:Celeste Noche
Soon after, Gourdet landed an elegant permanent home on Southeast Ash Street.
Kanns ascent stands out as a bright spot in a city that has recently gone through some dark patches.
Retailers like REI shuttered stores, camps for the unhoused sprung up, and real estate values sank.
From left: A wine tasting at Abbey Creek; Michelle Lewis and Charles Hannah of Third Eye Books.Celeste Noche
But an unexpected silver lining has emerged.
It is a remarkable shift for a city with a complex racial history.
As recently as 2016, Portland was dubbed the whitest city in America by theAtlantic.
From left: Amir Morgan of Barnes & Morgan, a teahouse and boutique; Barnes & Morgan.Celeste Noche
Now that image is finally changing, as entrepreneurs like Gourdet help lead Portlands revitalization.
This break in the clouds can be seen all over Portland.
The area still had a slightly forlorn air, with stores boarded up and a few tent villages.
From left: The dining room at Kann; Kann’s chef, Gregory Gourdet.Celeste Noche
But there were success stories, too.
Everything else around us was boarded up.
Operating downtown was an opportunity I never thought Id have, Faustin said.
From left: The lobby of Hotel Grand Stark; a guest room at the hotel.Celeste Noche
It gave me inspiration to think bigger.
A lot of positive things have happened in Portland to weigh against the gloom and doom, Faustin said.
The past few years have actually been the best time ever to be an entrepreneur here.
Winemaker Bertony Faustin at Abbey Creek Vineyard’s tasting room.Celeste Noche
But until five years ago, none of the citys bookstores was Black-owned.
They specialized in Black authors.
They created an online store, but had zero sales, Hannah said.
The historic building that houses Hotel Grand Stark.Celeste Noche
Everything changed when the protests began.
People wanted to be knowledgeable about what was going on in their communities, he said.
Overnight we went from selling two copies ofHow to Be an Antiracistto sixty a month.
Cyclists along the Eastbank Esplanade.Celeste Noche
The community embraced us, Hannah said.
Oprah featured the store in her magazine, and big-name writers like Jacqueline Woodson held readings.
Now we have 15,000 followers on Instagram, and people come here from all over the world.
A young reader at Third Eye Books.Celeste Noche
She offers sound baths, sleep therapy, and Reiki.
Third Eye Books offers nourishment for the mind, Lewis said.
This offers nourishment for the body and soul.
A Haitian-inspired dish of pork, fried plantains, pickled vegetables, and avocado at Kann.Celeste Noche
The citys economic downturn has also allowed underrepresented entrepreneurs to experiment with less conventional shops.
The 2020 crisis opened me up to possibilities, he said.
Members of the community, he said, helped him find a space with good rent.
Shopping for clothing and tea at Barnes & Morgan.Celeste Noche
For Morgan, who grew up Muslim in North Carolina, a teahouse is a place of connection.
And when a railway station opened nearby in 1896, it brought Black people who worked on the trains.
Old Town became a thriving African-American community.
It was also inclusive, with Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish communities.
Morgan wanted to re-create that social mix.
Last year he partnered with Kann to give reservations to the first 300 shoppers on a summer Saturday.
More than a thousand people came out, Morgan said.
The line went for blocks.
Visitors saw firsthand that Old Town was not terrible.
The community realized that were stronger together.
A version of this story first appeared in the October 2024 issue ofTravel + Leisureunder the headline Silver Linings.
