Portland Portals

Three years ago, we were in the Portland area, but never ventured into the downtown area.  This time, we decided to do a day of it to discover what Portland had to offer.

First stop, the Lan Su Chinese Garden.  The post below is entirely dedicated to this lovely place.

Our next stop was for lunch, requiring a 9 or 10 block walk.  This particular part of the Pearl District in Portland has seen much better times.  Instead of seeing a vibrant Chinatown, instead we saw buildings in disrepair or vacated, and lots of homeless people.  It seemed like Portland has a very laid back view on the homeless population, and we saw many people sleeping on the sidewalk, right beside the stops for the light rail and street corners.  Groups were gathered at numerous places on the sidewalks and I was thankful it was daylight and there were 4 of us together.

 This Chinese Elephant statue sits in North Park Blocks.  What once was a nice park is now filled with tents, porta-potties and more homeless people.  It is NOT a place where I would take my grandchildren.  We came past this twice as we walked to different destinations.  The second time we passed there was an ambulance, police car and fire engine.  I am betting that is a normal occurrence for this park now a days.

Jerry and Sandy had gotten all sorts of recommendations from their children as to what brewery they should try while in Portland.  We wound up at Deschutes Brewery & Public House.  The food was excellent and I can't tell you how the beer tasted.  Sandy, Jerry and Don were the tasters, I stuck with my glass of ice water.  Sandy doesn't like hoppy beers (what ever that is), and she was happy with one of them.  I would call that an un-hoppy happy.

Next stop, which happened to be right next to Deschutes, was Powell's Books.  This gigantic bookstore has 3 stories of new and used books.  The clerk at one of the desks said that they have over a million books here.  Of course, the one book we were looking for they didn't have.  What were the odds for that?!

Sandy and Jerry enter into the bottom floor.  There are all genres of books, and they reside in different rooms, such as the orange room, rose room, etc.  This would be nirvana for our daughter, Heidi, an avid reader.  If we brought her here, we may not see her until the next day! Powells claims to be the world's largest independent book dealer, and who am I to argue with them?

I loved this one staircase between the second & third floors.  Read from the top step down.

The large chalk board contained all sorts of information and  certain shelves on each sections had employee favorites.  I was surprised to see an 1960's magazine with the picture of John F. Kennedy on the front.

Also on our list was a visit to Voodoo Doughnuts.  We had been to the one in Denver twice and had told them about the downright delicious doughnuts.  After all, we were in the neighborhood.  Why pass up a chance like this?

 They succumbed, and ended up buying some for breakfast the next morning.  Portland is where Voodoo Doughnuts started, and it has a myriad of unique combinations and flavors.

While we were waiting in line outside of Voodoo Doughnuts, I glanced around and saw this slogan painted on the back of a building.  This unofficial motto of Portland was created with the intention of supporting local businesses.  I know some people who would definitely feel right at home here...

The familiar neon sign was originally erected in 1940 and has changed many times.  Once it was owned by the 'White Stag Sportswear line of clothing.  This current version with Old Town on the bottom  has been up since 2010.

After leaving the downtown area, we drove to the SW section of Portland.  I wanted to get a picture of the Bagdad Theater, which originally opened in 1927. In 1975, Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher and Michael Douglas were here for the first showing of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  It now is a theater and a pub.  You can watch a movie or enjoy a beer at one of the two bars, including one behind the movie screen!