Portland! OMG! Whatever, it’s in the dictionary now.
We had so much fun last weekend! I’ve been to Portland several times, usually to visit friends, but this was the first time I really spent some time exploring the city. I’m just going to jump right in and tell you about all of the stuff that I loved.
Art
I was truly inspired by all of the cool art that I saw this weekend, and I didn’t even have a chance to visit the Portland Art Museum!
On Saturday, we spent a good chunk of time walking around the Alberta Arts District. Wait…I should also mention that it was a lovely sunny 66 degree day. GORGEOUS. From our very first stop (at Guardino Gallery), I was in love. My favorite pieces at this gallery were by Ingrid Hendrix and Sara Swink, and the girls by Stephanie Brockway.
Another place for awesome art on Alberta is Together Gallery, recommended to me via Twitter by Kate Bingaman-Burt. We were lucky enough to catch the final weekend of the LAX/PDX show that was curated and co-presented by Culver City’s Thinkspace Gallery. Derek Gores, Timothy Karpinski, Paul Barnes, and Ghostpatrol created pieces that I loved in this exhibit.
You don’t have to visit galleries to see art. Like Seattle, Portland cafés, shops, and other businesses also showcase local artwork. Which is, of course, so cool. In honor of our second wedding anniversary, Drew and I purchased a piece of art that we saw at a restaurant while having breakfast. Check him out! Big Bot by Brian Kappel will be delivered to us in May after the show is over.
Shops
One of my favorite shops was Land, a gallery/retail space hybrid. It’s located in the super cool Mississippi Avenue hood. Later, I realized why I loved this place so much and why some of the merchandise looked familiar. It’s Buy Olympia’s shop! I love Buy Olympia!
I picked up some great prints at Land. Two by Emily Martin (aka, The Black Apple)…
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| Hedgehog Friend |
…and one by Tae Won Yu.
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| Blue Rolleiflex |
Missing Link Toys is a great shop that has tons of stuff that I love, like Tokidoki, Kidrobot, and Tim Burton’s Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys. I had to leave with some trinkets.
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| Unicornos by Tokidoki |
My friend Rich, yes…The Rebel Agenda Rich, told me about Black Wagon, a really cool kids boutique on Mississippi. I really wanted to buy this Crazy Cuddly Wolf Playset for myself, I mean for Nathaniel. French toys are the coolest. Maybe you should buy it for me. Mom, I’m talking to you.
Black Wagon also had some cool stuff from Seattle artist Matthew Porter.
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| H is for Hedgehog |
Radish Underground is a cool boutique/gallery (I love how so many things in Portland are /gallery!) in Downtown Portland’s West End. The shop has interesting jewelry and, fun fact, they are the only American stockist for New Zealand’s promised not to “ride up your bum” Thunderpants.
Noun was recommended by my lovely friend Courtney and the awesome blog Design*Sponge. Stuff I loved in this store included their selection of Red Cap Cards, Rachel Ann Austin’s map paintings, and this typewriter.
I also loved browsing contemporary art and design books at Monograph Bookwerks. That’s a place where I could just lie on the floor and flip through pages for hours. If they’d let me.
Last but not least, three shops that I want to visit next time we’re there: Tilde, Tender Loving Empire (so bummed that it was closed), and Flutter. I can’t wait to go back!
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| Closed. Sadness |
Food
Three words for you. Pine State Biscuits. Yumtastic! We went to the tiny one on SE Belmont. The Alberta location looks a little bigger and has a good bit of outdoor seating, so you may have better luck getting a table there. One good thing about having an infant who likes to wake up at dawn’s crack is beating the weekend breakfast rush, so that wasn’t a concern for us.
Anyway, the food…I had yummy biscuits with shiitake mushroom gravy and delicious hash browns. Drew tried a couple of biscuit sandwiches – the sausage biscuit and a biscuit with chicken, egg, and cheese. He liked the chicken one best.
On Saturday night, we had wood-fired pizza at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty. Mine was absolutely fantastic! Sure, I had to ask our server what three (gremolata, ramps, and tartufo) out of four (morel mushrooms) ingredients were before I ordered it, but I’m so glad that I did. Seriously, it may have been the best wood-fired pizza I’ve ever had.
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| Hanging Out at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty |
The Original is a cool “dinerant” (/gallery, since that’s where we found Big Bot) in Downtown Portland. If you’re there for breakfast or brunch, try their Crème brûlée French Toast with Honey Butter syrup. Seriously delicious.
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| I loved Sparko almost as much as Big Bot |
The original Voodoo Doughnut location was closed for remodeling, but lucky for us there’s Voodoo Doughnut Too!. My Portland Cream was yummy, but next time I want to visit the original shop and try one of their wackier options.
Coffee
One word. Stumptown. Sorry Seattle, I love you and I love your coffee, but Portland’s own Stumptown Coffee is the absolute best. We were impressed by Stumptown’s Rwanda Muyongwe (that’s apparently being discontinued) at Pine State Biscuits, and were served more delicious Stumptown Coffee when we had breakfast at The Original. I’m glad that Seattle has two Stumptown locations and that their whole bean coffee is readily available in our favorite supermarkets.
We stopped at Star E Rose for a coffee break when we were cruising Alberta Street. I don’t remember their coffee being out of the ordinary special (maybe because of all of the Stumptown I’d been given), but it had a chill vibe and the baristas were really nice. One of them let me photograph her and her interesting eyewear. She broke her glasses in a mosh pit and created an artsy fix with some wire.
Next time we’re going to step out of our Stumptown comfort zone and try Random Order and Barista.
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| Even my baby loves Portland. |
Music
I’m not young and hip enough, or honestly, interested enough to stay out late and go to shows, but I do love checking out new tunes on my iPhone, preferably on Rhapsody.
The cool people involved with Tender Loving Empire are also part of the Portland music scene. Thanks to hearing about this shop, I learned about Jared Mees & The Grown Children. Great stuff.
When I was saddened by finding Tender Loving Empire closed, I popped into aforementioned Radish Underground and found out about Portland’s Best Ever Mixtape, which led me to other cool bands.
During one of my Stumptown visits, they were playing some music that I instantly loved – The Cutters. They’re not from Portland, but I found about about them there so they count.
Ahh…Portland. You’re so cool. I’m glad I had a chance to get to know you better. You think that you’d like to, I don’t know, maybe go out again sometime? ♥
