Two weeks ago I blogged about rent going down at the infamous Grove Hotel on Burnside. The Grove, which was officially bought by the City for $1.8m on November 28, is now in the hands of the Housing Authority of Portland. Do you want to see what it looks like inside? There’s photos from my trip down there yesterday, after the jump.
GROVE HOTEL: Built in 1907. Bought by the City 100 years later…

In London, I once worked for a photographer with a particular interest in flop houses and, oddly, weeds. He's become more successful as a writer than with his photographs since I left, but pretty much any time a local building was condemned, he'd have me phoning the local authority, trying to get permission to shoot inside. I still haven't lost that urge to get inside shitty buildings.

"The traces we leave in our habitat are more honest than our thoughts," wrote my former boss, on his website. "We may learn more about ourselves by paying attention to our surroundings than by believing what we think."

And so it is with the Grove Hotel: I was fascinated by my tour yesterday morning and thought you might enjoy the pictures. Thanks first to HAP's director of Community Revitalization, Mike Andrews, for getting out of bed in the snow to show me around, and to HAP's relocation supervisor Chrissy McCausland, who also came along.

The Grove was built in 1907, although when Portland decided to widen Burnside in 1912, the Grove had 20 feet shaved off its frontage—accounting for its strange "flat-front" look, and also, partly, for the size of the rooms. Although back in the day, Old Town was where sailors went after docking on the waterfront: They only wanted a room to pass out in after drinking, and the Grove suited just fine.
LOBBY: Not the most friendly and welcoming environment...

There are 35 people living in the Grove's 70 rooms. Their rent, as I mentioned, was dropped by $200 on the day the city took over, and HAP has been screening tenants since—the previous owner kept the names of his tenants in a ring binder, and simply handed over a piece of paper to HAP when the property changed hands. HAP plans to have the building up to code as soon as possible, without kicking anybody out.

It's tempting to walk into the Grove and think, "bulldoze the place," but then where would we put its residents? If a private developer had bought it, there's no doubt the Grove would be rubble by now, so it's worth viewing it through that lens: HAP is trying to make the building safe and livable for the next five years while it works with other local agencies to find somewhere else for the existing tenants to go. These pictures, of course, are fuel for would-be gentrifiers. But when I get over my social outrage I actually like the Grove for some of what it stands for: a hold-out from the old days. A screw-you to the Wholefoods crowd.
UP THE STAIRS: Wire cage...

HALLWAYS: Calming blue...

I'm not sure who settled on the marine, but it's a strangely soothing and enraging color at the same time. This hallway isn't part of the original structure—they simply moved it north 10 feet when the front of the building was removed, so the walls are reasonably flimsy partition board. There are loose wires everywhere, and it's doubtful any of the maintenance work done over the last 100 years was carried out with a permit. If buildings could talk, one senses the Grove would say: "I'm exhausted." Or perhaps, on a better day, "have you got any crack?"
OLD MANAGEMENT: Caring, working in partnership with tenants, "useing" tact...
ROOMS: Homely...

I'll stop with the sarcastic captions now. But HAP showed me two rooms—one on the third floor and one on the second. Both were halfway habitable, although I wasn't shown into any of the rooms with health notices on them, that the city has ruled unfit for human habitation. I wasn't tempted to lie down on the bed—the first order of business for HAP, after making fire safety repairs and installing a hard-wired alarm and sprinkler system, is pest control: All of the building's beds will be removed and every room will be emptied of furniture in an effort to control the bed bug problem. Bed bugs cause nasty sores, and can live dormant for up to a year without a human host. They're a common feature of hotels like the Grove, and virtually impossible to eradicate.

Speaking of bugs, I didn't see any cockroaches, or rats, although they tend to enjoy the darkness, and we were only in the place for an hour. Still...the building I live in has roaches the size of computer mice, and I'm told, rats to match. So I'm not one to be judging. I did, however, see two of these fellas on the sidewalk, right outside:
DEAD MOUSE: Poor chap...
FURNITURE: Will all be replaced in January...

Washers and dryers are also going to be installed, and HAP is going to redesign the building's downstairs. The existing shop, Burnside Bargains, is going to "relocate," and HAP plans to install some kind of new frontage by next July, when Bridgeview Community will also start programming.
ON THE ROOF: Easy access to neighboring rooms...
ROOF GARDEN: The work of an optimistic tenant?

ASHTRAY: One for the arts crowd...
SINKS/RADIATORS: Would probably fetch a fortune in a vintage shop on N.Mississippi, after a clean-up...
WINDOWS: Need cleaning and some replacement...
BASEMENT BOILER: Coal fueled, no-longer in use...

The building runs on steam-heat (from a new basement boiler), which, in the rooms I went in, was working just fine. The old boiler, however, hasn't been pulled out since 1907, and sits back from a deep pit, covered only by old doors. The pit, which I'm assuming once held coal, then, apparently, garbage, is now out of use. Except, perhaps, by the critters. I'd have loved to have had more time, a decent lighting setup and a tripod. Then, maybe, I'd have looked in the pit, perhaps while brandishing a sharp stick.
HAP'S MIKE ANDREWS: Up for the challenge...

Andrews, who is also running the development of the city's new permanent day access center for the homeless, has been up on the Grove's roof. I took a look at the ladder up there, but chickened out with visions of losing my byline, permanently. Andrews seems confident of HAP's ability to pull of the rehabilitation of the Grove, and I couldn't help being impressed by his drive and confidence. Having been on the tour with him, I promised I wasn't going to do a "hatchet job" with my photos. And let's face it, it's a little to easy to do a Willamette Week-style "expose" of a place like this. But what would that achieve?

PRIME REAL ESTATE: Competing interests...

Andrews, I think, is convinced HAP is the best developer to own the Grove for the time being. And I really am grateful there are agencies like his around, so that low income people aren't swept out of Old Town forever. For the bed bugs, on the other hand, it's time to move along...

We'll be watching the refurbishment closely.