Is Portland still weird or is it refined?

source: Tim O’Rourke, San Jose Mercury News

One of the mantras in Oregon’s biggest city is “Keep Portland Weird,” and its residents are doing an admirable job — from the food-cart clusters to the anti-establishment murals to the 24-Hour Church of Elvis. During a recent trip up north, we wondered: Has P-Town polished up its hipster image or is it still the West Coast’s bastion of the bizarre? So we went on a tour of the odd and exquisite, picked one of each in eight categories, selected winners and added up the totals. Is Portland more weird or more refined? Read on: http://www.mercurynews.com/travel/ci_22387761/portland-weird-vs-refined-funky-or-fine

Portlandia

“Portlandia” Seasons 4 and 5 Coming Early 2014, 2015

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein return with their wonderfully unique rendering of Portland, OR. This season, they’ll be joined by a slew of notable new guest stars including Chloë Sevigny as Fred and Carrie’s new roommate, and returning favorites such as Kyle MacLachlan as Portland’s lovable Mayor.

Fans will also get an all-new pre-season bonus episode titled “Winter in Portlandia” airing Friday, December 14, 2012 at 10:30pm ET/PT, which will also be available on IFC.com, the Portlandia Facebook page and iTunes the next day. In this additional episode, Fred and Carrie reveal a Portlandia season fans have never seen before… wintertime. Bohemian couple Peter and Nance struggle to keep off winter weight, Candace’s son visits the feminist bookstore during the holidays and artisan curators Bryce and Lisa offer a winter vacation at their newly opened Outlet Hotel.

Shot entirely on location in Portland, OR, Portlandia is co-created and co-written by Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel, who is also the series director. Portlandia is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video.

Music Millennium

Music Millennium

It was The Ides of March, March 15th of 1969, when Don MacLeod, his wife Loreen and brother in law Dan Lissy first opened an 800 square foot record store on the corner of 32nd & East Burnside. Specializing in mostly underground music not found in the department stores, drugstores or the couple of record stores which existed at the time, Music Millennium filled a niche for the Portland music community. Read more