Yes, the dream of the ’90s is alive in Portland, but the design-minded assortment of artists, manufacturers and innovators has catapulted this Oregon city into one of the country’s hippest today. Having a small but fast growing population of 600,000, Portland remains rather quaint, which accounts for its deadpan character even amid its latest increase in popularity and its trendsetting status. The town’s quirkiness spills over into its structure, which combines modernism with a wholesome respect for nature. All it takes is a weekend visit to this Pacific Northwest city to convince one that it’s North America’s youngest retirement community.
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Must-Sees
White Stag sign: Iconic graphic design
Location: 70 NW Couch St. (best seen from the Burnside Bridge)
Noteworthy: Only in Portland would a signal create nearly 75 years’ worth of design controversy.
The White Stag sign, since it’s known by locals, has experienced a set of entrepreneurial identities and designs because it was initially conceived in September 1940 by Ramsay Signs. Merely an outline of Oregon encasing the text “White Satin Sugar” at first, the signal gained its notorious jump stag in 1959 when White Stag Sportswear, occupant and proprietor of the building to which the sign is affixed, took over the promotion rights to it. This also marked the start of a holiday tradition where a neon red bulb glows upon the snout of the stag.
After White Stag Sportswear left the building in 1973, the destiny of the signal was in question. Who’d foot the electricity bill to maintain Portland’s most beloved sign lit? The landmark faced threats of being shut down or eliminated. Eventually the dispute was settled in 1997, with an agreement that the sign could undergo yet another franchise facelift, now for the gift retailer Made In Oregon. However, the Made In Oregon run was short lived, ending in 2006.
Ramsay Signals eventually grew tired of funding the sign’s utility bill in 2008 and searched for a solution. More controversy came together with the proposed advertising of the University of Oregon, whose Portland campus currently occupies the building. But facing much heat, the college withdrew. Ramsay made final risks to decommission the signal in 2010, but this time the city and Ramsay came into an agreement, with Ramsay donating the signal and a $2,000 monthly utility payment into town. For the very first time in its 73 years, the White Stag signal no more peddles any merchandise but simply reads, “Portland Oregon.”
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The Rose Building: Previously the city visitor’s center
Location: 1020 SW Naito Parkway
Noteworthy: The building was created in the 1940s by Portland’s most prestigious architect, John Yeon.
A sensible beginning for any trip to a new city is the visitor’s center. However, an office wall full of rafting and hot-air-ballooning experience brochures is not what you came to Portland for, can it be? Do not worry; this is not really the city’s info center anymore. Named the Rose Building and now the house of the Rose Festival Foundation, the building was initially created in the 1940s by Portland’s most prestigious architect, John Yeon (pronounced “yon”). Located inside the beloved and always-bustling Tom McCall Waterfront Park, it had been Yeon’s only nonresidential endeavor. The construction is a solid screen of Yeon’s Northwest regional fashion right along Portland’s artery.
Now the inside is a collection of festival memorabilia for the Rose Festival. Even if festival history is not something, stop by because the admission is absolutely free and you’ll get easy access to an interior view of one of Yeon’s most profound works.
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Watzek House: John Yeon’s first residential design
Location: 1061 SW Skyline Blvd..
Price: $15 (check site for dates)
Noteworthy: Monthly excursions are offered.
Even less successful compared to the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Yeon immediately entered the buzzed-about architectural landscape at age 25 with his Watzek house in Portland’s west hills. With its instantly recognizable east facade of floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by long, slender columns, the house will later go on exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art along with the visitor’s centre. Yeon’s style earned renown for its simplicity and modernism, leading to his being hailed as one of the country’s prominent practitioners of modern architecture, and more especially the Northwest regionalist style.
A notable component of the Watzek House is its connection to landscape, with a roof pitched to mimic its perspective of Mt. Hood, Oregon’s highest peak, and also a long, sloping yard to accentuate the perspective.
