aaron and i spent last weekend in portland, oregon. in six years living in seattle, i've never made the short commute south. how pathetic, i've been missing out. portland is great. it is filled with ever unfolding mysteries, more than should be possible in a gridded city of its size. but my, it is a treasure!
i think portland is the type of city where you could potentially be very disappointed if you don't get around. the downtown is beautiful architecturally and the buildings lend the city a lot of visual interest. the surfaces and materials are varied, the facades different, the colors pronounced, and the architectural details--moldings, windows, bays, build-outs--keep your eye darting and dashing to see everything possible. but, if you stay close to downtown you may face the unfortunate fate of never really having a chance to see what I believe is particularly special about portland--its neighborhoods.
I love neighborhoods and the variety they offer and portland has plenty of them. people in this city must be busy all of the time. i had the pleasure of seeing two different business districts in the hawthorne district. i sampled biscuits at
pine state biscuits and then took a long tour of the Powell's Books dedicated to my favorite of the published medium--cookbooks! On our way over to the original
Powell's Books, aaron stopped at the impressive
burnside skate park built by some renegade skaters underneath the burnside bridge. the spot was the perfect place to observe an awesome creative community that has sprouted from their common love for skateboarding. afterward, i had the pleasure of wandering and winding through powell's books, which really is a city of books, and finding absolutely nothing to buy except an ice tea. for some reason, powell's just really overwhelmed me. A hop, skip, and a jump from their door was a venture through the Pearl District.
The
pearl district was one of my favorite neighborhoods. The neighborhoods is under vast redevelopment. And when I say redevelopment I feel like adaptive re-use is a better description. their are so many industrial buildings that are being transformed into awesome commercial and residential spaces. And their are tons of really awesome parks interspersed that really lend a sense of intimacy to a neighborhood that could be very intimidating for pedestrians or residents. the sidewalks and street-scapes made me want to continue walking rather than run the other way. plus this entire space is connected with lightrail. it was mighty impressive. i hope that seattle's south lake union does borrow this model and bring its better points to the area.
i ate a lot of really delicious food including the very infamous bacon maple bar at
voodoo donuts and mind-blowing chicken wings at
pok pok. who knew chicken wings marinated in fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar would result in the most deliciously caramelized poultry i've ever consumed in my life. After a long day of walking and an extended evening of drinking our hosts dan and vanessa brought us to a neighborhood a short walk away from their apartment. what they produced was a street that made my entire trip.
When I got to
Mississippi Street the first thing I saw was a trailer selling waffle sandwiches. This neighborhood also boasts portland's only free porch. if anyone knows me they understand that porches and sandwiches are two of my reasons for being, so i knew that around the corner lie a treat. Mississippi Street is half houses and half commercial store front. Everything we walked past was charming, interesting, and a true part of the neighborhood's fabric. Sidewalk restaurants and coffee shops, a brewery, and adorable boutiques. I could have spent an entire day there photographing the contrasts between each building's store front. But i couldn't, because we were on a short schedule. Vanessa brought me to her favorite store,
Flutter, and after a brief look through the beautiful compendium of vintagey estate sale-esque goods, and the purchase of a bird cage music box, we ran back across the street to join the boys for breakfast at
Gravy. After a stroll through the Japanese Garden, aaron and i said good bye to our generous hosts and headed home.
I wish i would have had more time. But something about wandering through this city and seeing so many new things I got very sad about the state of my passport and the absent checks on my list of american cities visited. i realized just how much i love observing my surroundings, i want to see more. not just of portland, but elsewhere, too! ideas?
