With the increasing gentrification of Portland, many locations that featured prominently in my book are no more. Fiddleheads, the charming restaurant near SE Milwaukie and Bybee where we once enjoyed late desserts and discussed Alfred Hitchcock has gone out of business. Semaphore, the dive bar where I discovered many intriguing secrets about Babette’s Canadian convent, is long gone.

Even Wilhelm’s Funeral Home, where her ashes were cremated, moved locations years ago. The grand old building next became a show venue, oddly enough, complete with the original antique furniture. I once found myself at a dance night there, bouncing to electro beats in the main open chamber, and ordering drinks from a bar where, post cremation, the receptionist awkwardly handed Babette’s clothes over to me in a black plastic garbage bag. The space is now a gastro-pub of some kind.

Of all the monuments remaining however, Wong’s Garden still serves classic American-Chinese food, just up SE Woodstock from Reed College. It’s where my professor first took me out to lunch and began pursuing our friendship. After breaking her out of the hospital, it’s also where she insisted we go eat, despite fresh wounds from tearing out her catheter tube. Here’s a short synopsis: There was much blood and we were forced to leave the restaurant in a hurry. This was seventeen years ago and I’m sure the seating has been often cleaned since, but for squeamish patrons, avoid the second booth from the rear.