Tag: Canton Grill

Community, Food and Drink, History

Behind the Wok a Restaurant History Archive

On May 30th, APANO launched its online archive titled Behind the Wok: A Tribute to Iconic Chinese American Restaurants in Portland’s Jade District. This digital collection documents the shift in Chinese American dining toward East Portland. This online repository focuses on six restaurants that represent the phases of Portland’s Asian community’s eastward move from Old Town Chinatown. The work preserves stories from the families behind some of 82nd Avenue’s most iconic restaurants, attempting to create a record of these community cornerstones that are often missing from traditional archives.

Promotional materials for APANO's online archive, including a card reading 'Behind the Wok: Honoring Chinese American Restaurants in Jade District,' coasters, buttons, and a matchbook featuring iconic restaurant illustrations.
Behind the Wok promotional items including tote bag, matches, pins, and coaster

The inaugural cohort of restaurants includes Hung Far Low, Canton Grill, Chinese Village, New Cathay, Legin, and Wong’s King. However, the project aims to expand the digital archive over time, documenting the history of these foundational restaurants and their enduring cultural impact on the East Portland Chinese American community. The early evening launch party included several family representatives who came of age in and around the restaurants preserved in the archive. Their recollection and photos of these gathering places represent some of the only records of what they symbolized to the region beyond their decades of food service.

Aerial view of a neighborhood layout with labeled blocks and streets in East Portland, highlighting areas for development and existing infrastructure.
Guide map, copyright 1933 by Terry Tebault Inc. with Behind the Wok notations Courtesy APANO

Conversations following the presentation continued to reveal more history and a deeper understanding of the role these Chinese American staples represented for the community, supporting the need for such an archive. Without the historical seedwork released last month, these accounts would fade, and other untold stories would remain unknown to a community built on that history. The group working on Behind the Wok noted how difficult it was to obtain information, partially because news articles often failed to document changes that impacted this community and how people’s cultural humility kept them from lauding their accomplishments. However, in terms of storytelling and praising others, participants and attendees expanded the group’s understanding of their shared history.

A hand holding a commemorative button for the Behind the Wok Digital Archive Launch on May 30, 2025, featuring an illustration and the event name.
Behind the Wok promotional pin commemorating the launch date

That night’s brief open conversation revealed how many more details could end up in the digital archive. APANO is working to preserve the memory of the Chinese American restaurant as a community meeting place and support system for immigrants settling in Portland. The nonprofit purchased the Canton Grill property in 2022 for future housing development and named one of its other housing projects after Legin restaurant as a way to enshrine those shuttered establishments in the community’s consciousness. The project team invites people to visit the Behind the Wok digital archive regularly for in-depth information about their contributions to East Portland. APANO will host a celebration of the Canton Grill on June 27th from 4 to 9 p.m. at 8188 SE Division Street. That event will focus on the Canton Grill Memorial Project and further inform the cultural preservation efforts.

Article and photo’s by

Jacob Loeb

Disclosure: Attendees of this event, including the author, received free food and promotional items related to the project.

Construction, Infrastructure

SE 82nd Lane Closure for Clinton Crossing

Recently, crews working at SE 82nd Avenue and SE Clinton Street closed the outer southbound lane, repurposing the center turn lane to maintain capacity. This work is related to the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) bundle of 82nd Avenue Critical Fixes. Crews will install a pedestrian half signal, a continuous protected concrete median refuge island, updated curb ramps, and new marked crosswalks. Work will also require limited road reconstruction down to its base layer near the intersection. When completed, road infrastructure at the intersection will prohibit left turns.

This project is less than 500 feet from the fully signalized intersection at SE 82nd Avenue and Division Street but 700 feet from the next signalized intersection at SE Woodward Street. Since Portland City Council adopted the PedPDX update to Portland’s Pedestrian Master Plan in 2019, PBOT began installing marked crossings roughly 800 feet apart on major streets. Engineers place marked crosswalks closer together at around every 530 feet for designated Pedestrian Districts like the Jade District, adding median refuge islands, Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB), and signals as needed. “Clinton Street was identified early on in our planning process as a desirable location to fill this gap, being the closest intersection to the mid-point between the two existing crossings, and the closest to meeting the 530-foot guideline, and being a four-way intersection that serves a larger area of the neighborhood on both sides of 82nd Avenue,” explained PBOT representative Hannah Schafer.

Graphic from 82nd Avenue Critical Fixes 60% Draft Concept Design, January 2024. Courtesy PBOT

City planners also chose this location for improvements based on future projects planned along SE Clinton Street. This crossing will eventually lead to an affordable housing development planned for the former Canton Grill site at the northeast corner, and the street will receive upgrades as part of the Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project. “An upcoming funded project will be paving some gravel blocks of Clinton Street just east of 82nd Avenue and adding sidewalks that will connect to this new signalized crossing,” remarked Schafer. She noted that this crossing was the site of a 2015 traffic fatality, along with several other non-deadly crashes involving pedestrians struck by motorists, elevating the need for safety upgrades at this intersection.

The Half Signals selected for this project stop vehicle traffic on 82nd Avenue. This equipment works similarly to RRFB signalized crossings. People request the light by pressing a button when ready to cross. However, instead of activating flashing amber lights, drivers see a stoplight, clearly halting traffic so pedestrians can cross. In addition to signals and a continuous protected concrete median refuge island that prohibits left turns, contractors working for PBOT will construct enhanced stormwater inlets and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant corner ramps at SE 82nd Avenue and SE Clinton Street. 

Since April 23rd, construction at the site closed the southbound number 72 TriMet Bus stop (ID 7948). The stop will reopen in early May. Drivers should anticipate continued construction at this intersection in the next few months, blocking various traffic lanes on 82nd Avenue and closing SE Clinton Street access from 82nd Avenue as work requires. 

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.