[Posted June 19, 2020]
Previously restricted businesses were allowed to re-open under Phase 1 rules in Multnomah County beginning Friday, June 19. Gyms and personal care services can re-open and bars and restaurants can offer sit-down service. Many new rules and restrictions for hygiene and social distancing apply. Visit the state website for the full list of do’s and don’ts. Here are a few of the highlights:
Gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed with physical distancing requirements.
Bars and restaurants must space tables at least six feet apart, must close at 10pm, and must require all employees to wear masks.
Personal care services (salons, barber shops, massage studios) and gyms may offer classes/services by appointment or with pre-registration only and must gather and log customer health data, maintain six feet distance between clients, and require face coverings.
The day of re-opening
On Friday at 4:00pm, parking lot on the south side of Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. was sparsely occupied, but customers were lined up at the door of Dairy Hill Ice Cream, where orders are now accepted at the door as well as by phone or online.
Hillsdale Barber is open again, and proprietor Lai Saelor was fully booked on her first day back. As her customers streamed back in, including former Hillsdale residents who make the trek to her shop from as far away as Lake Oswego, she wasn’t concerned that a few of them had cheated on her with home haircuts or outlaw barbers giving kitchen table cuts. She turned off her phone at some point during the shutdown to avoid the calls she was getting asking her to skirt the rules.
At Hillsdale Nails, located next door to Edward Jones, a sign in the window announces their re-opening on June 19.
Chris Park at Hillsdale Shoe repair is back in her shop, meeting customers at the door to keep her small business space safe from the coronavirus.
SW Portland Martial Arts and Crossfit Hillsdale re-opened its two locations for classes for kids and adults, with reduced capacity and many new adjustments to its routine.
At both McMenamin’s Hillsdale Pub and Sasquatch Brewing, staff reported that the first few hours of reopening were slow, but were hopeful that things would pick up later in the day.
Sasquatch has remodeled for counter service, given its menu a take-out friendly make-over, and used the city’s new streamlined permit process to add a beer garden on a city-owned grassy area that sits across the street to the west of the restaurant on Capitol Hwy.
Oak and Olive added more outdoor tables on the west side of the building to make up for some of the seating that has been lost to social distancing measures inside and to capitalize on warmer summer weather. Owner Maria Rosengreen reported that take-out was still going strong despite the re-opening.
The Phase 1 conditions don’t affect retail shops, which were approved to open on May 15 provided they meet social distancing requirements. Hoot-n-Annie, Paloma Clothing, Cuttlefish and Corals and Other Worlds Games are now open for in-person shopping.
The first casualty
Hillsdale’s first business to close as a direct result of the economic fall-out of COVID-19 seems to be OmBase Yoga Studio. Owners Todd Williamson and Vittoria Palazzi announced June 9 in a facebook post and an email to students that they would close their doors on June 12. As they explain in their post, “We have not been able to work out any deal with our landlord . . . and we can't continue, also knowing it will take many months until the studio can be up and running like it used to, if ever. We honestly did not see this coming, and were completely blindsided by it.” Ombase continues to offer livestream yoga classes through the end of June.
Phase 2 is expected to allow larger-scale gatherings and will address recreational sports, pools, and movie theaters, as well as the return of scheduled concerts at the Josh Kadish Community Stage at the Hillsdale Food Park.
--Valeurie Friedman
Will you be out and about now that Phase 1 has begun? Or will you stay home longer? Let us know what you think.