Downtown Portland after dark has been transformed within the classic 
structures that comprise the Old Town historic district.  The area’s principal 
property owner, Naito Corporation, has revitalized the scene in the past year 
with leases to some very contemporary and imaginative operators.  Our recent visit revealed a level of Old Town nightlife that must rival the 19th century goings-on here when this was the  prime waterfront watering hole for the North Pacific sailing trade.
   We saw no-one being Shanghaied (abducted), which reputedly was a common fate for unsuspecting and inebriated potential sailors.  However, we saw a profusion of young adults as never seen before in Portland beyond the occasional rock concert. 

   Scott Weigel, Director Naito Properties Services , gave us a tour of five entertainment venues created in the past year within classic Old Town buildings clustered in a three block area just north of Burnside.   All are an easy stroll from each other, and drawing a collective and celebratory crowd remindful of New Orleans’ French Quarter.
   Savannah, 105 NW Third, occupies a space with brick walled courtyard entry that long housed the Couch Street Fish House before a very brief stint as Ashoka Palace Indian restaurant.   Steel drums, played live adjacent to the bar, convey an adherence to all things Carribean.  The dining menu, as conceived by veteran chef Ken Harry, a native of Trinidad, has African, French, Portugese, East Indian and Spanish influences billed as emblematic of the islands.  Conch Fritters, Jerk Chicken and several Curries seek to transport one to the tropics.  Owner Maxwell Giwa opened the doors in October 2003.

   East Chinatown Lounge, 322 NW Everett, is an amazing transformation of space that previously functioned as a Tofu factory.  Skylab Design created a hall of mirrors and polished wood enclosing soft and intimate seating where Asian inspired appetizers and custom rum cocktails are served.  In the rear, a DJ presides rockingly from a balcony over a dance floor and in between lounging and dancing, you find rest rooms with sliding doors that would highlight a ride on the Orient Express rail line.  Owner John Plummer is a refugee from Miami Beach, also owns Johnny Sole Shoes, and has been conducting his contemporary nightlife effort since October 2002.

   Voodoo Lounge, 53 NW First, is a psychedelic surrounding morphed from what was 
a rather staid fine dining venue best remembered as Bacchus.   Now the walls are plastered with weird décor purporting to “celebrate the festive nature of New Orleans style Voodoo;;;to bring harmony and peace” and so forth.  Owner Mark Byrum  seeks to match the atmosphere with “Herbal Potion” drinks served in a cast iron cauldron…”Mighty Aphrodite, Einstein’s Secret, Adrenaline Rush, Eternal Elixir, Liquid Zen.”  There are Bowl Drinks for two or more…”Voodoo Punch, Witch Doctor” and more, plus imaginative martini concoctions, tropically inspired house specialty cocktails  and a conventional wine list.  The food menu is all small plates fashioned with a Cajun influence. This colorful trip began 
in July 2003.

   McFadden’s, 107 NW Couch, was formerly Uogashi Japanese restaurant.  Now it is over 6,000 square feet of “New York style Irish Pub.”  More conventionally translated, this means a television sports bar with dance floor.  Large video screens overlook the pulsing social action, but seem to get little notice from what when we visited was a standing room only affair.  Paul Derrico’s Bar Investment Group, with outlets in several other towns, invited Portland patrons in September 2003.

   Barracuda, 9 NW Second, is the newest venture of John Plew’s Portland based Concept Entertainment Group (Bar 71, Quest, Lotus, Gypsy).  There’s real history here in a 25,000 square foot ground floor and mezzanine that over a century ago was home for Erickson’s , billed as the longest bar on the West Coast and a haven for much nefarious activity.  Much more recently, the overhanging balcony was site for the Portland Advertising Museum’s exhibits and the bar and dance floor were Banana Joe’s.  Now this cavernous space functions as restaurant, bar and dance hall.  The mezzanine is draped to form private “cabanas” where small parties may gather for attentive food and drink service.  A stage adorns one end 
of the sweeping ground floor dancing space and is the site for live musical 
groups and dance entertainers.  This is the newest card in the Naito Old Town hand, opening in November 2003.

Naito Portland Roots Run Deep & Wide

   Naito Corporation owns some 360,000 square feet of space leased in the Old Town district., but this is only a fraction of the family-owned company's impact on Portland.  Naito Corp. owns and manages 1.8 million square feet of commercial space in the central Portland area.  The family opened business in Portlnd in 1921 with an Old Town curio shop and founded Norcrest China Co., an importer of fine china and dinnerware in 1947.  Second generation brothers Sam and Bill expanded from this operation which still occupies an Old Town site.  Today, Sam, 77, is President and CEO  of Naito Corporation, his son Verne serves as Vice President.  Bill (1926-1996) and the family’s many  contributions to civic redevelopment are honored by the renaming of Front Avenue along the west bank of the Willamette River as Naito Parkway.

   Naito ownership is most prominently showcased in the Made in Oregon retail operation with 11 locations in greater Portland, Portland International Airport, Salem, Eugene and Newport dedicated to “products made, caught or grown in Oregon". This enterprise was established in 1975 and now inventories some 2,000 items.  The flagship store is in the Naito-owned Galleria in the heart of downtown Portland and once home to the first department store west of the Mississippi River.  This redeveloped historic structure is also the new home of the Western Culinary Institute, one of the nation’s leading private culinary schools, affiliated with the internationally famed Le Cordon Bleu school.

   Architectural awards have been earned by the Naito rehabilitation of the large Montgomery Park building just Northwest of downtown Portland and former distribution center for Montgomery Ward’s retail and mail order empire.  Naito reopened this structure in 1989 as an office and showroom site with a spectacular atrium well worth a visit.  Another nationally recognized Naito architectural restoration is downtown’s Dekum Building on SW 3rd, retaining its 1891 vintage exterior housing an interior makeover accomplished in 2000, with retail and office tenants.

   The Naito family ventures are a dynamic, ongoing answer to the anti-business image created and perpetuated by the current Portland civic administration, whose regulations, favoritism and sheer ignorance of what powers the positive engine of capitalism have daunted new economic development and driven away some successful entrepreneurs once based here.  The Naito enterprises clearly demonstrate that where there’s a will, there’s a way and that the values of the past can benefit both present and future.

© 2004 Oregon Magazine