Five relaxing days in Portland

I spent the week in Portland relaxing, visiting with Nancy, Dakota, and some of their friends, and seeing a few of the sights of one of my favorite cities in the US. If going to the Fairfax Farmer’s Market with Marybeth was a quick toe-dip in the river of the 1960s, seeing Portland was like skinny-dipping in the ocean! Portland defines alternative culture – proudly, aggressively, but sort of sweetly, too. At every turn I was reminded that there are alternatives to the homogenized, corporate-driven path that we’ve taken in most of the country – and that the results are often far more satisfying.

I had blasted single-mindedly northwards so that I could be with Nancy and Dakota for Dakota’s eight-grade promotion – the transition from Middle School to High School. His school was rather small, with a tight-knit class, and close relationships between families, teachers, and kids. Dakota and two of his friends were not only participating by being promoted, but had been chosen to play their first formal gig as a band at the end of the ceremony. (In the picture, Dakota is in the middle – he plays drums.) They were great – and were clearly crowd-pleasers.

On Wednesday, after work, Nancy and I headed to one of many McMenamin brewpubs, Kennedy School. This is one of 55 sites operated by a company founded by two brothers that creates family-friendly, neighborhood-based gathering spots around the brewpub concept. What distinguishes these (and much of what seems to be happening in Portland, one of the most innovative cities in the country in terms of planning) is the creative use of older buildings and institutions – the idea of adaptive reuse. In this case, an amazing school from the ‘teens of the last century has been turned into a series of pubs, a movie theater, a concert space, hotel rooms, a cigar bar – all of them crowded on a mid-week night with entire families, young singles, and pensioners. We were there to see Sunshine Cleaning, a movie that had played in first-run theaters about six months ago. The theater was the old school auditorium, but the seats were couches, settees, and armchairs, with small tables for drinks, snacks, and even meals. The beer is produced on site. The halls are festooned with art – historic photos associated with the school and its staff and students, murals recently painted, and decorative work in a variety of media. There were literally hundreds of people in the various venues in the huge school building – one of the most successful examples of adaptive reuse that I’ve seen. (The movie was okay, but rather slight. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.)

Thursday was Nancy’s 55^th birthday. She was on her cell phone nearly the entire day. In between calls, however, she took me with her to visit her friend Robyn, who is finishing her Shaman class with Nancy. Their task for the day was to work on their spirit costumes for their final class ceremony in a couple of weeks. Robyn is an artist who works in the Portland area, and is remarkably creative. After a great lunch, I left them to their costume-making and headed over to Hawthorne Avenue, one of many pockets of counter-culture businesses in the city. Mixed in with a smattering of national chains (Ben and Jerry’s, for instance) were wonderfully anachronistic shops – bead stores, fair trade crafts, coffee shops, brewpubs, the Baghdad Theater (another McMenamin site, reusing a 1920s movie palladium), and a large branch of Powells, Portland’s iconic bookstore.

After collecting Nancy and Dakota (returning from an overnight class trip to a water park in Centralia, Washington), we changed for dinner. I took Nancy out for a birthday dinner at an amazing Peruvian restaurant in the Pearl District – Andina – which has received national acclaim. The food was outstanding, the dinner was relaxed (Dakota was off with friends), and we had a great time. One of the highpoints was a cocktail. Here’s the description from the menu: SACSAYHUAMÁN -- habanero pepper infused vodka shaken with passion fruit puree and cane sugar, served up with a sugar rim and a cilantro leaf garnish. (Glen – I hope you’re paying attention!)

Nancy’s acupuncture school, the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, was having a celebration to mark the relocation of the school to a spot next to the Classical Chinese Garden. They had taken over the Garden for the evening. Nancy is the secretary of the alumni association, so we went over for a few hours. After getting needled, I wandered and talked to a number of her former classmates and teachers. It was a great, low-key crowd.

Friday was spent helping Nancy get prepared for a trip with Dakota to San Diego and then on to Costa Rica. Nancy hasn’t done all that much foreign travel over the past few years, so it takes a while to get things together. In the evening, though, she had bought tickets for us to see a remarkably good theater production in Portland’s old Armory, now Portland Center Stage (another great example of adaptive reuse!). The show was Crazy Enough, a one-woman show written and performed by Storm Large (I kid you not), a local rock singer/legend, detailing her life. The performance was really amazing – look it up if you’re in the area.

So today it’s off to the coast to see Tom and Jean in Manzanita. (I managed to have an hour with Chris – so I’ll be seeing two of my favorite former grad students here in Portland!) All in all, Portland has more than lived up to its reputation as the laid back, counterculture capital of America!