by Geon, Bryan
Aalto Lounge, 3356 SE Belmont St, 503-235-6041, www.aaltoloungepdx.com
Andrea’s Cha-Cha Club, 832 SE Grand Ave, 503-230-1166, www.grandcafepdx.com
Couture, 28 NW 4th Ave, 503-484-5959, www.coutureultralounge.com
Crush, 1400 SE Morrison St, 503-235-8150, www.crushbar.com
East End, 203 SE Grand Ave, 503-232-0056, www.eastendportland.com
Fez Ballroom, 316 SW 11th Ave, 503-221-7262, www.fezballroom.com
Harlem PDX, 220 SW Ankeny St, 971-333-1220, www.harlempdx.com
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St, 503-239-7639, www.holocene.org
Jones, 107 NW Couch St, 971-271-7178, wwwjonesbarportland.com
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St, 503-228-3669, www.kellysolympian
Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave, 503-234-5684, www.rotture.com
Splash, 904 NW Couch St, 503-893-5551, www.splashbarpdx.com
Tube, 18 NW 3rd Ave, 503-241-8823
Valentine’s, 232 SW Ankeny St, 503-248-1600, valentinespdx.com
Whiskey Bar, 31 NW 1st Ave, 503-227-0405, www.whiskeybarpdx.com
Visual Arts
Art Galleries and Museums
Given the vibrancy of Portland’s arts scene, it’s a bit surprising that the city has only a handful of art museums with permanent exhibits:
The Blue Sky Gallery, 122 NW 8th Ave, 503-225-0210, www.blueskygallery.org, formerly the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, exhibits photographic images from local, national, and international photographers.
The Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 NW Davis St, 503-223-2654, www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org, founded in 1937, occupies a new space on the North Park Blocks, after moving from its longtime home on Lair Hill.
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, 503-226-2811, www.portlandartmuseum.org; when Portlanders speak of “the art museum,” this is what they mean. The Portland Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Northwest, and holds significant collections of European, American, and East Asian painting and sculpture, Native American art, and silver; the museum is also home to the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. In addition to its permanent exhibits, the museum holds frequent temporary exhibits and hosts traveling international exhibitions.
Most area colleges have gallery spaces that host rotating exhibits; the best known of these are Cooley Art Gallery at Reed College (3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, 503-777-7251, www.reed.edu/gallery/) and the Art Gym at Marylhurst University (17600 Pacific Hwy [Hwy 43], Marylhurst [between Lake Oswego and West Linn], 503-699-6243, www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/). In addition, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) (415 SW 10th Ave, Suite 300, 503-242-1419, www.pica.org) sponsors frequent exhibits of contemporary art—broadly defined to include film, dance, drama, and other art forms.
Portland’s art scene really thrives in its galleries, some of which have received national acclaim. The city has scores of art galleries showcasing everything from traditional to cutting edge art; they reach critical mass in the Pearl District and Northwest Portland. A fairly complete list of galleries is available at the Portland Art Dealers Association website (www.padaoregon.org), and the local arts & entertainment papers include listings of galleries and their current exhibits.
Art Walks
Several neighborhoods with a high concentration of galleries host evening art walks, when galleries stay open late and various forms of live entertainment usually take place. On First Thursday (the first Thursday of each month), Pearl District galleries welcome the art-loving throngs, although the focus of this neighborhood tradition has shifted somewhat from art to bar-and-restaurant hopping. See www.firstthursdayportland.com for details. The Alberta Arts District hosts a similar Last Thursday (www.lastthursdayonalberta.com), which is just as much a “scene” as First Thursday, but of a very different and more bohemian kind.
Other neighborhood art walks include First Fridays in the Central Eastside (www.facebook.com/1FPDX) and Multnomah Village; Mississippi Avenue’s Second Thursday; and Hump Day (www.humpdaypdx.com) in Inner Southeast on the second Wednesday of each month. Far less frequent is the annual two-day Southeast Area ARTWalk (www.seportlandartwalk.com), which includes the Hawthorne and Division/Clinton Street districts. Several suburban communities also sponsor semi-regular art walks.
