On SE Milwaukie Avenue, the stretch of storefronts just north of Bybee keeps one marquee in the middle of everything. The Moreland Theater at 6712 SE Milwaukie is a single-screen, first-run movie house, and KATU describes it as one of the last single-screen theaters in Portland, still proudly independent. On either side of it, the storefronts in the same building have changed a lot over the past two years. The Bee's September business brief described "several notable changes in the storefronts in the past few months" on the east side of the avenue.
Put those changes next to the theater's own plans and you see a gap. The dinner side of an evening on this block has filled in quickly. The theater's restoration, which includes a stage for live music, comedy and plays, is still less than half funded.
The block as it stands this November
Starting at the north end and walking south toward Bybee, these are the doors a moviegoer passes, based on The Bee's September 9 brief and each business's own listing.
| Door | What it is | Here since |
|---|---|---|
| Limelight Bar and Restaurant | Bar and restaurant with sidewalk seating added during the pandemic | Before the pandemic |
| Johnson Jewelers | Longtime Westmoreland jeweler, just north of the theater | Decades |
| Moreland Theater, 6712 SE Milwaukie | Single-screen first-run cinema | September 10, 1925 |
| Monty's Red Sauce, 6716 SE Milwaukie | Italian-American dinner house | February 4, 2025 |
| Silly Daisy, 6802 SE Milwaukie | Children's and women's clothing, gifts, homewares | Recent arrival on this block |
| El Mariachi Mexican Grill, 6808 SE Milwaukie | Taqueria with handmade tortillas | Late summer 2026 |
The two newest restaurants are both sit-down dinner rooms, and both are a few steps from the box office.
The taqueria in the old Stickers space
The newest arrival sits at the south end of the building. For more than a decade, 6808 SE Milwaukie was Stickers Asian Cafe, a pan-Asian street food spot known for potstickers and satay. What Now Portland reported in July that owners Jesus Zacarias and his wife, Mariela, had filed for a liquor license to open El Mariachi Mexican Grill in the space.
The menu is built around tacos made with fresh, handmade tortillas. The room seats about 45 people, with booths along the dining room, and an outdoor area holds another 15. Zacarias started cooking in 2009, moved into management at a Mexican restaurant chain in 2012, and stayed there until 2020. The pandemic pushed him to open his own place, and that place became El Mariachi.
Bridgetown Bites reported on August 28 that El Mariachi had opened in Sellwood/Westmoreland. It added that neighbors had wanted a Mexican restaurant nearby for some time and seemed very happy about the arrival. With 45 seats inside, the room can take a party heading to a showing without a long wait in most cases. Those seats also put it in the same range as the dinner house two doors north.
The red-sauce room next to the box office
Monty's Red Sauce is the closest door to the theater, in the space immediately to its south. Eater Portland lists it as opening February 4, 2025, and What Now Portland introduced it in late 2024 as a sister concept to Montelupo. The space has a long restaurant history. Portland Monthly notes it was formerly home to Rue Cler and the brunch spot Beeswing.
The menu is Italian-American comfort food: spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and eggplant parmesan, meatball heroes, pasta, calamari and desserts. Adam Berger is an owner, and Sedona McCaffrey-Allen is culinary director and chef. Berger described the plan to Portland Monthly this way:
"We want to do big portions: spaghetti meatballs, chicken parm, eggplant parm, meatball heroes."
Nearly two years in, Monty's is the established half of the block's new dinner pair.
A daytime shop between the dinner rooms
Silly Daisy sits between the two restaurants at 6802 SE Milwaukie. It sells children's clothes and accessories, baby items and toys, women's clothing, jewelry, gifts, homewares, and art, craft and stationery supplies. The store is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Owner Poom Lynn started out selling children's apparel and baby accessories online and at craft fairs, then opened a storefront in 2019, according to Travel Portland.
A 6 p.m. close makes it the stop before an early showing, not after. During the holiday gift season, it gives an afternoon on the block a reason to start before dinner.
North of the theater, the older businesses hold the other end. The Bee wrote in September that Limelight Bar and Restaurant "continues to prosper, with most of its sidewalk restaurant seating, originally installed during the pandemic, still filled every night."
The anchor turned 100 and asked for help
The theater at the center of all this opened September 10, 1925, according to Cinema Treasures. It celebrated its centennial in September 2025 with free screenings over the weekend of September 19 through 21, KOIN reported. KATU listed the lineup: "The Goonies," "Stand by Me," "The Wizard of Oz" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
That same month, LeAnn Nakvasil launched a GoFundMe for a restoration. KATU quoted her appeal:
"The past few years have been especially challenging for independent theaters. The COVID-19 shutdowns, the rise of streaming, and industry-wide strikes all deeply impacted attendance."
The fundraiser page lists what the money is for:
- Restoring the marquee, which the page calls the building's most recognizable feature
- Fresh paint inside and out, including the auditorium's soaring ceiling
- Updated electrical systems
- A new main-floor bathroom for accessibility
- Stage and screen improvements so the theater can host live music, comedy and plays
- A refreshed snack bar
The pace of the money
As of early November 2026, the campaign shows $16,140 raised toward a $40,000 goal from 220 donors. That's about 40% of the target. KPTV reported on November 4, 2025 that the campaign had already passed $10,000, about seven weeks after it launched on September 15. Roughly $6,000 more has come in during the year since. Most of the money arrived in the centennial's first two months, when the theater was in the news.
The stage line is the item that ties the theater most closely to its neighbors. A theater that can host music, comedy and plays gives the block evening programming beyond movies, and the block now has two dinner rooms next door to serve those crowds. For now the stage is still a goal on the fundraiser page. The current offering is first-run films, plus private party and event bookings through the theater's own site.
The theater's special screenings show what a programmed evening looks like here. On October 30, "Moreland After Dark" showed "Ginger Snaps" at 10 p.m. with a costume contest. Showtimes are posted on morelandtheater.com. Contributions to the restoration go through the GoFundMe page linked above.
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