When friends heard I was heading for a few days in Portland, they were quick to give me their lists of what to see and do, because Portland has lots of things to see and do. And they also offered a myriad of suggestions for nearby out-of-city sights, natural and cultural to see. Because Portland is near so much.
But the truth is, I spent nearly all my time wandering the streets, admiring buildings, stopping in museums and stores, tasting various treats, and taking too many pictures—and dreaming about what I would do if I had more days, weeks, to learn more about the city.
And there’s a lot to like, even if it’s not as weird as it would like us to think. To start with, there’s a well-organized system of trams, streetcars and buses that dropped me fairly close to nearly all my destinations, including the airport (and with a 7-day all-inclusive pass that’s about $3.70 a day, or about $1.10 that for seniors). Main tram lines, connecting with everything else, run on two main avenues from one end of downtown to the other in dedicated lanes.
Even before arriving, I had read about the city’s iconic water fountains, the so-called Benson Bubblers. The originals, back in 1912, were the gift of a local family, and the family’s request has kept the 4-bowl version limited to downtown streets. Amazing to me, the water was fresh and cold; i’m used to warmish water from street and park fountains! Several of the fountains were fabricated by foundry students at the city’s Benson High School in the 1970s.
The bubblers are not the only fancy fixtures in town. Interestingly, the streetlight fixtures, which are the same design all over the city center, are painted in different colors in different areas, including red with gold in Chinatown.
One of my first-day stops was at the Oregon Historical Society’s museum, which features the startling multi-story trompe l’oeil facade at right. Yes, it’s all flat. Inside, exhibits engage with issues of original peoples and settlers, of clashes of culture, ownership and interest. Near the end, a re-made classic jukebox reminds us there are many issues still to discuss.
Just before the museum, my eye was caught by the Venetian-style tower of the First Congregational Church, and I was drawn in to admire its beautiful spaces and incredible Povey Brothers stained glass—an Oregon tradition. For more views of the church and especially the glass, check this Gumbo blog!
Continuing to wander, I found quite a few buildings where real attention had been paid to lettering and decoration, both in turn-of-the-last-century areas and later. Even the fairly austere Hamilton building, above, has different carved trim at the windows at each floor.
Sometimes, you just want to take a building home with you…
The Dekum Building, above and below, cost $300,000 to build in 1892, an immense amount for the time. All masonry, and all materials sourced from Oregon. It’s still a standout.
But it’s not all buildings that draw the eye. There are quite a few open spaces with beautiful plantings, as well as the parks. And there’s a classical Chinese Garden, built in the early 1990s by artisans from Portland’s Chinese sister city. For more on that, click HERE for a Gumbo blog on the Garden.
And food. That’s another important part of the Portland story, with quite a few well-rated restaurants, none of which I went to. I was far more drawn to the ‘pods’ of food trucks (some of them no longer mobile) drawn up in ranks along the outside of downtown parking lots. The variety of foods is exceptional and sometimes even confusing. Witness Small Pharaoh’s, which advertises that it sells ‘Egyptian Halal and New York Kosher’ food.
Sometimes the food truck mixtures can be bewildering, if intriguing. It’s the only place, ever, I’ve seen a jerk chicken bahn mi offered! Another venue for food to ramble with is the Portland Farmers Markets, which operate different days on different sites, but always with a variety of prepared food as well as produce and more.
And indoor venues. Two that caught my eye are below, but only Lauretta Jean got my business. I know Voodoo Donuts is world-famous and has legions of devotees, but I’m a sort of old-fashioned guy when it comes to donuts. They had gooey donuts, huge donuts, multi-color donuts, donuts covered with colorful breakfast cereal. All I wanted was a jelly doughnut. They had one, was 6″ across! I guess I didn’t do my part to keep Portland weird.
From the same period as some of the wonderful downtown buildings, here’s Portland’s 1896 Union Station, a stop on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight as well as more local trains. It’s actually one of the oldest continuously-operating rail stations in the country, nearly 20 years older than New York’s Grand Central.
And one more for the road: the very elegant Studio Building.
