Portland is full of surprises. Our past 7 weeks have been full of surprises. The good, the bad, the smelly, the hipster, the awesome, and the weird.
It is these surprises – whether they are events, people, a comment, something shiny in a window, a large sign, a food cart – that make me smile and absolutely love Portland and this strange wondrous city. Sometimes these surprises are irritating though. And I find myself confused or in question, but it’s all part of this diverse array of personalities and “things” of this truly vibrant city.
I was so scared before DukeEngage. I thought Portland was going to be so “hippie” – that everyone everywhere was constantly going to be smoking pot, drinking beer or pale ale, wearing clothing made out of coffee bean bags, hemp bracelets, that the Greenpeace people were going to find me in my sleep. While I have seen (& smelled) these things, albeit on a smaller scale, there’s so much more to Portland I didn’t realize.
First, there’s a Morgan Stanley and a large Bank of America building very close to where I work. Yes, there’s wealthy people here. Yes, there are investment bankers. When I get lunch at the food carts, not only do I see people who work at non-profits dressed fairly casually, but I also see businessmen and women dressed to the t’s.
There’s also a Nordstrom’s and a MALL. There’s civilization! What?!
Yep. I was (am?) definitely an ignorant child from the East Coast with my snooty East Coast education.
But besides this, Portland has stores and people who are SO UNIQUE to Portland.
First, I went to the Portland Outdoor Store just the other day during my lunch break. There were shelves upon shelves of real authentic cowboy boots (price range >$180 sigh), cowboy hats, tacks, saddles, bridles, plaid flannel shirts, belt buckles, sheepskin outerwear, all sorts of things horse-related. There were also old men dressed in plaid flannel shirts, worn jeans, cowboy boots, and bandanas. They talked to me and asked me if I was looking for anything particular. I was just overwhelmed really. And I kept thinking that Mark needed to come here haha.
A few doors down, there was a small front that said “Exotic Dancers. Only 18 and Over May Enter.” I giggled and walked back to my office building.
After work yesterday, I went to Magpie, a vintage store, and got navy blue paisley suspenders. Whattt? That’s right.
Then there was this cellist at lunch today on the intersection of SW 9th and Alder. Brad, Ryann, Polly, John, and I all met up for lunch at the famous foodcarts there and we sat down at the tables next to Spella Café – where I finally found a good local Chai Latte! – where the cellist was playing an all too familiar tune.
There was also the guy from the Bus Project who we met at the Crystal Ballroom asking us to register to vote. Too bad we don’t live in Oregon. But I took a picture with him – he was wearing a light blue short-sleeve dress shirt, a neck kerchief (!), suspenders, denim Bermudas, and carrying a brown satchel. What a cool confident kid. He was a native Portlander as well.
It’s places like these that I will miss when I go home to New Jersey and when I’m back at Duke in Durham. Yes, those places do have their “local” charm and certain specialty stores but not in the way Portland does. This “small” city certainly has a large personality but such an understated way of delivering that personality. It’s refreshing.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Street Roots
2. Polly teaching Japanese to a drunk man
3. The guy at the pool who gave me free goggles
4. Stumptown
5. THAI FOOD CARTS
6. Farmers
7. Flicks on the Bricks – the hugebutt inflatable (that’s what it looked like anyway) movie projector screen in pioneer square. tons of people were there.
8. Rose gardens – not just the international test garden but other smaller ones around the area.
9. FOUNTAINS, WATER, everywhere – one reason why the rest of Oregon is not a fan of Portland.
10. Tattoos and gauged earrings.
11. “Thursdays” – speaking of that, I’m off to Alberta Street for Last Thursdays!
Catch y’all on the flippity flip.
Ting-Ting
1) I really like this blog post. A lot.
2) I agree with the first sentiment about Portland’s hippie-ness. While I don’t believe I felt Portland was devoid of consumerism or corporatism, I did expect it and all its residents to live high progressive lifestyles. While most people are fairly progressive, the spectrum definitely isn’t as skewed to the left as I once thought.
3) Food carts in general have been a surprising and amazing Portland uniquity. Such good food at such cheap prices and its all so quick. The Plaza at Duke could use a few. And they aren’t all super garish and ostentatious, so we could make it work with the Chapel in the background.
4) Cannot emphasize #10 enough.
5) Great summary of Portland: “This ‘small’ city certainly has a large personality but such an understated way of delivering that personality. It’s refreshing.”
6) I’m a fan of the sign-off.
From the flippity flip,
John
[...] July 30, 2010 Ting-Ting wrote a great blog post about the things that have surprised her since coming to Portland. It’s a nice reflection on our time here in PDX and def worth a read. Check it out here. [...]