In a very particular corner of Portland, Ore., there is a dive bar whose vending machine dispenses tarot cards and a dessert joint with a white-water kayak in its bathroom. On a nearby block, for vaguely environmental reasons, a dozen goats used to roam free. The goats are gone now, replaced by an apartment complex with a Chipotle. Many Portland residents have grown to expect this kind of development; what they were not expecting was a Soho House.
That London-based chain of exclusive members’ clubs, known as a posh hangout for jet-setters and celebrities, will open a new outpost this week in the gentrifying stretch of Portland known as the Central Eastside. Its arrival introduces a rooftop pool, a two-story gym and a restaurant serving steelhead tartare to a freshly renovated industrial building that once housed one of the city’s scrappy artist cooperatives. [...]
Julian Gaines, who contributed a painting modeled on a Jet Magazine cover, saw his work’s inclusion as a way to ensure Black people would see themselves on the walls of a club in a city where some seven out of 10 residents are white.
Mr. Gaines said he believed that Soho House would serve as a “creative catalyst” that could draw new talent to Portland. He convinced his dermatologist to apply.
