Portland, Oragin
June 22, 2007
I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Oregon (proper pronunciation provided above). Steven and I both got haircuts, visited multiple Powell’s locations, and of course attended my mother’s birthday party. And all of my siblings behaved!
Steven and I have discussed Portland’s predilection for quirky graffiti multiple times, and here is a primo example from the Pearl District:
Can’t you just imagine someone thinking to himself, “Damn, frenchbread is DELICIOUS–I should give it props on the streets!”
And in the bathroom at the Pagoda, the typical denigrating graffiti is replaced with valuable life advice.
What else would you expect of a place that has such glorious decor? I’m talking about the koi ponds in the entrance, complete with real fish and a floating preserved dead turtle. We had to closely examine it to determine that it is not alive, nor is it made of plastic.
And of course, the over-the-top red and gold glitter vinyl seating, paired with the bright patterned wallpaper, aren’t to be missed.
Also pictured is my good friend Eve (also known as Evil-E), who gave me the aforementioned haircut at Grace.
We did a little shopping on Hawthorne and stopped in at The Red Light, because who could resist a place with such an amazing window display? Me-ow!
We found that one of our favorite vintage stores, House, has (recently?) expanded to take over the space next door. Now it’s huge, with even more great treasures. Why couldn’t it have been like that when I lived there? I found myself having that reaction often as we visited old haunts that had improved or expanded since we’d been local. A bunch of cool places have gone in near our old apartment downtown, including a Red Light, a Goodwill, and Living Room Theaters. And I have a much greater appreciation for the lack of sales tax and cheaper prices in general. I suppose it’s a case of greener grass, because San Francisco certainly has plenty to offer.
After reading about the Ace Hotel in the ReadyMade Blog, we decided to stay there one night at the end of our trip. More on that in my next post. It was great!
