Local Business Highlight - Jackson Jewelers

A couple months ago, around the time that I decided to start this blog, when I was thinking of ways to embrace living downtown, I had this idea that I should start checking out all the cool little local-businessy downtown shops. There are tons of cute stores all around me and there are so many that I've never even set foot in, or I hardly even realize exist.

So I made a goal of visiting one new store a week. Aaaaannnnd then I promptly failed to do anything to fulfill that goal.

Despite the fact that I haven't successfully embraced the downtown commerce area to the extent that I want to, I recently had a need for a jeweler to resize a ring and decided that this would be the perfect time to knock one business off my list. There are actually two jewelers on my very block, but I went with Jackson Jewlers because 1) it's the closest since it's just three doors down from my apartment's door so it seemed the most neighborly, and 2) I once rode the parkade elevator with one of the Jackson Jewelers' owners who was a really nice guy and asked if I lived downtown and told me that his dad used to pay the business' electric bill in the building that now houses my apartment.  So, I felt an old timey connection to Salem's roots and had to try them out.

Everything about my experience was awesome and urban and Salem. I was just coming back from being out, so I parked my car on the street and popped into the store on my way to my apartment. They waited on me right away when I walked in the door. When I told the guy who helped me that I was their neighbor, he not only immediately mentioned and praised my landlord by name, but could name one of my neighboring apartment tenants too! Cool! And when I described my apartment to him including the lofted bedroom, he said it sounded like a tree fort, and I had never thought of it that way :)  Oh, and he complimented my Portland shirt, which always earns local/Oregonian points in my book.  He was super helpful when I didn't even know what finger to get the ring sized to (he told me what's popular), and made sure that I picked the smallest size possible because he was afraid the ring was going to turn. Before I left, he gave me an estimated date that it would be finished.  Super fast and a nice experience, and a very short walk home :)

Before the pick up date even arrived, I had a call from Jackson Jewelers to tell me the ring was already ready! When I went in, they were really nice again. This time a lady helped me out and the guy from before said hi like he remembered me. The ring looked great - and they had had some work to get it looking good because they had to remove an inner ring in the middle that had been there before (to help stabilize the ring I assume). She gave me the extra gold back to either keep or apply towards my bill (I picked the latter) and she even asked for the story behind the ring so I got to tell her about my grandma and how she'd passed it down to me. As I left, another one of the workers grabbed the door for me and held it open.  How nice!  Overall, it was a super easy and pleasant experience.  I'm glad I got to know my neighbors!

Archive for Breakfast

I don't want to over-hype it, but Archive is probably my favorite place in all of Salem. I knew it would be before it even existed. A few years ago, I started hearing the rumors that some of the guys from Broadway Coffeehouse (one of my other favorite places) had left to form their own business. I started following them on facebook before they ever even opened, and I wasn't their only follower by far! I watched as they chronicled their research into what they would serve, and as they formed their vision to be a coffee shop by day, bar by night, with a vintage speakeasy vibe. I could hardly wait for their renovated downtown space to be complete. When it was, I attended their grand opening night that was so jam packed that I stood about 5 feet away from one of my friends for about 10 or 20 minutes before I realized she was there.

It was and is awesome and has always met and exceeded my expectations. Archive is pretty much the pinnacle of hipsterdom in Salem. Their space is modern and relaxing with an urban feel. They've decorated it to give off the vibe of a den or library. Half of the bar area is dedicated to all things fancy coffee and the other half is devoted to all things fancy alcohol. They also have a kitchen in the back and serve a variety of foods throughout the day. And in true hipster fashion, they really really care about what they do. That's what I love about them. They want their food and drink to be a true quality experience for you. And, everyone I've ever encountered working there is genuinely nice, accommodating, and wants you to have a meaningful and classy time.

Now that I've set the stage, let's get into one of my recent trips to Archive. I'm actually blogging out of order and belatedly now as this trip took place a few weekends ago. Archive is only about a block away from my apartment, and I love going there for breakfast, but it rarely happens because I am not a morning person. But on a recent Saturday, my friend and I made a plan. She would jog from her house in west Salem (about 3 miles away) and I would walk about one block from my apartment. We'd meet up there and I'd give her a ride home. Pretty fair deal on my part :).

So when Saturday morning came, I made my way across the street and down the block to my favorite place.

The scene that met me was what I expected and appreciate - dim lighting, calm music, and just enough activity happening that it wasn't too busy or too quiet.