At 2012 the University of Oregon Architecture and Allied Arts School, which inherited the Watzek House, started conducting monthly excursions of the House to the public.
More info: Watzek House
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“Pod” sculpture: Cool interactive public artwork
Location: 10th and Burnside, across from Powell’s City of Books
Noteworthy: 15 ft high with 73 metal sticks
What do Portlandians enjoy more than art? Art you can perform with. If you find yourself in Powell’s bookstore, which you inevitably will upon the recommendation of everybody whom you ask what to watch in Portland, then you might be confused, curious or downright freaked out from the massive metal sculpture throughout the road. The tripod-spider-looking-thing is known as “Pod” and was conceived by Portland artist Pete Beeman to capture the “infrastructure, power and vibrancy of Portland,” he says.
Supported with a 15-foot-diameter tripod foundation, “Pod” brings passersby with its hairdo (for want of a better word) composed of 73 drifting titanium sticks, reaching 30 feet to the sky and linking to an orb at the middle of the tripod that can be pushed and pulled by anybody interested enough (and tall enough) to engage with the massive sculpture.
Bonus: have a look at another piece of interactive art down the road: a massive pile of children’s bikes piled and chained together. Why? Every Sunday evening a large crew of thrill-seeking bicyclists rides down the town’s steep west hills, starting in the Portland Zoo. Hightlighting the citiy’s participation with its own visionary underbelly, these bicyclists built the statue for a meeting point.
Pittock Mansion
Location: 3229 NW Pittock Dr.
Price: $8.50
Noteworthy: Neighborhood craftsmen built the house in 1914.
The Pittock Mansion was Constructed in 1914 for both Henry and Georgiana Pittock, Portland leaders and leaders of the nation’s Top newspaper, The Oregonian. Incorporating what at the time was cutting-edge technologies, including a central vacuum and intercoms, the house was built by local craftsmen and builders and used local materials, signifying the Pittocks’ devotion to the city they helped build. Now the mansion is open to the public for tours and offers some of the finest views of the city.
More info: Pittock Mansion
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Must-Eats
Food carts: Trailers-cum-restaurants
Location: Throughout Portland
What could be confused for a congregation of wayward parade vehicles is in fact a village of specialization cuisine. Portland adopted the food cart phenomenon from the beginning, and now the trailers-cum-restaraunts are forming pods like schools of fish. These pods sponsor a wide variety of cuisine, and cart owners tend to take as much pride in their cart aesthetic as they do in their food.
Offerings range from a complete menu of grilled cheese sandwiches aboard a double decker bus to European comfort food amid late-night dance parties. One of Portland’s cleanest and finest collections of carts is Great Food Here, located on 43rd and Belmont. Hours vary from cart to cart, but there is always something open.
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Portland City Grill
Location: 111 SW Fifth Ave.
Price: Plates from $13
Noteworthy: Among the best views of Portland
For a bird’s-eye view of town in the heart of downtown, you’re going to Need to eat. Of course, you can only enjoy the view with a libation, but odds are, you are going to get hungry making the trip around the 30th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower, in which Portland City Grill is located. Either way, the view of Portland and the not-too-distant Cascade Mountains is worth the visit. For the very best show, plan to get there around sunset. Just make sure you’ve got a reservation.
More info: Portland City Grill
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Must-Dos
Cycle Portland Bike Tours
Location: 117 NW Second Ave.
Price: $40
Noteworthy: There’s no greater way to see the city than from two wheels, maybe explaining Portland’s infatuation with bicycles. Many companies provide bike tours, or whether you’re a solo explorer, then they will rent you a bike. Think about carrying a bridge pedal back and forth across the Willamette Riverto get an up-close view of the engineering and architecture that gave Portland the nickname “Bridge City.”
More info: Cycle Portland Bike Tours
Forest Park hike: Trails in an urban forest
Use Portland’s natural aesthetic and hike in the country’s largest urban forest. Forest Park has 150 miles of trail, offering phenomenal vistas of town through dense forest as well as old expansion in some places. Additionally, the skeleton of an old rock home still lurks alongside a trail in the park. Go find it!
