SE Hawthorne's Corners Are Changing Together This Fall
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"Well, I am 74," Monique Siu told Eater Portland on the morning she announced that OK Omens will close. Its last service is Saturday, October 17, 13 days from today. Siu described the move as retirement. "It's a really challenging time to be in the restaurant industry. It's a young person's game," she said.
Eleven days before that announcement, and about a block away, a fire that started at GOL closed several businesses at once. A few weeks before that, an empty bar space farther east on the boulevard filled with a restaurant that had already built a following on Belmont. Each of these is a separate story. Together they show how the west end of Hawthorne actually works. Businesses here share walls, crawlspaces, kitchens and customers, so a change at one address rarely stays at that address.
OK Omens at 1758 SE Hawthorne is the last piece of a run that started next door. Siu, who also cofounded Zefiro, opened Castagna in 1999. Cafe Castagna soon opened beside it as the casual counterpart, known for its burger and butter lettuce salad. In 2018 the late chef Justin Woodward helped Siu turn the cafe into OK Omens. Castagna had shut indefinitely in 2020 and announced its permanent closure in 2023, which left OK Omens to carry the name forward.
Over those years the corner also trained cooks who went on to their own projects. Eater's account lists Elias Cairo, who founded Olympia Provisions, and Nate Tilden, a onetime Castagna general manager who went on to help shape Clyde Common, Pepe le Moko and Bar Casa Vale. The current chapter belongs to Joseph Papas, who took his first executive chef role there after cooking at Tusk, Davenport and Coquine. Only weeks before the closure was announced, Willamette Week critic Michael C. Zusman called OK Omens one of the most exciting places in Portland to eat seafood. He wrote that Papas "has demonstrated an uncommon and delightful culinary aptitude" since taking over in late 2024.
Siu's own framing places the legacy in the corner rather than in any single restaurant:
"Looking back, the true legacy of this corner isn't just the accolades or the menus—it's the vibrant community that came to life within these walls."
No future tenant or use for the space has been reported.
The September fire showed a different side of how connected these storefronts are. Portland Fire & Rescue crews reached GOL, the Eurosports bar at 1739 SE Hawthorne near SE 18th, around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15, and had the fire out by 1:30. No one was reported injured. According to GOL's own post, the fire began in the bar, and its smoke traveled through a crawlspace running the length of the building into other businesses on the lot. Early coverage in The Oregonian also listed Hawthorne Nail Care, Yoyo Market and Rock Soft Futon among the affected neighbors, though the exact count was unclear at the time.
Property records date the building to 1925. It is one of many Hawthorne and Belmont storefronts that went up alongside the streetcar lines spreading into Southeast Portland in the early 1900s. The same continuous construction that gives the row its storefront rhythm is what let smoke from one bar reach a bakery and a tattoo studio.
Where the most-affected businesses stood in the latest reports:
| Business | What was reported | Outlook |
|---|---|---|
| GOL PDX | Owner Peter Mahr expects to be closed at least several months | A restoration company on site estimated repairs at six months to a year |
| Likely Ivy | Owner Ivy Nacol told KOIN most of her equipment was coated in corrosive soot | The bakery's site says it is temporarily closed and points to Instagram for updates |
| Big Top Tattoos | Boarded up when Eater visited on September 16 | Expects structural repairs to take months and may rebuild at a new location |
| Devil's Dill and No Fun Bar | Reopened the day of the fire | Back open as of Eater's September 16 report |
Big Top opened on the block in May 2025, so a move would end a stay of less than a year and a half. Its website may still show regular hours, but that listing looks out of date and does not mean the shop has reopened.
Nacol described the block to The Oregonian as a "micro community" of friends and neighbors helping one another. The fundraisers reflect that. As of Friday, September 18, GOL's GoFundMe had raised close to $18,000 toward a $50,000 goal. A campaign for Likely Ivy, organized by former KGW anchor Stephanie Domurat, had raised just over $7,000 of a $30,000 goal. Big Top Tattoos has a GoFundMe of its own. Mahr told Eater his main focus is supporting his staff, through the GoFundMe and through in-person fundraisers.
At 3632 SE Hawthorne, the same pattern worked the other way. Cocktail bar Afterlife closed abruptly there in June. Before that, the address was home to vegan brunch spot Harlow, which now operates on SE Division. By late August, Jade Rabbit had moved in.
Jade Rabbit started in 2017 as Ichiza Kitchen, founded by chef Cyrus Ichiza, and has since become worker-owned. It reopened on SE Belmont in January 2025 after losing an earlier pop-up space. Its timeline this summer went like this:
The chili oil wontons with vegan beef and the namesake Jade Rabbit dumplings stayed on the menu. Ichiza has also described plans for gluten-free options, tea tastings and pastry at the new location. The Street Fair pop-up between the two openings let the restaurant greet the corridor's own crowd before its doors opened. That is the same kind of shared customer base that worked in reverse at SE 18th.
Ten blocks east, JJ's Bar at 4601 SE Hawthorne was reported in July as a project from Jessica Grimmer and Jaret Ferratusco, with a soft opening planned for July 10. Treat that date as planned rather than confirmed.
Set the two timelines side by side. A space left empty by choice in June had a new tenant in about two months. A space damaged by fire in September is looking at six months to a year. The difference has little to do with demand for Hawthorne storefronts and a lot to do with whether the building can be used.
With the closures and openings in mind, here is what is on the calendar along the corridor this month:
Devil's Dill and No Fun Bar, right next to the damaged storefronts, reopened the same day as the fire. For the shops that remain closed, the GoFundMe pages and their Instagram accounts are the most direct ways to help until they reopen. For more on getting around the area without a car, our car-free weekend in Southeast Portland's urban core covers the rest of the inner eastside, and the SE Portland neighborhood guide shows how Hawthorne connects to Division, Belmont and the Central Eastside.
If you own a home near Hawthorne and wonder how a change on your corner, like a long-running restaurant closing or a new tenant moving in, affects how buyers see your place, Erika Wrenn is glad to go over it block by block, with no pressure and no timeline. Let's Connect.
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