Dekum Family Health, located on the second floor of the historic Dekum Firehouse, is now open and offers acupuncture and Chinese medicine, including Chinese and western herbs, massage, diet therapy and natural family healthcare.  Felicia Ferruzza, licensed acupuncturist and herbalist works at the health center alongside Dr. Elizabeth Busetto, a naturopathic physician.

Felicia explains the benefits of acupuncture as being a way to “enhance the immune system, increase energy, alleviate pain, decrease stress and help with a wide range of health concerns from cancer and chronic disease to depression, anxiety, insomnia, and stress, as well as to improve overall grounding, healing, and vitality.”

// More Info: 503.954.1697

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By Andrew Longeteig

Six months of sweat equity finally paid off for Eric Rose and Matthew Busetto. Their much-anticipated southern and central Italian-inspired restaurant, Firehouse, opened June 27 at 711 NE Dekum.

Rose and Busetto’s quest to find the optimal space didn’t take long – less than two weeks.

“We saw it and it made perfect sense,” Rose says. “We were looking at having a neighborhood, family-friendly restaurant. The triangular streets make it a very unique piece of property.”

Woodlawn Triangle’s signature building, constructed in 1913, served as fire station No. 29, which housed firefighters on the top floor and a horse stable on the lower level.

Rose lives in Lake Oswego, but intends to relocate to Portland. No doubt, he is impressed by Woodlawn.

“It’s very unpretentious, very warm and welcoming,” says Rose, who grew up in Chicago. “There is a lot of diversity in this neighborhood. It reminds me of neighborhoods in bigger cities. It has lots of potential and seemed, to us, to be underserved in the way of good places to eat.”

Rose, Busetto, friends and contractors began renovation in January and helped transform the former artists residence to an inviting destination. Demolition work revealed exposed beam ceilings and original brick walls. Firehouse also has a wood-fired oven, rotisserie and grill.

Justin Rideout, owner of the two-story building at 820 NE Dekum, constructed Firehouse’s tables and banquettes from reclaimed rough-sawn fir. The City of Portland Archives gave Rose and Busetto vintage digital images, which they enlarged and hung throughout Firehouse. A framed print of the Firehouse logo, designed by Rose’s son David, hangs in the main dining area.

Outside, a semi-circular stone patio on the building’s south side provides additional seating.

The landscape is a garden oasis in training. There are small orchards of apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, huckleberries, currants, persimmon, crabapple, quince and grapevines, among others. Raised garden beds include arugula, tomatoes and various herbs.

“We will use them here,” Rose says. “We intend to use everything we can, although it can’t fulfill all our needs.”

Firehouse values simple preparations with quality local and seasonal ingredients. Rose and Matthew buy ingredients in small quantities and use them at their peak freshness.

“Buying large quantities and compromising the freshness of the ingredient just doesn’t make sense to us,” Rose says. “We’re using as much produce from small local farms as we can.”

Rose has worked in the Portland and Seattle restaurant scene for 24 years. Before owning Firehouse, he was the food services director for New Seasons Market for almost nine years, overseeing the delis and specialty-cheese program. There he met Busetto, who served as store chef for two years.

“We want to start off in a manageable fashion to give the kitchen the opportunity to give justice to the food without overwhelming them,” says Rose, who employs a staff of six. “As the neighborhood starts to request more days, we will certainly try to do that. It’s nice to start out small and get big, as opposed to start big and get small.”

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Woodlawn Historian Anjala Ehelebe has been unearthing Woodlawn stories and photos for years and her efforts have finally been compiled into a beautiful book, Portland’s Woodlawn Neighborhood, showcasing our neighborhood’s unique history. Woodlawn was the first settled area of Portland and our history is rich. You may notice it in the diagonal streets (oriented to the street car line), the majestic red brick firehouse and the historic Village Ballroom and there is even more chronicled in Anjala’s book.

Portland’s Woodlawn Neighborhood is available for perusal at the general meetings and for purchase at major book stores. In the near future, Anjala will have a book signing at Reflections book store and we will put an announcement up when the details are finalized.

// Portland Tribune Article on Anjala’s book

There is a lot of change happening in Woodlawn and some proactive neighbors decided early on they wanted to ensure we’re all a part of the process. The Land Use and Visioning Committee has been working tirelessly to come up with a vision for what development on Dekum could look like, and the result is the Woodlawn Triangle Master Plan, which was just formally adopted by the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association Board.

// download the plan (pdf)

The goal of the Master Plan is to create both a vision for the Triangle as an active neighborhood center and corridor and an implementation plan for the vision. Most of this vision involves infrastructure: streets, sidewalks, crossing and streetscapes. It also includes suggestions for new building design, amenities, and retail mix. Put together, the elements of the vision seek to create an active and attractive place that neighbors and visitors can enjoy, while meeting our needs and desires as residents.

The implementation plan is designed to achieve visible results in the near to medium-term future – paralleling current building rehabilitation and new development projects. This plan will involve a public/private/community partnership to help ensure that new businesses succeed and that more historic rehabilitation and mixed-use development takes place.

It wasn’t an easy process, but it was a really good process. Two large neighborhood-wide meetings were held to receive extensive community input and develop committees to work on implementing the goals. The first meeting had well over 100 people in attendance. It was inspiring to see neighbors so engaged in the process. The Woodlawn Triangle Master Plan was developed in partnership with the City of Portland and Emmons Architects and was made possible through grant funding.

Special thanks goes to the Land Use and Visioning Committee for their hard work making this happen! We are so fortunate to be engaged in the process and to be planning ahead for what we want the coming growth to look like. And the work is not over yet! the Land Use Committee still needs your help. They are meeting Thursday, February 21st at Good Neighbor Pizza, 7pm.