We had a fantastic event at ADX! Another vote for Syd being absolutely amazing to collaborate with. We hosted an author talk with ~40 people. Setup was super easy and felt very intimate in the space. They have a fan and ability to open the garage door for warmer days. Loved the booth to check in on entry, as well as the bar. Would absolutely recommend this space for a memorable event. Easy public transit access and plenty of free street parking around, although plan into the schedule time to find a spot for events starting ~6pm. Literally around the corner from Lil' America food truck pod, and walkable to a bunch of other restaurants. read more

ADX - A group of ~40 people in the ADX event space. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Currently have a 9' x 9' studio and have been renting for about half a year. Nothing to say but good things. Reasonably priced and management has been very attentive the whole time. Shout out to Kelly and Syd for answering questions and settling issues quickly. As a community, they also run a bunch of different events and happy hours that are included in the price of membership. 10/10 would rent from them again. The space is also conveniently located amongst many great amenities (food, bars, hardware stores, etc) read more

I am so disappointed with this place. The founder/director, Kelley Roy, has very unethical business practices. I developed a strange immobility in one of my hands about a week prior to the first class I was supposed to take at ADX. I called, and the person I spoke to was kind enough to reschedule my class a month out. I was not warned of any stipulations regarding rescheduling. A month later, and it turns out my hand problem is related to something more severe than I thought. I am barely able to use my middle finger on my right hand (but if I could, I would point it at ADX). For the sake of my privacy I will just say that the issue is serious. I called and emailed to ADX explaining my situation and asking to again reschedule or for a refund. I was told by Kelley that they will not offer me a refund or reschedule my class. That because I had already rescheduled once, I couldn't get a refund. At the time I wrote to her this afternoon, nowhere in ADX's policy did it specify such a rule. It simply said that a 10% fee would be assessed for cancellations as long as they occurred prior to 72 hours before the class. I took a screen shot of this and emailed it to Kelley. When I went back to that same web page fifteen minutes later, I noticed it had been changed. It now says "no refunds will be offered after the first reschedule" not one, but three times. After every paragraph. She added these statements AFTER I had asked for a refund based on their written policy as it was at the time. Talk about cheap. Talk about rude. Talk about passive aggressive. I would expect a small business owner to have more class than that. TL;DR After asking the founder, Kelley Roy, to honor her refund policy as written on her website, she refused, and then proceeded to change her policies on the website within moments of my request. I emailed and expressed my disappointment with her behavior and asked her to honor what the company policy said at the time I asked. I have not heard back from her regarding this issue. This is not ethical behavior for a small business owner in Portland who wishes to make it in the long run. It is embarrassingly hostile and immature. I had planned on taking numerous classes at ADX. I was excited about it, as I live in the neighborhood. Now I will never go back there and I'll help ensure no one else in my community does either. *Note that the times on the screenshots of ADX's company policy are 20 minutes apart. read more

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ADX REVIEW There are some incredible people at ADX who I admire that are continuously creating amazing things. Being around this caliber of talent is truly inspiring and inherently makes you better at your craft. You know what they say, "you are who you surround yourself with". It's a shame the excellence of its artist doesn't transfer to its owner Kelley. Recently I gave notice that my shop was moving eventually and wanted to transition out slowly. What Kelley did instead of being lawful was evict me immediately with no written or verbal notice, change the door code so I couldn't get in, then wouldn't let me in to get my equipment. I don't know about you, but to me that's stealing. She stopped responding to my texts until I got a lawyer involved. So be weary of the shadow the owner can cast on that place. Also the spaces are very over priced for how bad the area is. The dumpsters are almost impossible to access because squatters use them to build tarp camps. Some of the addicts use the entrance as a bathroom and a place use drugs. Lastly, numerous times did I and other tenants have aggressive interactions with the squatters/addicts in that area after dark. Be safe, good luck. read more

