Pit Pat's Chit Chat: Issue 14

Two years ago today we opened Secret Room. A little shop on 32nd & Division in Portland, Oregon. Two years! It’s a strange double-edged feeling to hold because it simultaneously feels like these two years have flown by and also feels like we’ve been doing this for hundred years. Either way, we’re having fun and it’s been a great joy of our lives to do this and we have no intention of stopping anytime soon. We’re having a friendly and fun party this evening, see you there?

<3 Secret Room <3

Cielle is in the shop right now. It’s the shop’s two-year anniversary and she’s listening to a karaoke playlist of lighthearted 90s pop and classic tunes, putting the finishing touches on the MZ790u RISO that has been nonfunctional and sitting in the shop for the last two years. Printing! In the shop! I’ve put a bunch of hours into getting this machine up and running this week. Last night we hit a snag in repairing the elevator motor but it was a good excuse to video call with our friend Robert, who walked us through some really janked up gears and bearings. With some slight slight fine-tuning, this machine will finally be up and running smoothly. For now it’s printing fine, which is great news for tonight’s festivities.

I’m sitting at Wallflower Coffee across the street. I’m here too often, probably, but the owner Joel has become an friend of ours and I love the energy of all the baristas here plus I’m addicted to caffeine and tired all the time. This neighborhood, like all neighborhoods in Portland, has changed a lot in the past five years. Since we opened Secret Room two years ago, there have been huge shifts in the vibe around here. Within just five blocks or so, we’ve gotten a new food cart pod with some perfect restaurants, a record store, another coffee shop, another bookstore, Well Spent Market, a couple more restaurants, two art galleries hosting great shows, and OK Chicken opened across the street from us in the former Pok Pok space. The energy is exciting, there are more folks wandering around Division than there have been in a while and our neighbors are mostly really friendly.

Our lives are busier than is probably healthy between the print shop, the shop shop, publishing, curating art shows, and hosting events. This year’s big goal has been to focus on balancing that better but it’s tough to do it when so many of these things are fun to do - there’s only so much time in the day. It’s really nice becoming a local shopkeep, a person in a place where people can come explore underground and visual culture, escape from the elements, or just chat for a little while before going on with their day. We’ve met so many folks through the shop, it’s kind of unbelievable. So many artists and musicians and zinesters and bookshop and poets and RISO folks. Truly, we love this community.

We’re always trying to ask ourselves… what’s next? Sometimes it’s difficult to look further than a few days or weeks out. Right now I’m going to finish up this newsletter, go back to the shop and tidy up some stuff, and we’ll have a party later this afternoon. Tomorrow? Probably gonna sleep in, walk the dog, and read a book. I’m on the last couple chapters of Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and I have the first volume of the manga Lone Wolf and Cub sitting sitting on my bedside table, which I’ve yet to ever read.

Okay, see you later,

<3 John James

What’re we doin’?

Last year we had a big Secret Room Press showcase reading alongside our book release of Sleepy’s Delay by Erin Tanner, which was absolutely incredible. Everybody on the Secret Room Press roster in Portland read at the event and it was extremely fun. This year, we’re attempting to do something more casual that doesn’t require everybody to sit down and face the same direction for two hours. Less of an “event” and more of an opportunity to hang out and catch up with folks.

So what’s on the docket?

⟡ CAKE CUTTING - we did cakes last year and by golly we’ve done it again! We stayed up too late last night making cakes and hanging out and it was worth it, the 2026 cakes are very cute!

⟡ RISO PHOTO BOOTH - Cielle designed oversized photo strips to commemorate the day! We’ll have the RISO set up in the shop so you can take three pictures and we’ll print ‘em onto the strips LIVE in the shop! 3 strips for $5-10 sliding scale. It’s an experiment, borrowing the photobooth idea from the brilliant folks at 2inRow in Thailand who have really perfected this concept… more news about them in our next newsletter!

⟡ LIVE DRAWING & MUSICAL SCORE - John James & Ross are teaming up for an experimental, collaborative, interactive project. We’ve never done this before, so who knows how it’ll all shake out — improvisational music influencing live-drawn comix on the big screen!

⟡ KARAOKE - Every big Secret Room event turns into karaoke at some point. What will you sing? We’ll report back!

Well, that’s about it for now, I’ve really gotta get back to the shop — I can see from my spot at the coffee shop that there’s something going on over there. Love you all so much, thanks for coming with us on this journey. Thanks to everybody for the continued support, encouragement, and friendly energy in a world that almost demands that we all become worse people. Don’t do it. Don’t become evil. Love one another.

💛 PEACE ON EARTH FOREVER 💛

note: I am not proofreading this post today. If there are spelling mistakes and inconsistencies, I don’t wanna hear about it! <3