I went to the coffee side of the bar to order. One of the reasons I love Archive in the morning is the fact that all of their pastries are gluten free. It's funny because they don't overtly advertise it, it just *is.* For someone who's gluten free, it's kind of cool that it's just normal there, and nice to know that there won't be cross contamination. Plus, their pastries are amazing. I ordered one of my favorites - the strawberry balsamic parmesan scone (though the blueberry muffins also looked tempting), along with a latte.

Another thing you need to know about Archive is the fact that they are not, nor would I want them to be, Starbucks. They don't keep a ton of syrups around. They won't make you a frappuccino. I love coffee in it's unadulterated form anyway, especially when it's quality coffee, so this is exactly how I want them to operate. One time I brought my dad here for coffee and he tried to order a hazelnut latte but had to settle for their house-made vanilla syrup instead :)

After I ordered, I pulled out a giftcard that had some money left on it still. I knew it wouldn't quite cover my bill, so I handed it to the barista and asked how much more I owed. He told me that he would just "round down" and I didn't need to worry about the rest. They are seriously the nicest.

I got my scone and my latte - with foam art of course (just the way I like it), and headed to find a seat by an outlet so that I could work on my computer. I settled on the barstool seating by the window. The hipster looking guy down the bar from me fit in perfectly. He was wearing rolled up jeans and had an old timey backpack, and later rode off on a motorcycle that fit his ambiance.

I sipped my latte - it was great as usual, and nibbled on my scone - also yummy like usual. As I typed away on my computer getting ready for a bridal shower I was hosting, and blogging a little bit, I had time to take in my surroundings. The clientele that morning was made up of a mix of younger hipsters and older (retirement aged) people. Parents with small kids also made their way in and out of the coffee shop.

I especially enjoyed observing the people in the outdoor seating area right on the other side of my window seat. There were two guys who were younger and hipster looking who seemed to be there together, but at the next table over from them there was another guy who was a little bit older and looked to be enjoying a rest after a morning run. The three of them were in a great conversation, and I wish I knew what it was about! When they were ready to go, they kept earnestly shaking hands with each other a couple times before they finally parted ways. I couldn't help but think that Archive was spawning meaningful conversation and bringing people together.

My next people-watching subjects out the window were less pleasant. A couple came and sat at the table directly in front of my window seat and proceeded to kiss quite frequently. I attempted to use my computer screen as a barrier between me and them. But don't worry, it didn't really damper my Archive experience.

Before too long, my friend completed her trek. She ordered an iced coffee (which they serve with a trendy metal straw) and opted for the same scone as me per my recommendation. As she ordered, I said hi to one of the baristas who just so happens to be another urban dweller in my downtown apartments.

As we settled into a booth seat, they brought over water in a unique serving jar. My friend tried the scone and couldn't get over how much she enjoyed it, especially since she normally doesn't like scones!  Win!  She's even returned there since this visit to patronize their pastries again. I love being a good influence on people :)

After we took some time to visit, it was back out into the warm Saturday downtown air, and a quick window shopping detour to the consignment store on the corner - Top Drawer. It's one of those stores where people can rent a space and sell their unique wares. It's fun to look around there.

Then it was off to my urban-ly parkade-parked car to keep up my end of the bargain and provide a ride home :)

Archive for breakfast is definitely a lovely experience, and you should try it too.

Lectures in the Park

The other night while my friends and I were hanging out at the Victory Club, I pulled up my new favorite website, gosalem365.com. It's a great way to see what's happening in downtown Salem - check it out! As I scrolled through the page and took screen shots of things I wanted to do, I came across the River Current Lecture series. It appeared to be a weekly naturey lecture series that takes place on Tuesday nights in the amphitheater at Riverfront Park. That concept sounded pretty cool, so I started planning to go to the next one.

Later, I researched it a bit more and found that the lecture series is a function of the Salem Parks department and saw a synopsis of the lectures that were coming up, including the fact that the next topic was "Little Brown Fishes of the Willamette Valley." As Tuesday night inched closer, I could not find anyone to go to the lecture with me. That's not super surprising because sometimes I like to do offbeat things, and I love nature and science more than the average person.

I was still determined to go, so when Tuesday night rolled around, I got home from work, grabbed my sunglasses and water bottle, put on shorts since it was a warm night, and headed over to the park via the streets of downtown a little before 7pm.  As I walked, the sun was on its way down and made my favorite type of shadow - the long extended ones that warp the way things look.

