PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Michael Lutz works in a world of silver screens, where people can escape for a couple of hours.
Lutz and his co-workers at Living Room Theaters in Portland have seen it all – both in the movies and on the streets outside. They’ve been in the epicenter of much of the city’s drama over the past five years, with drug use and homelessness right out their front door.
But Lutz says the script is changing.
“It’s getting busier. There’s definitely an uptick. People are feeling safer downtown. Our business is doing well, so we’re enjoying that,” said Lutz.
And the moviegoers seem to be noticing, too. On this day, Fantastic Four and Superman are the big hits. And Michael Cerna didn’t feel he needed a cape crusader to get him to the theatre.
“Well, we live downtown, so we’ve seen the progress of all the efforts of the city that they’re doing. It has its moments, but we don’t feel unsafe walking around downtown, ” said Cerna.
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This is KATU’s third monthly check-in on this neighborhood, which encompasses Burnside and 11th, around Broadway and Harvey Milk. The neighborhood has felt the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic and everything that followed.
It’s far from a perfect progression. Some people who live and work nearby say they stay away at night. But every business KATU talked to said store traffic is up. And that they sense the fear is going down.
Standing on the street corner, across from Living Room Theaters, KATU spoke to three sisters and one sister-in-law. They were all visiting Portland from Houston.
Why Portland? They had heard about the good weather, the food, and the fun times.
The women told KATU they had not seen anything that had alarmed them on the streets that would prevent them from coming back.
“And we’re from a big city as well. So I know it’s like, this is not unfamiliar. Yeah, pretty similar,” said one of the visitors.
You still see signs of homelessness, though they appear to be fewer. And for a Monday, the streets were fairly lively.
Back at Living Room Theaters, Lutz is hopeful. He said there was a time when people would call first to see if it was safe to come downtown. He attributed much of the improvement to the Portland “clean and safe,” a crew that works seven days a week, maintaining the cleanliness in the heart of the city. He said a beefed-up police presence has helped, too.
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At the end of the day, it’s all about the customers feeling confident that things are safer now that they can put their worries aside and focus on the important things at Living Room theatre, like choosing butter or no butter on their popcorn.
No matter the drama on the streets outside, that’s something Lutz is happy to address.
“Oh, we’ve got the best popcorn around,” said Lutz.
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