For a different kind of art walk, the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Portland Visitors Association produce a self-guided walking tour of Portland’s outdoor public art; visit racc.org/public-art/ to download a copy or call 503-823-5111 to have a copy mailed to you.
Museums
For art museums and galleries, see the preceding pages.
Culture and History
In addition to the museums listed below, many of the older communities in the Portland area maintain small museums of pioneer life or have historic houses that are open to the public.
Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St, Vancouver, 360-993-5679, www.cchmuseum.org; nearly a century old, this museum houses exhibits of Clark County’s rich history, ranging from Native American societies to the coming of European traders and pioneers through the development of modern Vancouver.
Fort Vancouver, 1501 E Evergreen Blvd, Vancouver, 360-816-6200, www.nps.gov/fova/; years before Portland was a gleam in its coin-tossing founders’ eyes, Fort Vancouver served as the administrative center of the British Hudson Bay Company’s fur-trading empire, which stretched from Alaska to California.
Museum of the Oregon Territory, 211 Tumwater Dr, Oregon City, 503-655-5574, www.clackamascountyhistory.org; Oregon City was the original capital of the Oregon Territory, and this museum’s high points are the exhibits that reveal everyday life during Oregon’s territorial and early statehood periods.
Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, 503-222-1741, www.ohs.org; this vast repository of artifacts and documents also presents permanent and temporary exhibits about Oregon history, including the large and elaborate “Oregon My Oregon” exhibit. Entrance is free for Multnomah County residents.
The Oregon Jewish Museum, 1953 NW Kearney St, 503-226-3600, www.ojm.org, focuses on the history and experience of the Jewish community in the Pacific Northwest from pioneer days to the present; the museum also houses the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center.
Oregon Maritime Museum, Waterfront Park at Pine St, 503-224-7724, www.oregonmaritimemuseum.org; housed on a retired sternwheeler floating on the Willamette River downtown, the Oregon Maritime Museum highlights Portland’s rich past (and present) as a major port and maritime center.
Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, 121 NW 2nd Ave, 503-224-1458, www.oregonnikkei.org, highlights the history and contributions of Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, 2250 SE Water Ave, 503-233-1156, www.orhf.org, preserves historic locomotives and rolling stock at the Brooklyn Rail Yard; the foundation runs Oregon Pacific Railroad cars to and from Oaks Park on summer Saturdays.
Pittock Mansion, 3229 NW Pittock Dr, 503-823-3623, www.pittockmansion.org; this chateauesque mansion near the summit of the West Hills was built in the early twentieth century for an Oregon pioneer-cum-newspaper baron.
Portland Police Museum, 1111 SW 2nd Ave, 16th Floor, 503-823-0019, www.portlandpolicemuseum.com; housed on the 16th floor of the city’s justice center (i.e., jail building and police headquarters), this museum showcases the history of the Portland Police Bureau and the experiences of individual officers. Exhibits include the original jail cell from the St. Johns Police Station.
Washington County Museum, 120 E Main St, Hillsboro, 503-645-5353, www.washingtoncountymuseum.org; this museum of Washington County history is located in the Hillsboro civic center complex.
Science and Technology
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, McMinnville, 503-434-4185, www.evergreenmuseum.org; the museum’s extensive collections are in turmoil because of the bankruptcy of Evergreen International Airlines, but for now this museum’s big attraction—a
nd it is truly a big attraction—is Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, by some measures the largest airplane ever built.
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), 1945 SE Water Ave, 503-797-4000, 800-955-6674, www.omsi.edu; housed in a large facility on the east bank of the Willamette River, OMSI has several galleries devoted to science and technology. Most of the exhibits are interactive, and many are tailored to children. OMSI also gives tours of the USS Blueback submarine, which is permanently docked outside the museum, and hosts frequent visiting exhibits.
Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals, 26385 NW Groveland Dr, Hillsboro, 503-647-2418, www.ricenorthwestmuseum.org; modestly housed in the founders’ former home in an out-of-the-way corner of Hillsboro north of Highway 26, this is nonetheless one of the nation’s finest museums of rocks and minerals.
