"I feel incredibly fortunate to be the custodian of this place," Dan Casto told the Portland Mercury about the Richmond Club, the bar he opened in September in the room the Richmond Bar used for 13 years. "Custodian" fits more than one address this season. If you go through the July-to-October openings on SE Division and SE Hawthorne one at a time, most turn out to be operators you already know. Some took over a beloved room. Others moved in from Belmont, Woodstock, or Northeast. Nearly all of them landed between SE 32nd and SE 46th. Meanwhile, the 1700 block of Hawthorne has had one kitchen closed by a September fire and loses another on October 17.
The Address List, West to East
The pattern is easier to see when you sort by street number:
- 1739 SE Hawthorne, Gol. The Eurosports bar has been closed since a fire in mid-September.
- 1758 SE Hawthorne, OK Omens. Last service is Saturday, October 17.
- 3203 SE Division, The Richmond Club. Opened September 3 in the former Richmond Bar.
- 3632 SE Hawthorne, Jade Rabbit. Opened August 27 after leaving Belmont.
- 3829 SE Division, ModHaus. The cart pod opened its indoor dining room, bar, and café on September 18.
- 4546 SE Division, Turning Peel. Celebrated its third anniversary on October 10.
- 4601 SE Hawthorne, JJ's Bar. Opened July 10.
Both losses on the list sit within a few doors of each other on lower Hawthorne. Every opening has a street number of 3200 or higher. Devil's Dill and No Fun Bar, right next to the fire site, reopened the same day it happened. This fall's new rooms, seats, and longer hours are concentrated farther east.
The 1700 Block of Hawthorne Loses Two Kitchens in a Month
OK Omens is the end of a long line. As the Portland Mercury tells it, Monique Siu opened Castagna on SE Hawthorne in 1999 with chef Kevin Gibson and followed it with the more casual Cafe Castagna. In 2018, she and her partners turned that café into OK Omens, a wine bistro that leaned hard into riesling. Under chef Joseph Papas, the menu narrowed to seasonal vegetables and Pacific Northwest seafood, including a Dungeness crab endive salad and a $1 oyster happy hour the Mercury called one of the best in the city. Siu is retiring, and Saturday, October 17 is the last night. That's this coming Saturday. No plans for the space have been announced.
A few doors down, the September fire was a sudden setback rather than a planned exit. Eater Portland reported that the blaze started at Gol early on a Tuesday morning. Portland Fire & Rescue had it out by 1:30 a.m., and there were no reported injuries. Smoke traveled through a crawlspace that runs the length of the building and also damaged Likely Ivy, the vegan bakery next door, and Big Top Tattoos. A restoration company on site told KOIN that repairs at Gol could take at least "six months to a year." That's a contractor's estimate, not a reopening date. All three businesses have set up fundraisers for their staff and recovery.
The Richmond Club Kept the Room and Rewrote the Menu
The Richmond Bar closed in late 2025 after 13 years on Division. In January it looked like a different concept would move in. Instead the room went to Casto, the owner behind Double Dragon, a bar that had never opened a sister location. The Richmond Club is his second project, and the Mercury reports he has lived within four blocks of the bar for more than a decade.
The changes are deliberate and small. The original black leather banquettes still line the room. A new hanging bar gives staff more space to work, and Casto went looking for vintage light fixtures and a better sound system. He kept the covered patio because he saw it as a neighborhood gem, and he brought back Arium Botanicals, who did the Double Dragon patio, to fill it with plants.
The menu changed the most. Bridgetown Bites lists a French-leaning bar menu with a Niçoise salad, a pig's-head croquette, schnitzel, gratin, crudo, grilled oysters, and a burger. The Mercury adds chicken frites, scallop crudo, and a late-night hot dog special, plus a short cocktail list from Double Dragon bar manager Katie Farr. Longtime regulars will notice one thing missing. "Sorry, we didn't keep the mac and cheese," Casto told the paper. Eater Portland lists hours as 4 p.m. to midnight daily.
Jade Rabbit and Chick & Pig Came From Other Neighborhoods
The Richmond Club took over a room. Jade Rabbit moved into one. Eater Portland traces the queer- and worker-owned restaurant back to 2017, when it started as Ichiza Kitchen in Goose Hollow. It went through a rebrand, several moves, and a pop-up residency before settling on Belmont in early 2025. Now its vegan dim sum spreads and tea service are at 3632 SE Hawthorne, which opened August 27. If you followed it on Belmont, it's now a short walk south.
Chick & Pig followed a similar route on a smaller scale. The Thai cart left the Woodstock neighborhood to join ModHaus on Division. The pod's newest arrival is Tidal Boar's Shuck Truck, which the Mercury describes as probably Portland's only dedicated oyster food truck. It used to park at Level Beer's Northeast location. With the Shuck Truck on Division and OK Omens' $1 oysters ending on Hawthorne this week, the corridor's oyster options are shifting east too.
JJ's Bar is the one entirely new name on the list. It opened July 10 at SE Hawthorne and 46th, from co-creators Jessica Grimmer and Jaret Ferratusco.
ModHaus Added Indoor Seating Before the Rain
Before September, ModHaus at SE 38th and Division was a collection of carts. Eater Portland notes the pod, from the team behind the Heist, had technically been open since early 2026, with diners eating outside among carts like Jojo and Makulít. The Portland Mercury reports that the indoor space opened Friday, September 18, with 100 seats, a full bar and café, and mid-century styling. A covered outdoor area with two fire pits, heaters, and another 100 seats was still getting its finishing touches as of October 1.
The timing matters for a cart pod. Until September 18, ModHaus had no indoor dining room for the wet months. Once the patio is finished, the site will have about 200 seats, half of them indoors, and it's open seven days a week. The lineup now includes Jojo's fried chicken and burgers, Makulít's Filipino American fast food, Chick & Pig, the Shuck Truck, pasta and paninis from the Italian Job, butter chicken wings from Desi PDX, and carts serving sushi and Mediterranean food.
A few blocks east, Turning Peel at 4546 SE Division marked three years on October 10 with merchandise at half off. It's one of the steady storefronts along this stretch, and it's in the same eastern blocks where the new seating went in.
Peacock Lane Is the Season's Last Fixed Date
Plenty is still unsettled on these two streets, including what comes next at 1758 SE Hawthorne and when Gol reopens. The December calendar in Southeast Portland has one firm entry. Peacock Lane's official site lists this year's lights for December 15 through 31. The first two nights, December 15 and 16, are pedestrian-only, and a free cocoa booth runs December 15 through 24 while supplies last. The site gives two different nightly start-and-end times, so check it closer to the date. The street asks visitors not to sell anything, hand out flyers, ask for donations, or petition.
For a December evening built around those dates, the stops with posted hours are all on the list above. The Richmond Club opens at 4 p.m. daily. ModHaus is open seven days a week with indoor seating. Jade Rabbit is on central Hawthorne.
If you live near these blocks, a new storefront down the street can change how you think about your own address. When you'd like a clear picture of what your home is worth while the neighborhood around it keeps changing, Kayla Jones is glad to put one together. Request a Home Valuation and we'll go through your block with you.
