Saturday, July 23, 2022

Russian House Russian Elegant Food


According to emoregon.org, "More than 100,000 Slavic-speaking refugees & immigrants from the former Soviet Union currently reside in the Portland metro area, & the numbers are expected to increase. Census figures show that no other place in the nation has had more of an influx from the former Soviet Union than the Pacific Northwest."

According to wweek.com, "Russian is the third-most spoken language in Oregon, after English & Spanish. The Portland area is home to more than 50,000 immigrants & family members from the former Soviet Union, the largest number of which come from Ukraine, according to Portland State's Population Research Center."

On a walk on this day in 2019 - we had been in Portland for just a few months - I passed this sign on Foster Road.  The business - Russian House - had been closed since at least 2013.  According to a review on businessfinder.oregon.live from 2009, "Nice people, HUGE books selection, great music selection. This is a great place to buy most anything from Russia or the former Soviet republics."  I am sad we didn't get a chance to pop in to have a look.

The Russian at the bottom translates as "Russian Store."  It took me forever to work out the letters in Gurgle Translate.

The sign was gone after the pandemic began.  This is what's there now, courtesy Gurple Merps:


Does it seem like they replaced the whole sign?  I guess not.  But I have no real sense of the size.  Acupuncture is not elegant food, that's for sure.

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