Visiting Portland

[DizzyEdge]

Hey there, I'll be visiting Portland for the first time around May 14. What are some must-see hoods, establishments, etc.

I'm into live music, micro brews, good urban design, historic buildings and districts, transit, and occasionally.. hipsters

So far I was told to hit Voodoo Doughnuts, and was told both that I must, and I must NOT, stay at the Jupiter Hotel.

Also any other must see parts of Oregon, I'll be flying into Seattle, then driving down from there, so just hitting Portland will barely give me a peek of your state.

[ue]

No Portlander, but as an Albertan who got the chance to fall in love with the city, here are some good ones

-Northwest District. Don't just hang out and check out the shops/restaurants on NW 23 Ave and NW 21 Ave, do a tour of the neighbourhood, there is some great architecture in there.

-South Waterfront, if only to look at gorgeous architecture. There's not much there, but for an urban geek, you'll love the designs of the condos and the street interaction.

-Ride the MAX from Hillsboro to Gresham. Amazingly long ride, but you'll love it if you're into transit like you say you are.

-Park Blocks/Area. Beautifully human scaled and nice place to hang out in the shade if it's warm with some great architecture surrounding it. There's also cultural amenities in the vicinity from museums to performing arts.

-Pearl District, of course. I personally liked the modern architecture south of Glisan more than north overall, especially how it mixed with some of the older warehouses. Don't miss 13th Ave, some great brick architecture there. There's also Powell's, the giant bookstore. Further north is also Jamison Square, great place to relax or splash in the water and Tanner Springs, a more quiet/relaxing park. Both are designed nicely. The Pearl is great for shopping, going to galleries, architecture and transit (streetcar!) stuff to look at, etc. The neighbourhood is very lively and well designed overall.

-Downtown. By this I mean Pioneer Courthouse Square, Broadway, and the NW portion rubbing against the Pearl. Fantastic old architecture and Pioneer is a great people watching location.

-Saturday Market/Old Town. Great CastIron architecture, awesome market, etc.

Some that I really hope to get to but I did not:

-Hawthorne District

-Alberta Street

-N Mississippi

These areas seem more authentic and "Portland" than the Pearl or South Waterfront or even NW (although I couldn't say for certain). Some great venues, restaurants, shops, architecture.

The locals could probably fill you in on some more specifics, but as a tourist and urban geek, I can tell you you'd probably love the areas I mentioned as I did and I do know a bit about Portland and whatnot.

[eeldip]

if you have time, i would take a ferry out of seattle to the olympic peninsula. then drive down 101 and take 26 into portland from the oregon coast. that would basically add an extra day in (long drive) but totally worth it.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by eeldip

if you have time, i would take a ferry out of seattle to the olympic peninsula. then drive down 101 and take 26 into portland from the oregon coast. that would basically add an extra day in (long drive) but totally worth it.

Things get a bit more flexible on the way back from Portland to Seattle, so maybe I can take that in then. Thanks for that.

[alexjon]

I'd say hit Yard Birds, but it's gone

[JordanL]

Depending on how long your stay is... some places I would suggest to eat while here:

The Roxy: Similar venue to Voodoo Donuts, only with diner food.

Rimsky-Korsakoffee House: Very "Portland" coffee place. Great for desert. Come here later at night (after 9), but remember it's cash only. Also, make sure to use the bathroom upstairs.

Papa Haydn's: Fantastic desert at about $8 per dish. Come in for something sweet, but be prepared to wait 30 minutes for a table if you don't have a reservation.

Saburo's Sushi House: Best sushi in Portland. Big pieces, and great prices. This place does NO reservations and is ALWAYS busy (dinner only) so you're looking at a minimum 30 minutes wait, even in the middle of the week.

The Orignal Hotcake House: Open 24/7, serving huge portions of fantastic breakfast food. Stop by, and make sure to try the hashbrowns.

As for some things to do... that also sort of depends on how long you'll be here.

-If you're driving, try this scenic drive through the Gorge and around Mt. Hood. It's a day trip.

-Visit the International Rose Test Garden and Portland Japanese Gardens located in nearly the same place. The Rose Garden will be absolutely beautiful around mid May.

-Hawthorne is a must if you want to poke around town for a more "Portland" experience. Alberta is as well, but you won't be in town for "last Thursday", which is at Alberta on the last Thursday of every month. It's basically a monthly, 20 block long block party.

-OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) is actually a pretty neat place, although I'm not sure it fits what your coming to Portland for. It would be on my list, but I'm a major science/engineering geek.

-Pop into Backspace at NW 5th & Couch St. (pronounced Cooch if you talk to a local) for some computer gaming and/or browsing, or sometimes poet reading contests, or local bands, etc.

-Make sure you visit Powell's City of Books at N 10th & Burnside. It's the largest used book store in the world. Go all the way up to the top room and take a look at the Pearl Room, where if you have a deep pocket you can find such things as a signed copy of Huckleberry Finn.

Other than that... what are your interests? What are you coming to Portland to see?

[Sekkle]

I'll help out on the microbrews...

You could pub crawl on foot & streetcar between Rogue (Pearl), Deschuttes (Pearl), Bridgeport (Pearl), Lucky Lab (Northwest), Laurelwood (Northwest), New Old Lompoc (Northwest). Of those, Bridgeport and Deschuttes are nicer (though still casual), but I prefer the atmosphere and beer in the others... just a personal thing maybe. Henry's in the Pearl has a long list of taps and is also a little nicer/trendier if that's your thing.

There's a Widmer pub/brewery just off the Yellow Line (haven't been to it), and a few blocks up Mississippi from there is Amnesia (very good beer).