I have been following this team from when they were on SE 9th by the distillery. A small custom fabrication shop mated with saavy artists, marketing and event planners to make a successful space for art shows, parties, dinners, benefits and fabrication. They even had a cool rooftop deck. One of the principals, authored, self published and launched a book about the food cart movement in Portland, Cartopia, http://portlandfoodcartsbook.com/ , now in its second printing. It's really much bigger than that, it's a handbook for launching a food cart movement in any city in the world. Their individual and collaborative projects were so successful that they moved to a larger space and are set up for larger scale creative collaborations. They have classes and a safety-oriented wood shop (they use the awesome SawStop table saw - look it up, from a Portland-Tigard startup), a metal shop, work space and office space for rent. OMFG, the ex-W+K, ACE Hotel, Spirit of 77,... are collaborating next door. There is a biodesel powered farm to fork mobile kitchen project getting ready for a national tour. They are seeking designer, writer, web, and other creative businesses to form an office that collaborates as a virtual agency in addition to operating their own businesses out of the space. The warehouse-like space is rentable for teaching classes and other events. They are entrepreneurs, so bring your ideas! Keep an eye out for the classes offered too. It's a new DIY spot for the individual creative who wants company and the possibility of collaboration! read more

I've never been good at making stuff. Well, okay... I've made a few clever things in my life, I'm great at making messes, and as much as I try to avoid it, I often end up making a mountain out of a mole hill. But when it comes to putting my hands to craft enterprises, it's often better left to other, more talented folks. That said, I do enjoy the act of TRYING to make stuff, and ADX is a pretty sweet place to undertake such an endeavor. It's a collective workspace that has a bunch of tools, facilities and even a gallery for showing off the shit you made. The folks who run it are friendly and the location is super central. I've only visited and toured the space once, and I'm already sold on it. The thought of getting to use advanced tools without having to buy them is exciting. I can only imagine the magnitude of damage I could do to the things I'm trying to make with said tools. FUN! read more

Hate to dump on a place you'd think would be full of great people but... we leased desk space for some months, they didn't maintain the place very well but it was sufficient. But then they decided to repurpose the space, told us we had three months to find a new location. Okay, their decision cost us time and lost productivity, no worries, but when we found a new place we had to commit to starting a lease in two weeks, and ADX management stood fast by the 30 day move-out notification lease terms, charging us rent for the two weeks after when we moved out, money thrown away. **But** we moved because **they told us we had to**! So, sorry, I cannot support this place, they don't deserve patronage by Portlanders because the management of ADX is, imho, dishonorable and while pretending to be all wonderful, creative and embracing, give poor service and screwed us with this unconscionable charge. New place is better anyway, worth probably 1.5x the rent ADX was charging, for the same price. Conclusion: stay away :( read more

I have used ADX's laser services in the past with great results. This time....not so much. My regular laser guy has seemed to fall off the earth so I needed to go to ADX out of necessity as I was pleased with past experiences. The main laser lady was on vacation or something so someone else was to do the work. I was in email contact with her and all info was relayed properly and received well. I knew this project was going to cost me so I laid out specific instructions to not use the laser to cut out each pieces as I had multiples of the same thing. I wanted to save their time as they said their laser schedule was very full and I wanted to, more importantly, save my money. The work was done timely, (as I expected it to be as I was charged a rush fee even though I didn't request it) and I went to pick up my pieces. The pieces HAD been cut out with the laser as I specifically asked not to have done. There also seemed to be a glitch or something with the font I chose so the word "Large" looked like Lar ge". They went right ahead with the burning anyway and told me that is just how it is and next time I should keep that in mind. Grain direction was incorrect on some pieces...though I did not indicate the grain direction to be used. But I wouldn't have chosen to run the long grain across the short dimension of a piece of wood. I also needed to surface the back side of my small pieces I had done and now I am faced with doing so on some very small pieces. I was charged $195. NO offer was given to me for a reduction in my fee for them going ahead and using the laser to cut each piece out when I said not to. I don't really remember any kind of apology either. Maybe it was muttered but I was too upset to really hear it. Not happy with the customer service nor the communication breakdown that occurred inter-departmentally. Boooo! read more

