Creative Culture craft bar opens in Northeast Portland

Portland’s hottest club is Creative Culture, and this place has everything: do-it-yourself pottery painting, over-the-top milkshakes featuring in some cases a full cupcake, and a plant bar where you can pick your own dream succulent and even paint its pot.

OK, it isn’t a club. But it is located at that strange bend in Northeast 28th Avenue right before you hit the Broadway Fred Meyer.

Creative Culture is the brainchild of Dell Ann Upp and her now 11-year-old daughter.

“Me and my daughter were just loving to craft all the time and we got sick of cleaning up the mess so we said, ‘Let’s make a craft studio that we can let other people make the mess and we’ll clean it up for them,’” Upp said during a press preview of the space at 1448 N.E. 28th Ave. on Wednesday night.

While the idea of mixing milkshakes, arts and crafts and plants together might feel purely Portland, Upp actually started Creative Culture in Kansas City in 2020. The dairy treats and studio combo was such a hit there that she opened a second location and now, Portland -- where Upp lives part-time with her partner -- is her third.

“We offer a ton of different make-and-take projects,” Upp said.

That included the pottery and plants but also a wreath bar, where visitors can create seasonal wreaths and a rotating assortment of about 14 craft kits. It’s a family-friendly spot and walk-ins are welcome, though you can make reservations for groups or parties.

The Sullivan’s Gulch studio space is open and airy, lined with blank ceramic canvases and plants, with a menu of extreme milkshakes on a screen in the back. And the Fred Meyer-adjacent playground is just steps away, for kids who get too wound up by the milkshakes.

On Wednesday night, Creative Culture’s attentive staff served two milkshakes: an Oreo flavored treat topped with a full slice of cake and multiple cookies and a birthday cake version, which had the aforementioned cupcake.

The Oreo shake was a delicious treat that could easily serve as dessert for a family of four. A small child present at the preview also seemed to very much enjoy the birthday cake shake.

Because milkshakes are all they will serve, Upp said, customers are welcome to bring in their own food and drink and “make a picnic out of it.”

Creative Culture will open to the public on Saturday at 10 a.m.

If you go: Creative Culture, 1448 N.E. 28th Ave., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, creativeculturepdx.com

503-221-8052 lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker

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