Bagdad Theatre on SE Hawthorne Boulevard.
It always starts like this:
“What are you doing over the long weekend?”
“Nothing, you?”
“Nope. Wanna go somewhere?”
About a month ago, a bunch of us were talking about doing something during the Easter long weekend. Since we had been talking about taking a road trip down to Portland for a while already, we decided the Easter long weekend would be a perfect time to do it. Last Easter, Pran and I went to Seattle for the long weekend. This time it was Pran, Bee and I.
“Keep Portland Weird” is the unofficial slogan for Portland, Oregon. Thanks to the growing counterculture in the city since the 60s, Portland has earned its reputation for being rather “hipster”. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if it’s because Vancouver Canada also has plenty of examples of “hipster-ism”, but I didn’t find myself being bombarded by strangeness in Portland. Either that or perhaps I have already been un-admittedly hipster-ified.
In any case, Portland still presented with many examples of its progressive values. While we were strolling down SE Hawthorne Boulevard, we began to notice a piece of paper that was displayed on the storefronts and windows of most restaurants and shops:
“WE WELCOME ALL RACES, ALL RELIGIONS, ALL COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN, ALL SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS, ALL GENDERS. WE >STAND WITH YOU, YOU ARE SAFE HERE.”
When I looked it up later, I read that shop owners began to put up these posters about a week after President Trump’s election as an open rejection of the bigotry being promoted in the wake of his campaign and win. This move seemed appropriate for a city like Portland.
But I digress. The point of this post isn’t about how progressive Portland is. It’s about another quality I noticed in Portlandians during my very short (2.5 days) visit:
Everyone is nice.
Well, most everyone that I met or interacted with in Portland was nice.
For example, I recall the night we arrived at our hotel (AC Hotel by Marriott Portland Downtown).
“Hi! We just got in, what is the parking?” I asked the cheery-looking young man standing outside the hotel.
“Oh, it’s valet parking. I can help you right away!” he said with a big smile.
This happy valet would help us a few more times throughout our stay. I think we regret not tipping him more.
The next day, when we stopped at Blue Star Donuts for donuts and coffee, we were also greeted by two cheery-looking young men. They had the biggest smiles on their faces as they welcomed us in the shop and were very quick to help us. To be fair, why wouldn’t you be happy surrounded by donuts all day?
The reason we went to Blue Star Donuts instead of Voodoo Doughnut:
Now, if you’ve heard anything about Portland, you might have heard about Voodoo Doughnut, a donut shop known for its wacky creations. Everyone always tells you that you have to go there, but Bryan told us to go to Blue Star instead (more on the mysterious Bryan later), and that is the very short reason why.
Delicious donuts.
Continuing on my point that everyone is nice in Portland, while we were walking down Hawthorne back downtown, I spotted a cute building archway and HAD to stop to take a few photos under it. During our “photoshoot” some delivery guys had to walk past us to deliver parcels and they all kept saying “SORRY! SORRY!” for interrupting, which was super nice.
Wait, am I back in Canada?
The archway we all posed under.
Anyway, on top of interacting with plenty of friendly people in Portland, we also encountered many lineups. It was all rather surprising, as the city of Portland itself doesn’t seem that busy. It’s not a place like New York City, where the streets are filled with people all in a hurry to get somewhere. So when we kept encountering line-ups at restaurants and shops, we were all thinking the same thing: “Where are all of these people coming from?”
“Where are all of these people coming from?” We asked when the hostess told us there was an hour wait to be seated at Pok Pok’s.
“Where are all of these people coming from?” We asked when we got into the line for Salt & Straw.
“Where are all of these people coming from?” We hungrily asked in the line- up at Luc Lac at 11pm.
“Where are all of these people coming from?” We asked as we walked by the very busy Por que No?, perhaps the only restaurant packed on Hawthorne while the streets remained fairly quiet.
Por que No?. You can't see how busy it was inside, but it was, trust me.
In the next post, we attempt to walk up to Pittock Mansion in a race against the pending darkness (AKA The sunset. Dramatic, I know.).
Stay tuned for more posts as well as VLOGS on Portland, Oregon!
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