Roots Brewing is at SE 7th & Hawthorne (never been, but their beer is pretty good) and there's another Lucky Lab two blocks from there at SE 9th & Hawthorne. There's another Bridgeport at SE 37th & Hawthorne, which is a big shopping/restuarant area. Also at that intersection is the Bagdad pub which is a McMennamins place. There are McMenamins all over Portland, and it might be worth going to one... but I've found that, with a few exceptions, the service pretty much sucks at all locations and the beer is... average at best (unless you get a good seasonal). Still, they're kind of cool places to check out, as many of them are located in old, restored buildings (e.g. Kennedy School in Northeast, which is a former school converted to a McMennamins hotel/theater/restaurant, or the White Eagle near Widmer's pub, which is supposedly haunted).

Belmont Station on SE 45th & Stark isn't a microbrewery, but they have like 1000 different bottles (seriously) and lots of taps. But there's not much else in the immediate neighborhood.

Hopworks is on SE Powell. Pretty good beer, but not much else in the neighborhood (though there is a strip club a few doors down).

Hair of the Dog is a really good microbrew, but they don't have a pub. Still, check for it in other places. Ninkasi is based in Eugene (I think), and they don't have a brewpub in Portland, but their beers are pretty easy to find on tap and pretty reliable if you're looking for an IPA.

You might want to check the hours of these places before you go. Some close earlier than you'd expect - Laurelwood, for example, is located on a residential street in Northwest and they close at 10 or 11pm so as not to disturb the neighbors.

There are tons more places, and I'm sure others could offer their own recommendations. Portland is an awesome city for microbrews. You've got a lot of drinking to do.

[JordanL]

Yeah, Deschuttes is actually my favorite brewery, but Henry's is my favorite place to go.

[DizzyEdge]

Wow awesome guys. Yeah I'm only there probably Fri afternoon through Sunday morning, so not that long. Enough to get a taste I guess. I was originally going there because when people talk about cool urban design up here, in the same breath as Vancouver they usually mention Portland. As for what I'm into, it's a bit of a toss up, sure I'm into whatever the cool tourist attractions are, but I tend to get more enjoyment of 'living in portland for 2 days' rather than *visiting*, ie doing what the locals do and going where they go.

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Wow awesome guys. Yeah I'm only there probably Fri afternoon through Sunday morning, so not that long. Enough to get a taste I guess. I was originally going there because when people talk about cool urban design up here, in the same breath as Vancouver they usually mention Portland. As for what I'm into, it's a bit of a toss up, sure I'm into whatever the cool tourist attractions are, but I tend to get more enjoyment of 'living in portland for 2 days' rather than *visiting*, ie doing what the locals do and going where they go.

The eating places I gave are definitely local hangouts then.

As for activities, Powell's is still local, the Rose Test Garden is, Hawthorne definitely is, and I'd pop by Backspace just to grab a cup and check out an authentic Portland coffee shop.

EDIT:

Also, you won't be able to this trip because of time, but make sure to pencil in that scenic drive for next time. It's one of the most relaxing days I've ever had here in Portland.

[DizzyEdge]

I just wanted to thank all of you for all the great suggestions! I was only in Portland for two days, but had a great great time.

Visited NW 21 and 23 Aves and the residential area around there
Much of downtown
The waterfront area
Park blocks area
Pearl
Hawthorne
Alberta Street (and accidently showed up the day of their 20 block long Art Hop festival, it was great!)
Ended up on N Mississippi at the Mississippi studios where we watched Ramona Falls at their video release party
Also Duff's Garage to watch some great rockabilly
Some super delicious IPA from Deschuttes
Some great Choriza and hotcakes from the hotcake house (no holding tables!!)
Some morning biscuits and gravy from The Roxy
Stopped into Powells for a bit
Bought some sunglasses at Vintage Pink


Many of the pics are too snapshotty to bother posting on SSP, but here's a Facebook public link to the Portland ones

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=5dd981cc4f

Obviously there is much missing from your lists in my list of what I actually did, so I expect I'll be back for a full 10 days in Portland alone (well or Oregon) as soon as I can.. except San Franciso is also on the list so I may have to go there before revisiting

Also I liked much about the city so I think I'll have to start following the Portland section on here.

[JordanL]

Oh wow, you happened to hit Alberta on Last Thursday?

Looks like you hit a lot of my suggestions, so I'm glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for the follow up and your pics are great.

What was your experience like?

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by JordanL

Oh wow, you happened to hit Alberta on Last Thursday?

Looks like you hit a lot of my suggestions, so I'm glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for the follow up and your pics are great.

What was your experience like?

Even better than Last Thursday, it was actually on Saturday, but during an ANNUAL street party, so I'm guessing it was bigger than the Last Thursday ones.

Experience was great, I hope to come back for a week or so soon. Seattle to me was a lot like Vancouver, but with more cracked out people and more aggressive panhandlers. That's not to say Seattle has more of that, but it doesn't have the skid row like Vancouver has with East Hastings, where all of the junkies congregate, so that might be why they're more wandering in Seattle. Sure any big city is going to have that, but even in Capitol Hill, the gay/hipster village there were a lot of twitching people.

Portland on the other hand, was more like a city made of just the little urban villages which are outside of the Vancouver core, so the culture was different enough to be interesting. But in 2 days anything will seem pretty cool, a 10 day trip though is more my style, where you very temporarily 'live' in the city you're visiting. Just need to befriend some hot portland hipster chick(s), since $150 a night for 10 days at Hotel DeLuxe is a bit pricey

Also the coffee was really really good in Portland.

We'll see though, Northern California/San Francisco is also on my list, and friends in Denver would like a repeat visit, so it may be a bit before I can return.