World Forestry Center Discovery Museum, Washington Park, 4033 SW Canyon Rd, 503-228-1367, www.worldforestry.org; this mostly hands-on museum focuses on forestry and the ecology of forests around the world generally and in the Pacific Northwest in particular. The smokejumper harness exhibit and the “raft ride” are particularly popular with children.
Offbeat Museums
With the demise of the 24-Hour Church of Elvis, Portland lost its most beloved, or at least most famous, oddball attraction. Fortunately, the city continues to host a few offbeat museums.
The Hat Museum, 1928 SE Ladd Ave, 503-232-0433, www.thehatmuseum.com (by reservation only); the name of this museum speaks for itself.
Ping Pong’s Pint-Sized Puppet Museum, 906 SE Umatilla St, 503-233-7723, www.puppetmuseum.org; not just a museum of puppets, this unique establishment also hosts puppet live puppet shows.
Stark’s Vacuum Museum, 107 NE Grand Ave, 503-232-4101, www.starks.com/vacuum-museum; tucked away inside the headquarters store of Stark’s Vacuums is a museum of vacuums. The staff are used to visitors who joke that the museum’s exhibits suck.
Architecture and Walking Tours
Portland has traditionally been pretty conservative when it comes to architecture (the much-despised Michael Graves–designed Portland Building, an early exemplar of Postmodernism, notwithstanding). That conservatism is rapidly evaporating, and some remarkable new structures have risen over the last decade or so. (The federal courthouse downtown, capped by a soaring “wing,” is one example of this.) Moreover, much of the city’s historic architecture is both well-preserved and noteworthy. The Architecture Foundation of Oregon has produced a Look Around Guide to 41 different notable architectural sites in Portland; the guide is available for download at www.af-oregon.org. The Architectural Heritage Center (701 SE Grand Ave, 503-231-7264, www.visitahc.org) focuses on historical preservation; in addition to providing information about Portland’s historic structures and hosting architectural history exhibits in its gallery space, the Center is a great resource if you’ve bought a vintage home.
Portland is a great city for strolling, but if you’re looking for something a bit more organized and informative, contact Portland Walking Tours (503-774-4522, www.portlandwalkingtours.com); their tours focus on downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, but they also offer tours of outlying neighborhoods on request. For a journey through the infamous Shanghai tunnels of Old Town, where (so the story goes) drunken bar patrons were unknowingly “crimped” to crew for free on trans-Pacific sea voyages, contact the Cascade Geographic Society at 503-622-4798 or visit www.shanghaitunnels.info.
Literary Life
With its gunmetal gray winter skies and frequent drizzle, Portland is a great bookstore town. Area residents flock to book groups, book signings, and fiction, non-fiction, and poetry readings (often given by well-known local authors). In addition to bookstore- and library-hosted events, Literary Arts (925 SW Washington St, 503-227-2583, www.literary-arts.org) sponsors lectures and readings by local, national, and international authors and poets; its Portland Arts & Lectures series usually brings several Pulitzer Prize winners to the city. The highlight of the local literary calendar is Wordstock (www.wordstockfestival.com), an annual festival that features lectures, writers’ workshops, and a book fair.
Bookstores
While the city has chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble, many residents are fiercely loyal to Portland’s independent booksellers. The largest of these is Powell’s Books (1005 W Burnside St, 503-228-4651, 800-878-7323, www.powells.com), the largest bookstore in North America, which sells both new and used books and occupies an entire city block in the Pearl District. (Powell’s also has two large satellite stores, at 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, and at Beaverton’s Cedar Hills Crossing mall, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, as well as a small store at the airport.) Most best-selling authors who come to Portland on book tours make an appearance at Powell’s, although smaller independent bookstores sometimes snag big-name writers for in-store readings and book signings.
The following is a selection of general-interest and specialty booksellers in Portland proper. Many of these stores, like Powell’s, sell used as well as new books.
