| Lived in Portland for 7 years (went to school in SE, Reed College). Hence, nostalgia dump: When I left for the bay area a few years ago, NE Alberta and North Portland were picking up inertia. If you're into coffee, try Albina Press. The lucky lab on SE Hawthorne (close in) is a Great pub and I'm not much of a pubgoer. Eat street food. The Portland street food scene makes the mission district look behind the times. Get some tea in the teahouse in the Chinese gardens (right downtown). It's often overlooked by Portlanders, but the Chinese gardens are really quite wonderful. The tea menu is run by the Tao of Tea, which is one of the better tea importers in America. Check out the nickel arcade (wonderland, I think it's called) on SE Belmont. Powells & Powell's Technical. If you're a book person, set aside at least half a day for this. Read some books in the cafe. Hang out a while - there's no better book store in America (including the strand - nyc, moe's - berkeley, serendipity, etc) I know I'm disagreeing with other posters, but avoid the pearl like the plague. It's the least "truly portland" and is for people from other cities who are looking for shiny glass highrises and warehouses. Everything is more expensive and upscale. Similarly, NW 23rd and 21st have a distinctly "east coast haven" flavor. Go to NYC or SF for that, enjoy portland for what it does best — the quirky stuff that you can't get elsewhere, and there's plenty of that. Speaking of quirky, get a doughnut in the middle of the night at voodoo. Check out the saturday market (sat and sun), if it's running when you're in town. Another uniquely portland experience, but you probably won't buy anything. Beers: Hair of the dog, rogue, lucky lab. Try something on cask or nitro if you haven't lived in a place that really geeks out on beer. |