St. Francis Hotel

Demolished in 2001 but living on in celluloid, the St. Francis Hotel at 11th and Main downtown began its life in the 1920s as lodging for business travelers, then for decades was a single-room-occupancy destination for the down and out. But the building is probably best known as a location for key scenes in Drugstore Cowboy, the movie that launched the career of internationally-renowned Portland filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Our first interview features film critic Marc Mohan, who discusses Drugstore and Van Sant's continuing movie career. Then our second interview features affordable-housing advocates Bobby Weinstock of the Northwest Pilot Project and Merrell Baker of Home Forward, in an effort to better understand Portland's struggle to house its most vulnerable citizens.