General-Interest Bookstores
Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 503-246-0053, www.annieblooms.com
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, five area stores, www.barnesandnoble.com
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 503-284-1726, www.broadwaybooks.net
Powell’s (see above)
St. Johns Booksellers, 8622 N Lombard St, 503-283-0032, www.stjohnsbooks.com
Wallace Books, 7241 SE Milwaukie Ave, 503-235-7350
Special-Interest Bookstores
A Children’s Place, 4807 NE Fremont St, 503-284-8294, www.achildrensplacebookstore.com
Green Bean Books, 1600 NE Alberta St, 503-954-2354, www.greenbeanbookspdx.com (children’s)
In Other Words, 14 NE Killingsworth St, 503-232-6003, www.inotherwords.org (women’s and feminist)
Laughing Horse Book and Film Collective, 12 NE 10th Ave, 503-236-2893 (progressive politics)
Monograph Bookwerks, 5005 NE 27th Ave, 503-284-5005, www.monographbookwerks.com (fine arts)
Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison St, 503-236-2665 (literature, philosophy, theory, politics)
New Renaissance Bookshop, 1338 NW 23rd Ave, 503-224-4929, www.newrenbooks.com (New Age)
Reading Frenzy, 3628 N Mississippi Ave, 503-274-1449, www.readingfrenzy.com (independent presses)
Used Bookstores
For fairly complete listings of used bookstores and used book–related events in the area, visit the website of the Portland Area Used Booksellers Association (www.pauba.org).
Another Read Through, 3922 N Mississippi Ave, 503-208-2729, www.anotherreadthrough.com
Bingo Used Books, 3366 SE Powell Blvd, 503-231-4091, www.bingousedbooks.com
Booktique, 3975 Mercantile Blvd, Lake Oswego, 503-699-9109, www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/shop-booktique
Cameron’s Books & Magazines, 336 SW 3rd Ave, 503-228-2391, www.cameronsbooks.com
Daedalus Books, 2074 NW Flanders St, 503-274-7742
Hawthorne Boulevard Books, 3129 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-236-3211
Longfellow’s Books, 1401 SE Division St, 503-239-5222, www.longfellowspdx.com
Paper Moon Bookstore, 4707 SE Belmont St, 503-239-8848, www.papermoonbookstore.com
Title Wave, 216 NE Knott St, 503-988-5021, www.multcolib.org/titlewave/ (Multnomah County Library surplus)
Libraries
Portland-area public libraries host frequent literary events and exhibitions. See the Getting Settled chapter for a list of library systems in the region.
Culture for Children
Portland has so many cultural opportunities for kids they may become surly, disinterested teenagers long before they can take advantage of them all. The Oregonian’s weekly A&E supplement lists events and activities of interest to families.
The following listing of child-oriented organizations and places represents only a small part of what Portland has to offer its young residents. In addition to organizations that are geared specifically to children, many of the
“grownup” groups in town offer special performances for children. The Oregon Symphony, for example, puts on a Kids Concert series every year. Several museums that are not specifically “children’s” museums offer a wide range of child-friendly exhibits; OMSI and the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum have particularly extensive kid-oriented displays. And don’t forget about the children’s bookstores, listed above under “Special Interest Bookstores.” For more ideas on ways to entertain the young’uns, including family and holiday festivals, see A Portland Year.
Music
Metropolitan Youth Symphony, 503-239-4566, www.playmys.org; the Metropolitan Youth Symphony comprises several hundred young musicians (in several different groups) from throughout the metropolitan area, with an age range of six years through college.
The Oregon Children’s Choir & Youth Chorale, 503-534-0226, www.occyc.org, consists of three choirs divided by grade level; membership is by audition only, and the two older groups embark on summer tours to national or international destinations.
Portland Boychoir and Ovation!, 503-697-3872, www.portlandchoirs.org; a choir for boys ages 6 to14 and a training choir for girls ages 11 through 14 feed into Ovation!, a mixed vocal ensemble for high schoolers.
Portland Symphonic Girlchoir, 503-226-6162, www.girlchoir.com, comprises multiple ensembles for girls 5 to 18 years old.
Portland Youth Philharmonic, 503-223-5939, www.portlandyouthphil.org; the country’s oldest youth orchestra has come a long way from its roots as the “Sagebrush Symphony.” The organization now encompasses two full orchestras as well as a string orchestra and a wind ensemble. Membership is by open audition, and the musicians occasionally embark on national and international tours.
