Alberta Arts District

Chef Troy MacLarty, who cooked at Chez Panisse, opened this Indian street-food restaurant on Alberta in 2012, and it’s now the only Bollywood Theater since the Division Street branch closed in 2025. The Infatuation’s advice holds up: start with a kati roll or dahi papri chaat, then share a thali.

Breakfast and lunch only, every day, and the order to know is the Reggie Deluxe: a biscuit stacked with fried chicken, bacon, cheddar, a fried egg and gravy. The biscuit shop has four Portland locations and one in Reno; the Alberta shop sits at NE 22nd, a short walk from Alberta Park.

Dogs are treated like regulars here: they’re welcome on the all-weather patio and can order a meal of their own, served in a dog bowl. The cafe has been doing brunch on Alberta since 2002 and keeps separate vegan and gluten-free menus for the humans.

A few blocks north on Killingsworth, chef Earl Ninsom’s restaurant cooks the food of southern Thailand near the Malaysian border: fried chicken with sticky rice, Malay-style curry and roti. Save room for the dessert roti with sweet condensed milk.

The old Northwestern Electric Company substation at NE 27th, a building on the National Register of Historic Places, now pours mezcal cocktails and serves Mexican food ordered at the counter. Friday and Saturday nights run late with DJs, Sunday brings drag brunch, and the bar is closed Mondays.

Near the west end of the street, this Lightning Bar Collective bar runs a plant-based kitchen built on Beyond Burger patties, Impossible sausage and Just Egg, plus bowls, subs and a mac and cheese. Weekend brunch comes with Bloody Marys and micheladas, and minors are welcome until 8 p.m.

A children’s bookstore with a full calendar: story time every Tuesday morning, Spanish-language story times, author visits and sessions where kids read aloud to a therapy dog. Older readers can join its youth advisory board and book club.

Portland’s science fiction and fantasy bookshop runs separate book clubs for SF, horror and romantasy, and brings in authors for evening talks. It has thrown midnight release parties for big fantasy series, too.

Natural-fiber fabrics, quilting cottons, patterns and notions in the shop, and a studio upstairs that teaches everything from machine basics to jeans-making. Monthly mending classes cover patching and darning if you’d rather fix than buy.

The neighborhood’s stage books folk and rock concerts, tribute nights, comedy, Live Wire radio tapings and Science on Tap talks, often several nights a week. Check the calendar before you plan dinner; popular shows sell out.

About 30 local artists show and sell their work at this collective, from ceramics and glass to paintings and jewelry. New shows open with a Last Thursday evening reception.

Sixteen acres of big old trees at NE 22nd and Killingsworth, with an off-leash dog area, a playground and a native-plant forest garden. Portland Parks offers a self-guided virtual tree tour if you want to learn what’s shading you.

A community-owned, worker-run grocery that’s open to everyone daily. Becoming an owner means buying one $180 share, usually in small installments, which brings monthly owner deals, a vote and the right to run for the board.

Portland Farmers Market sets up on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., spring through fall, in the lot beside King Elementary at NE 7th and Wygant, a block off Alberta. Volunteers work three-hour shifts once or twice a month, helping with setup, vendor breaks and the info booth.

Concordia, one of the neighborhoods Alberta runs through, has a 13-member volunteer board that meets monthly, and residents can join its land use and transportation committee or write for the Concordia News. Meeting times and locations are posted online.

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