When I got to the park, the splash pad was going and I heard the excited shouts of kids shrieking from the pleasure of the cold water. I took a shortcut across the big expansive grassy area to make it to the amphitheater quicker.

As I approached, I knew I was in the right place because I saw a small setup with a microphone and speaker, but otherwise I might have thought I got the time or place wrong. There was hardly anyone there, which I guess should not have surprised me, but I thought it was a unique experience that more people would want to take part in! I looked around at one point and counted 13 people in the crowd, including me. And, I think I was the youngest person by far. Almost everyone looked to be of the grandparent variety. But don't let the small size or the average age of the crowd fool you, it was still a cool event!

First John Yoder opened it up. He's part of Salem Environmental Education LLC, which I think cosponsors the event. Fun fact - he's also a DJ of a local radio station, KMUZ. He said that the lectures have been going on every Tuesday night since June! Wow! Somehow I never heard of it till now, too bad! He introduced the main speaker - Karen from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Karen was great. She started off by saying that fish are her passion, and that definitely came through during her lecture, which made it enjoyable to listen to. She explained that others of her colleagues study the "big" fish like trout and salmon, but she studies the smaller less popular fish. She calls these the "little brown fish." Karen said that there are 25 native species in the Willamette Valley, and launched into telling us fun facts about each fish, then passing a picture of the fish through the crowd. I learned about a fish that eat parasites that harm salmon, and about a fish that sparkles. I learned about a vilified fish (the northern pike minnow). I learned that we had an endangered species (Oregon Chub) that recovered its numbers and became the first de-listed fish in America. I heard about the lamprey (kinda looks like an eel but is not an eel) where the mates both build a nest (called a redd) together, then they both die after spawning. My favorite comment she made was when she asked us, "Have you ever known someone who was attractive but every time you see a picture of them you're like, 'ugggg!'?  That's this fish!"  She was talking about the three spine stickleback, which is apparently not very photogenic.  Fun fact - hearing her talk about the three spine stickleback made me remember this book on tape from my childhood!

The lecture only went about half an hour, which was a good length of time in my opinion. It really was an enjoyable experience. I liked sitting outside in the setting sunlight next to the Willamette River, being with a other nature-minded people, learning about my home, and watching groups of people run by through the park. It also made me feel super Oregonian.

After it was over, she passed out a little fish card (though it was for the more popular fish) and then I had a pleasant, calm, short walk home through the city. I found it interesting that it got warmer and warmer as I entered the concrete jungle. It had been nice and almost too cool for shorts next to the river.

If you'd like to partake in the lecture series, there are still two more opportunities left.  Next Tuesday (August 23rd) the topic will be the creeks in our area, and the last lecture (August 30th) will discuss park opportunities and ways to use our parks. Check it out!

Friday Night in the Alley: 1859 Cider Co. & Victory Club

My last blog about On Your Feet Friday ended on a cliffhanger! What did the rest of my night hold? Did I have any other downtown fun in store for me??

Yes!

As OYFF wound down, my friend and I had the great idea that we should keep hanging out. We decided that 1859 Cider Co should be our destination, but the only problem was, they don't serve food and we needed to eat. I remembered that they allow patrons to bring food in, so then my friend had an even better idea - that we should call and order food to go from Ventis so that by the time the raffle at OYFF was done our food would be ready. Brilliant!

We checked out Ventis' downtown menu online and called and placed our order as raffle numbers rang out through the air.

Soon we were headed out to the rest of our night, despite the fact that we were both in our sweaty running clothes (reminder, this was a 100-ish degree night in Salem). I walked about a block over to Ventis while my friend moved her car. When I got there they told me they'd been busy and didn't have our food ready. They were nice about it and asked if I wanted a cup for water while I waited (maybe I looked dehydrated!) and it was a pretty pleasant wait, as far as waits go. I sat at the bar stools by the window and took a few moments to observe the construction that is going on to expand the upstairs dining area. It was my first glimpse at their new look. I'll be interested to see it when it's complete.

They also have a basement bar, which has a cool vibe that is super different than the upstairs. I will have to visit and blog about it some other time.  Here's a little peek at the stairs that lead down there.

Since it was a nice night, the waiters and waitresses were constantly in and out the door delivering food to the people eating out on the sidewalk (I've had that experience before and recommend it!). I also enjoyed the music that they had playing. I recognized The Shins but couldn't think of the song so SoundHounded it. Overall, it was pretty peaceful even though I was waiting.

