NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
Newsletter
Our newsletter is delivered to your doorstep 5 times a year by neighborhood volunteers. As we move to an email version of the newsletter, we encourage you to subscribe below.
Historic District Update
At its February 14, 2017 Board meeting, the LNA Board adopted a resolution, SUBJECT TO TWO IMPORTANT CAVEATS, to pursue nominating Laurelhurst for the National Register Historic District Listing.
The Board’s resolution states:
"The LNA Board, by a majority vote, believes that a National Register Historic District listing is in the best interest of the neighborhood;
The LNA Board unanimously believes a National Register Historic District listing should not be filed unless a majority of the neighborhood supports it;”
The resolution further states that unless the Board “feels confident that a majority of the neighborhood supports historic district status,” the Board (1) will NOT file the nomination and (2) will NOT expend any LNA funds to further the nomination process.
Residential Infill Proposal
There are some proposed changes to land-use that LNA supports, however LNA is very concerned with any change of use that would result in encouraging demolition and in changes that are broadly applied across the city with disregard to the varying and unique character of each neighborhood.
You can read LNA's letter and feedback regarding Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability's residential infill proposal (RIPSAC) addressed to Morgan Tracy, the Project Manager here.
Neighborhood Associations Under Attack
Newsletter
Laurelhurst is one of the last few neighborhoods that continues its tradition of hand-delivering newsletters to every household five times per year. Powered by volunteers across our neighborhood, residents receive newsletters by the first Tuesday of every January, March, May, September, and November.
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If would like to submit an editorial article or community event for an upcoming newsletter please send it to laruelhurstnewsletter@gmail.com
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If you would like to advertise in the newsletter, see this rate sheet and contact ads.laurelhurst@gmail.com
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If you have any questions, or comments or would like to sign up to be a volunteer to help with delivering newsletters please email laurelhurst.atlargerep@gmail.com
LNA Meetings
Every resident, tenant or homeowner, in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, and every business or non-profit located in the neighborhood, is a member of the LNA. LNA General Meetings and Board Meetings are open to the public and ADA accessible.
LNA board elections are held at the May General Meeting. Information about elections and candidates will be published in the March and May newsletters issues. Every LNA member is asked to attend and vote.
If you are a member of the LNA and want to bring a topic up at a General Meeting, simply attend and speak up. You can also ask the LNA President to place the topic on the agenda for a General Meeting, or to reserve time for you to discuss it with the board at a Board Meeting.
Meeting dates and locations are at Events. All meetings are now held in person at The Laurelhurst Club: 3721 SE Ankeny St.
For official minutes of Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association meetings, see Meeting Notes.
LNA Acquires "Laurelhurst Club" Building
A Laurelhurst history Article from 2019
Laurelhurst does not currently have a “community center”, but we once did. The 1914 Laurelhurst Club building on SE Ankeny served as our neighborhood’s gathering place, hosting classes, lectures, parties, study clubs, children’s activities, and gatherings of all sorts until the 1930s, when community use declined. For the last several decades, the building has been owned and managed by the Laurelhurst Dance Club and was used primarily for social dancing and as a rental venue.
This year, however, The Laurelhurst Dance Club proposed donating the property to the LNA, allowing the club to be returned to its original function. The building had been closed since mid-March due to COVID. Faced with relaunching, the Dance Club took time to consider its mission and the strongest future for the building. After thorough study, the LNA Board accepted the donation. You can read about the Club’s and the building’s history on page 5 of the November 2019 newsletter, and about the LNA's acquisition of the building on page 3 of the January 2021 newsletter, available online at laurelhurstpdx.org/news.
The LNA will be sponsoring community conversations this spring or summer so that Laurelhurst residents can help the board shape the kind of community center that makes sense for Laurelhurst today. These planning conversations will be announced in the newsletter once it is safe for us to meet in groups.
The LNA also plans to reopen the Club as a rental venue as soon as feasible. Please consider the Club for your family’s upcoming celebrations. The proceeds from renting the club will cover the building’s maintenance and expenses.
When reopening is safe, social dancing will resume, including the time-honored New Year’s Eve dance, which, sadly was missed this year.
Over the winter prior to reopening, the LNA plans to refresh the building’s interior and landscaping, rebuild the website, and otherwise prepare to re-open.
This is a big commitment for the LNA. To our knowledge, we are the only Portland neighborhood association that has taken on such a project. There is much to do to return Laurelhurst’s historic club building to active use as a self-supporting resource for neighborhood, community, non-profit, and arts and culture uses. We hope neighbors and local businesses will support this important project.
LNA seeks to contract with a manager to run the club. Persons who are experienced with event promotion, managing a venue and employees, have marketing and business skills, are organized and self-directed, and can run the club as a income-generating business in a partnership with LNA are encouraged to contact laurelhurstnewsletter@gmail.com for information.
Please join us in thanking the Dance Club for its generosity, ties to our neighborhood, stewardship of this historic building, and century-long tradition of friendship through dance. Stay tuned for more news! If you are planning a wedding, memorial, bar mitzvah, party or other event, please consider booking the Laurelhurst Club: thelaurelhurstclub.com.
Laurelhurst Historical Online Archive
Thanks to neighbor Steve Rochelle, you can take a quick trip back in time with the August 12, 1932 "Laurelhurst Nabor News".
Help us start an online archive of historical Laurelhurst documents, photographs, newsletters, records, and memorabilia. If you have something that your neighbors would enjoy seeing, let us know. We'll scan or photograph it and post on this website.
Mann Old Peoples House Making Progress Toward Rebirth As Affordable Family Housing
A Laurelhurst history article from 2019
The stately, historic Anna Mann Old People's House by the northwest corner of Laurelhurst, at NE 32nd and NE Sandy, is making progress on its journey of restoration and adaptive re-use as affordable family housing. Read more in the May issue of the LNA Newsletter and at Historic Laurelhurst. The project will be undertaken by Innovative Housing, Oregon's leading non-profit focused on restoring historic buildings for attractive, livable affordable housing. The LNA Board has been in contact with Innovative Housing about this project for almost two years. In 2019 LNA supported the project's successful bid for Portland Affordable Housing Bond funding and this year LNA has supported the project in its pending design review. To learn more, you can see the design review package submitted to the Historic Landmark Commission.