Bonus: Hike through Forest Park to the historic Pittock Mansion, for two great experiences on a single trip.
More info: The Forest Park Conservancy
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Doug Fir Lounge: Concert venue and bar and restaurant
Location: 830 E Burnside St.
Noteworthy: The log cabin–fashion point
Music lovers should always check Portland’s concert calendar and also pay special attention to the Doug Fir listings. Even when you’re not overly familiar with the band performing on any given night, a concert in this cabinesque venue is worth it. Enjoy food and cocktails in the Doug Fir Lounge before heading downstairs to the bar and concert stage with a log cabin–fashion construction. During the show pastel-colored lights splash over the point and light up the wood grain supporting the band.
More info: Doug Fir Lounge
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Must-Visit Shops
Beam & Anchor: Home furnishings shop
Location: 2710 N Interstate Ave.
Noteworthy: Many of the town’s greatest designers operate over the shop.
Portland proudly supports its regional manufacturers, and there is no greater example than Beam & Anchor. The store is a carefully curated collection of furniture, housewares and personal merchandise. It’s so homesteady that you’ll want to grab a Pendleton blanket and tear on a sofa upholstered in retrieved canvas.
However, what makes Beam & Anchor really special is the commotion taking place upstairs. Above the storefront is a place that is home to some of the town’s greatest manufacturers, including Maak Soap Labs, Wood & Faulk, Revive Designs and Phloem Studio. It’s no wonder creativity appears to float into the air, and it demonstrates the shop’s devotion to handmade products.
Sometimes, the owners offered the upstairs store space for get-togethers to help connect the community with the craftspeople, everyone sipping local spirits and enjoying the musical acoustics of their woodshop.
More info: Beam & Anchor
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Reclamation Row: Neighborhood bustling with antiques and salvaged-furniture stores
The Southeast Industrial area is teeming with antiques and salvaged-furniture stores, making it the nickname Reclamation Row. Located within blocks of each other, Rejuvenation and Hunt the Unique both provide treasure chests of artifacts of yore. Many odds and ends can be bought, and each shop also offers one-of-a-kind furnishings assembled using knickknacks.
More info: Rejuvenation, Seek the Unique
Must-Stays
Kennedy School
Location: 5736 NE 33rd Ave.
Price: $115 to $145 per night
The McMenamin brothers have built quite a reputation for their renovation of historic buildings in Portland and the rest of Oregon. Among the jewels is the Kennedy School. Originally built in 1915, the building served as an elementary school until 1975, when it closed because of lack of student enrollment. To stave off demolition of the building, the McMenamin brothers suggested a hotel, which was warmly approved by the neighborhood.
In 1997 the Kennedy School opened. Having a schoolhouse motif throughout the construction, the venue offers more than only a place to stay. Access to a huge food- and beer-friendly theater and a relaxing soaking pool is included with every room; the two places are also open to the general public for a fee when a day trip is all you can fit in.
There are a variety of restaurants and pubs, including Detention Bar and Honors Bar for the poor and good members of your clan. The numerous amenities and activities make this a fantastic family-friendly alternative. Additionally, the place puts you near the Alberta Arts District, one of Portland’s most entertaining areas.
More info: McMenamins
Ace Resort
Location: 1022 SW Stark St.
Price: $125 to $135 per night
in the Event You truly want to feel as If you’re crashing at a friend’s home in Portland, check into the Ace Hotel. Vintage furnishings, modern art and updated fittings mimic a conventional Portland living space.
The Ace is the epitome of cool, with a lobby between the city’s premier coffee roaster, Stumptown, and Clyde Common, a raved-about restaurant. Its place in the heart of downtown makes researching the city easy, and the free bike loan makes it enjoyable. If a typical bike is not sufficient, locally created Hufnagel bikes can be rented for an extra charge.
More info: Ace Resort
7 Design Ideas By the Portland Ace