Soon I had our food in hand and headed over to 1859 Cider Co. 

1859 is actually in the same building as my apartments (it's a mixed use building), so I made a quick stop at my place to pick up some stuff I needed. Then I went out the back way (shortcut!), into the side alley, and just around the corner into the main alley to the home of 1859 Cider Co.

I like the rolltop garage style doors on the units back here. Kinda hip :)

I'd only ever been to 1859 one time before, when I went with my brother, sister (aka Salmonista), and brother in law during their grand opening about a month ago. While the grand opening night was hopping, this Friday night was pretty chill. 1859 seems to be a pretty simple cider house. They brew six of their own ciders, and this night they also had a couple guest beers on tap.

Since I live just upstairs, I've smiled to myself at the thought of coming down here wearing slippers to get my growler filled, or bringing my homemade dinner down to eat with a glass of cider :).  I haven't actually done either yet.

The seating area inside is fairly compact and has a trendy vibe about it.  They also have a large open space that houses their brewing vats, and which I assume they also use for their Sunday night salsa dancing sessions.

The seating inside wasn't super comfortable. I ended up on a bench that rolled, which was a little awkward given that there was a lady sitting at the other end of it and I sent her rolling. We decided to move to the tables outside instead. I started in on my garlic sesame tofu (one of my usual orders from Ventis - it's good) while my friend enjoyed her Thai chicken peanut rice dish.

Then our drinks arrived. My friend tried out a sampler of each of their varieties. Since I'd already done the sampler on the grand opening night, I knew that I enjoyed their "Statehood" cider and ordered a glass of that. I really enjoyed mine. Sometimes ciders can seem overly sweet to me, but this one wasn't and had a nice flavor. If it's your first time visiting them, I would recommend the sampler of all six because it's a fun experience to taste the differences.

It was a great temperature out in the alley and a nice night to sit outside. And, being in the alley did afford us some interesting experiences. A drunk guy wandered by and couldn't quite grasp the concept of what alcoholic cider was and said he preferred rum. A little bit later a couple motorcycles drove through the alley. Mostly it was quiet back there with a limited amount of regular city activity.

As the night got later and darker, another one of our friends joined up with us. We enjoyed some conversation then plotted our next move.

Originally we thought we'd walk down the street for some froyo dessert. But as we got to the end of the alley and crossed Court Street, we could see Victory Club's crowd in the next alley and decided to do a "drive by" to see what it's like. It's a pretty new establishment as well and I'd been wanting to check it out, especially because it's in an alley, and I appreciate that new trend. As we approached it, my friend and I got a little hesitant because we were still in our running clothes. Our third member (in normal clothes) went in to check it out for us and told us we'd be fine. We threw caution to the wind and went inside.

The vibe was hard to put my finger on, and I'm still not quite sure how to describe it. I like the interior design of the place. The multicolored wood walls in the main bar area and the mural in the side room (one big open room that appeared to probably be intended for music shows as well as regular seating) made it feel Oregonian.

There was also a cool brick wall that I appreciated behind the tap.

We ordered our drinks (I got "two thorns raspberry/rose petal" cider by Two Towns) and grabbed a booth.  My cider was great, BTW.

As we sat, I observed the surroundings. It seemed to be a pretty young crowd overall, and the place was fairly packed but not too overcrowded. It wasn't really a hipster vibe, and was maybe more like the typical bar crowd of a mix of local people. (We even saw the Gallaghers there who had hosted On Your Feet Friday earlier that night.) It kind of felt like a bar-ish taphouse. (Their facebook page says they serve spirits too, but I only noticed all the taps.)  It was *loud*, and my friends and I have reached an age where we don't really appreciate that. Our hypothesis was that the wood siding made the sound reverberate. We enjoyed that the bar was playing Olympic coverage so we could catch some glimpses of what was going on. There was also a photo booth in the corner that piqued my interest, but there was no price listed and I wasn't totally in a photo boothy mood.  Perhaps some other time :)

I also thought it was pretty cool that the candle holder on our table was made from a cut beer bottle! 

One other thing to note is the fact that they served actual food. We didn't get any so I can't say how it was, but I still found it impressive since most taphouses choose not to serve food.

As we left, we saw a good amount of people enjoying the outside patio on that warm night.

What a jam packed Friday night we had in downtown Salem!  I'd recommend both new Salem alley locations. They didn't disappoint.