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A day in portland
By Terry Currier
It is late afternoon as we head back across the Burnside Bridge, lucking out on a meter close to the Saturday market. This Saturday and Sunday open market of handmade creations from Oregon area residents, has been going since the 70's. You can get wooden boxes made out of burrows, handmade soap, jewerly, plants and a ton of other cool and wonderful creations. Plus there are plenty of great eateries within, from springrolls to pasta, British Sausage rolls and falafel. They close at 5pm so we waste no time in strolling down the aisles. There are a variety of musicians, street clowns, and others that entertain. A guy playing a cardboard guitar, calling himself Elvis use to be here on the weekend but I guess he's not performing any longer. On occasion there is a guy in silver paint standing as still as a statue. It's a great way to spend the afternoon.
Portland has one of the best downtown's in the country.
We take the following hour just to stroll the streets of 
downtown
before most of the shops close up. Things have changed with many a local
coffee vendors surviving between the plethora of Starbucks. Many old time
businesses are still around. Calvin's Novelties has moved but still with
us. I do miss the great old theaters in downtown on Broadway, torn down
to put up 30 to 40 story buildings. There are many local entrepreneurs
that help keep things in balance but the rent is high and harder to keep
it all in check. There is even Joe
Brown’s Carmel Corn located downtown. Joe
Brown's Carmel Corn may be the only local business left with a location
in the Lloyd
Center Mall, once noted as the largest shopping center in the country.
Joe Brown knows popcorn: regular, caramel and cheese. It's a rarity these
days to see local business in a shopping mall. Malls are all homogenized
with the same stores, the same restaurants and for the most part and the
same stale feeling. There is nothing weird or unique to most of them.
Chinatown still thrives with its many wonderful restaurants and late night
haunts such as Hung
Far Low. Chinatown is on the edge of some very cool music venues:
Dante's,
Berbati's
Pan, Roseland
and Ash
Street Saloon. Live music preformed by both local and national artist.
Portland has an amazing amount of great local artists as well as a viverant
performing arts and artists community. The first Thursday of each month
the artist community hosts an event simply called First Thursday. All
the artist galleries are open that evening and throngs of people go from
gallery to gallery. Ten years ago, many of the artists lived in the Pearl
District where this event takes place. Unfortunately, most can not live
within the district any longer due to the high rents from the changes
to the area: over 30 new restaurants and many lofts being built for rent
and sale to live in. It happens like that in most cites; cool area become
popular and the people who made them cool places can not afford to be
there.