It is of great use to the public to be able to access tools and space to make improvements on your home. Mostly what we have here is the destruction of a good idea. I paid a fair amount to use tools that were poorly tuned and poorly managed. The conditions are not safe - simply because there are too many members and there is very poor organization. I believe it is only a matter of time before someone here seriously injures themselves. And for what? So you can build a silly little table. You are of no help. You are an illusion of safety. read more

I recently had ADX help me build some small wooden boxes for a self-promotion project. I worked with Seamus, he was a great guy to collaborate with. I shared my idea/design and together we made it better. He brought a lot of great ideas. We utilized some of the shops more interesting machines to help us realize the design, including the routing machine and laser engraver, both are super cool, and it's really interesting to watch them at work. Throughout the process Seamus was always communicating with me and showing the work at each step in the process. Over all it was one of the best experiences I have had with any shop (and I have worked with several shops over the years). A good shop is made up of good skilled people and ADX hits the mark on that! Plus they have the equipment to make the ideas come to life. Thanks ADX! read more

We had a family reunion in Portland and arranged for a group activity here. They accommodated and entertained a group of 8 young adults who each made their own custom wooden Edison bulb lamps. A cool project and the kids were able to create a nice memento of our trip. The staff was a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend this place as a fun diversion for a couple hours! read more

Had a great experience meeting with the staff here who brought in a local lamp maker to help me with some project ideas. Very cool space and full of really inspiring makers. read more

I'm recommending that you do not waste your money on this place. My experience with them is that they are a group of elitists who think their sh*t don't stink. You have to pay a monthly membership fee, "just like at the gym" (their words). For that money you get access to a shop of semi-professional tools like the under-powered tablesaw. They offer classes that they charge exploitative fees for that are taught by shop stewards, local volunteers that work there in exchange for membership. Shop dogs, lackey's, or slaves. If you are okay with your money going to a place that will allow you access during short business hours then be my guest. I think you'd be better off offering your money to a friend, neighbor, or other local club in order to have access to shop tools. read more

This place is a blast. I'm a bit of a noob, and the people here were very patient with me and my project. All the right tools for the job, and the knowledge to make it happen. read more

For the past three months I've been penciling in ADX classes and shop time and I can say my understanding of working with metal and wood has grown immensely. I have a much better idea as to what tools are what and have more confidence in my own abilities. The shop is pretty well equipped with tools and people who are encouraging, helpful and kind! It's an awesome place! read more

I've been a member for almost a year. Helpful, friendly, knowledgeable staff. Great community feel. Lots of tools that I could never get my hands on otherwise. Glad I found ADX. read more

I came out of my woodworking class here completely underwhelmed. The teacher seemed knowledgeable about woodworking but not so much on teaching (being sure to stop to ask for questions, making sure people were comfortable, etc.) and the followup seemed a bit off. Were we supposed to leave the class able to make things? Were there classes that were available later? To top it off, there was someone taking pictures the entire time, often actually standing in the way of the students - they should have asked permission for this, or at the very least explained ahead of time that there would be someone standing between us and the lesson with large, cumbersome photographic equipment. I'm seeing the other reviews and am glad others got more out of it than I did, but to me, it seemed a better idea than execution. I definitely would NOT recommend this to people who are just beginners. read more

ADX is totally badass. Women-Only Welding class? OK! Basic Woodworking? COOL! Machine Sewing 101? RIGHT ON! Personally, I'm a huge fan of their marketing genius, Meredith. Everyone this place attracts seems to lead fantastically diverse, interesting lifestyles. read more

just took a class in their makers series - the cutting board class. was so much fun! i had basically 0 knowledge of working in a wood shop, I can now operate a lot of the big machines they have there plus i came home with an amazing black walnut cutting board that i made myself! the teacher was super knowledgable of not only all the equipment, but wood in general. also very personable and a great teacher. looking forward to taking more classes in the makers series and applying my newly learned skills to projects of my own. read more