My neighborhood

I live in St. Johns. It's the most northern residential neighborhood in Portland. There's St. Johns, then a bunch of industrial parks and docks on both the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Lots of trucks go by. St. Johns used to be its own little town before it was annexed as part of the city. At first look, it still has a small town feel to it. There's an old movie theater, some shops with old signs, and gem of a diner called Patti's Home Plate (I'm not really a fan). It's cute and quaint and a little charming, but don't be fooled. St. Johns is a dump. There's all kinds of riff raff who like to dump our trash out in the middle of the night, and walk out into traffic, and deal drugs at the bus stop. People believe in this neighborhood, though. People keep trying to fix it up, and have community activites. I've seen one place change businesses 3 times in the 4 years I've lived here. Drunks are in the Bluebird before Noon. My jeep was broken into and my crappy Alpine stereo from 1996 was stolen 2 summers ago. Anyway, my advice to newcomers to St. Johns that are falling for it's "charm": You can't polish a turd. (LC)